By Nick Mazzarella – STAFF WRITER
The Hofstra women’s lacrosse team played host to No. 1 Maryland on Saturday, but the Pride was unable to upset the defending national champion, and fell to the Terrapins, 14-6.
Megan Whittle and Taylor Hensh each recorded a hat trick for the Terps (3-0), while freshman midfielder Amanda Seekamp provided most of the offense for Hofstra (2-2) with four goals.
“Losing is not fun, but Maryland is a dynamite team,” said head coach Shannon Smith. “To beat a team like Maryland, we can’t have 15 turnovers and we can’t shoot 6-19 either, but I thought we played better in this game than we did against Harvard.”
Maryland recorded some early shots before Whittle capitalized on a free position and gave the Terps a 1-0 advantage. That lead nearly grew to two goals two possessions later, but senior goalie Kelsey Gregerson made one of her six saves.
Taylor Cummings helped extend Maryland’s lead to 3-0. She buried a close-range look and then assisted Hensh’s first goal of the afternoon before the Pride called a timeout. Early turnovers hurt Hofstra, who had nine first-half giveaways.
“Maryland definitely has a strong defense, but I think a lot of those turnovers in the first half were off errant passes,” said Smith. “We have to tighten that up.”
The Terps’ suffocating defense held Hofstra to zero shots on goal until the 13:30 mark of the first half. Forty-nine seconds later, Seekamp’s bounce shot got the Pride on the board and cut the deficit to 4-1.
Maryland responded with five unanswered goals – the latter three of which came in a span of 55 seconds – to increase its lead to 9-1. Brooke Griffin tallied a goal and an assist during the spurt. Hofstra struggled to keep the ball out of its own zone, and the nation’s top team wasn’t wasting many opportunities.
The Pride’s top point scorer, senior attacker Brittain Altomare, ended that run with her ninth goal of the year. About four minutes and one penalty kill later, an unguarded Seekamp drove to the cage and put in her second of the game.
These two scores cut the Terps’ halftime lead to 9-3. Senior attacker Sam Lenox almost made it a five-goal game, but Alex Fitzpatrick stopped her shot with time winding down.
Hofstra was able to keep the ball in Maryland’s zone to start the second half, but it was the Terps who struck first. Goals by Griffin and Hensh allowed the visitors to tie their largest lead of the afternoon, 11-3.
Seekamp stayed hot and kicked off the Pride’s second-half scoring, securing her first career hat trick in the process.
“She has a lot of upside,” Smith said about Seekamp. “I think this was a great breakout game for her, and she will continue to get better for us.”
Maryland’s lead climbed to double digits before late scores by Lenox and Seekamp made the final margin eight goals. The Pride was outscored by only two in the second half, 5-3.
“To only give up five goals in the second half was a job well done defensively,” said Smith. “We had a game plan and stuck to it.”
Hofstra plays Marist (2-1) on the road this Friday at 7 p.m.
