By By Amanda Guerriero
With 15 minutes left in the game against Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU), Pride senior midfielder Chrissy Arnone broke a 2-2 tie as she drilled a shot past Knights goalkeeper Kyla Clark. Freshman midfielder Edel Malone added an insurance goal 10 minutes later in the Pride’s 4-2 victory last Sunday at Hofstra Soccer Stadium.
“We had a mental lapse in this game for about twenty minutes,” said Pride head coach JoAnne Russell, explaining FDU’s (4-4) ability to keep the score tied for over twenty minutes. “We stepped back and let them get into the game, so we made ourselves battle. We can’t allow mental lapses.”
Malone contributed two goals-the first and the last-in the Pride’s (4-2-1) victory. Her first goal, an 18-yard rocket that grazed Clark’s fingertips and flew into the came off a short pass from sophomore forward Carol Leurini. Ten minutes later, Leurini volleyed for a goal of her own off a cross from freshman defender Jess Crankshaw.
Malone’s second goal was the result of a string of passes broken up by the Knights, which knocked the ball loose. Malone picked it up and buried a shot from the penalty spot.
“Both me and [Laura DelBiondo] become part of the offense a lot because we can get wide, push up and get crosses in,” Crankshaw said. “This helps us contribute to the offense in many different ways.”
Crankshaw has been a significant asset to the Pride offense, tallying two goals thus far on only four shots. Her contributions, along with the rest of the Pride’s high-powered offense, have undoubtedly been a great advantage for the team.
Crankshaw added her second assist of the game after leading Arnone in the 75th minute. Arnone easily placed the ball across the goal line to break the tie after Crankshaw’s pass. With that Arnone increased her season total to four goals on 24 shots, both team highs.
“I do believe that we have started to finally create more chances that we haven’t been able to create before,” Russell said of the team’s recent offensive explosion.
The Knights rallied from an early first half deficit, but were out-shot 26-6 during the contest. FDU’s tying goal was scored off an impressive header by Tonya Hipsman seven minutes into the second half. Pride senior goalie Becky Wachsberger couldn’t do much except watch helplessly as it crossed the goal line.
Wachsberger, known as a goalkeeper who makes very few mistakes, was also tripped up earlier in the game when FDU junior forward Christine McCartney launched a shot over her head and into the back post from 25 yards out 25:19 into the game.
“I’ll go over it in my head tonight,” Wachsberger said. “The first goal was my fault, and I’ll take the blame. Come next week, this game is over and I have work to do in our conference. That’s what we all believe.”
It’s no secret the Pride is a much better home team. The team has played seven games thus far, three of which came at home. Even though it has played just one more road game, the Pride has scored 16 goals in three home games as opposed to just two total goals on the road.
“On the road we really weren’t getting enough numbers up,” Russell said. “But now we are getting a lot of numbers up on the box and that’s what we hope to take on the road with us.”
With the Pride’s non-conference play finished, the goal scoring needs to continue on the road at Boston on Saturday, when the Pride will kick off Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play against Northeastern University. The team plays its CAA home opener on Sept. 30 against Drexel.
Pride senior midfielder Chrissy Arnone helped blow by FDU in the Pride´s 4-2 victory on Sunday