By Mike Rudin – SPORTS EDITOR
A moment of Déjà vu circled before Hofstra faced James Madison at the Hofstra Soccer Stadium in the CAA semifinals, stemming from the women’s heartbreaking loss a week ago to the men’s matchup on Friday night.
But the Hofstra Pride men’s soccer team made their own fate and shutdown the James Madison Dukes 2-0 to advance to the CAA championship round.
Hofstra goalie Patric Pray as well as the back line stifled the Dukes’ offensive runs to four shot attempts on target, which Pray saved each one for his seventh shutout of 2015.
“I thought we were solid. I thought we defended very well. Kept it to a couple of long-range shots,” Hofstra head coach Richard Nuttall said about team’s overall performance. “I thought the back four…and the midfield worked really hard…It was an overall, solid performance.”
After Delaware rejoiced with their upset-win over second-seed Elon in the seventh round of a penalty shootout, the Pride and the Dukes took the field.
The game opened up with an aggressive battle across both sides of the field in the opening minutes. Each team with four shots in the first 25 minutes.
Then, Joseph Holland slipped the ball through the Dukes’ defense to Mani Walcott for the breakaway and he made JMU pay, scoring the first goal of the game in the 28th minute.
“Joe, he’s great at playing those little sneaky balls through the gaps and he got it into Mani’s feet,” Nuttall said. “I think Mani had a bad touch but he’s got those long legs. I think he teleported it in, it was a great goal, in between three [JMU] men.”
Hofstra maintained their 1-0 lead once the first half ended. The Pride had a couple of advantages with seven shots and three saves over JMU’s six shots and two saves in the first 45 minutes.
By the start of the second period, Hofstra didn’t skip a beat and continued their pattern of strong, tight defense against the JMU players.
Both teams battled back and forth as each side took a shot in the first 10 minutes of the half.
By the 61st minute, Andreas Iosifides drove the ball into Duke territory but he lost control until Holland kept the drive alive. The 2015 CAA Player of the Year took possession and rocketed the ball past James Madison’s last line of defense, into the back of the net.
“To have the two losses [prior] and have to sit on them for 13 days, just meant that we grudgingly built up so much motivation and anger,” Holland said after the win against James Madison. “But we came in here flying. We knew we were going to get the win today.”
Holland’s insurance goal plus the stellar performance on defense kept James Madison at bay and forced their hand to try to rush shots.
The Dukes ended up with seven shots in total in the last 45 minutes of regulation but only one was on target – one that Pray defended.
Hofstra killed the clock and JMU ended the Friday the 13th night eliminated from the CAA Championship.
Holland was the MVP of the game with three shots – all on goal – his seventh goal of the season and his assist to Walcott that led to the first scoring drive.
Hofstra is now 7- 1 at home and they’ll get ready for the University of Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens to determine who’ll be the 2015 CAA Champion on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
