By Kevin Carroll – ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
It took two overtime periods, and over 100 minutes of play, but the top-seeded Hofstra women’s soccer team’s bid for a CAA title came to a premature end Friday evening at the Hofstra Soccer Stadium.
An Ashley Herndon header in the 104th minute, off of a beautiful cross from teammate Jennie Sroba, proved the difference-maker in James Madison’s 1-0 double-overtime victory over Hofstra, in the second of two CAA semifinal matches played on Friday.
“Unfortunately, the game of soccer’s a cruel game,” Hofstra head coach Simon Riddiough said after the match. “I thought we played well, it was probably one of our strongest performances of the year.”
Hofstra did indeed play one of its best matches all season, thoroughly controlling the match for the duration of play. The Pride attack was especially strong, firing 31 shots, 16 on goal. But JMU goalie Ellen Forrest rose to the occasion with a fantastic performance, saving all 16 of the Pride’s shots on goal.
“We came up against a very good goalkeeper, who made some very good saves,” said Riddiough.
The Pride came out firing to begin the match, with Jill Mulholland getting off the team’s first shot just two minutes into play. JMU’s Herndon answered back with a header a few minutes later, saved by Pride goalie friederike Mehring. From then on, Hofstra began to control the ball, keeping the pressure on Forrest and the JMU defense to push them back.
Leah Galton, in particular, was feisty on the attack for Hofstra, firing shots from all over the field, keeping the Dukes’ keeper busy all night. Galton would finish with a match-high 11 shots, five on goal, but couldn’t put one past Forrest.
“She’s a beast, she’s the best player in the conference,” said Riddiough about Galton. “She’s put her heart and her soul into this program…she was awesome today.”
The two teams went into halftime deadlocked at zero.
Hofstra kept up its ferocious attack in the second half, dialing up the intensity, but to no avail. On the other end of the field, JMU’s offense was struggling to get any shots on Pride keeper Friederike Mehring, who turned away all three shots she faced in regulation.
When the final horn sounded, the two teams were still scoreless, and after a brief intermission, overtime began.
The first of two 10-minute overtime periods was largely uneventful, with only three shots registered total between the two teams. In the 99th minute, Hofstra had a prime opportunity to win the match off of a corner kick from Jeannine Molleda, but Galton’s header was stopped by Forrest to keep the match tied as the first overtime period ended.
Unfortunately, something had to give in this contest, and Sroba’s cross into the box was perfect, with Herndon heading the ball past the outstretched arms of Mehring, giving the Dukes the 1-0 victory and eliminating Hofstra from the CAA tournament.
“Give credit to JMU, they dug in deep, they bent, but didn’t break,” said Riddiough.
The Hofstra women’s soccer team’s chances of a CAA title may have been dashed Friday night, but this may not be the end of the road for the team. The Pride, who was ranked 16th in the nation in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), now turns its attention to Monday’s NCAA Tournament selection show, where the team may be granted an at-large bid. The selection show will be at 4:30 pm.
