On a very brisk and windy Friday afternoon, the Hofstra field hockey team lost a close game at home against James Madison University, 2-1.
The Pride fell to 9-9 on the season, 1-4 in CAA play. The loss also eliminated the Pride from CAA postseason contention.
JMU opened the scoring in the fifth minute of the game when Ashley Gippe tapped the ball past Lauren Saltus and into the back of the net. A few minutes later, senior Carissa Witmer netted her sixth goal of the season to tie the game up at 1-1.
After the two early goals, both defenses stepped up and there was not another goal scored until about four minutes left in the second half. The goal was scored by JMU off their third penalty corner of the game.
The last two penalty corner shots came within a minute of each other, the second corner being the game winner.
“[It was a] great effort by our defense to maintain them right until the end,” said Hofstra head coach Kathy De Angelis after the game.
JMU now have a 12-5 record, 4-2 in the CAA, are ranked 25th in the nation and are holding on to the third seed in the CAA tournament.
Despite facing a tough opponent, the Pride kept the score close throughout the game.
“I can’t say enough about the performance of the team and how hard we fought. Great performance overall. We played until the very end,” De Angelis said.
Witmer had an excellent game, scoring the lone goal for Hofstra in the 10th minute as well as making some critical plays on defense. Being a senior, she had a lot to play for, which was evident as she put her all out on the field.
The Pride next faces William and Mary on Sunday, which will also be senior day for Hofstra. Hofstra will be saying goodbye to many great seniors – including Witmer and Claudia Marin Samper – who have both had a tremendous impact on the team.
When talking about the senior class, De Angelis said, “I think they have been great leaders for the program and also for the young guys coming up”.
Hofstra will be looking to carry over its strong defense into Sunday’s CAA matchup and are hoping to send the seniors off with a victory to close out the 2016 season.
