By Jordan Sawyer — STAFF WRITER
The Hofstra field hockey team recorded a season high seven goals and avoided falling victim to a three-game losing streak in a 7-3 victory over the Red Flash of Saint Francis University on Sunday at Hofstra Field Hockey Stadium.
The Pride tallied its highest offensive output since last August in a 7-0 win over Colgate.
“It was exciting to get seven goals, anytime you register that many goals, there’s certainly a lot of excitement in the air,” said Hofstra head coach Kathy De Angelis.
Offensive opportunities came in a flurry early on for the Pride with their first penalty corner in the sixth minute leading to two blocked shots.
In the ninth minute, Hofstra found themselves with an early lead. Frankie O’Brien sent the ball to a swinging Jordan Thompson off a corner which led to the first goal of the game.
In the 15th minute, Hofstra turned defense into offense, as the Pride have all season. Philine de Wolf picked up her seventh goal of the season after capitalizing on a Saint Francis turnover and firing a shot past goalkeeper Claudia Marzec.
The Pride picked up their third goal in 20 minutes after Madison Georgiana rebounded a shot from Marloes Schavemaker of out thin air and launched it back into the net for her first goal of the season.
Saint Francis didn’t register their first shot until the 28th minute of the first half in which they took five penalty corners in a three-minute span resulting in six unanswered shots.
The Red Flash bent the Pride defense but it did not break until the 32nd minute when Celeste Azzari was fed a pass from Kyra Costano heading into the arc. Carys Swan came out of the net as a speeding Azzari poked the ball past her and into the bottom of the goal.
The Pride came out of the first half with a 3-1 lead after being outshot by the Red Flash 12-9.
Hofstra came out of the locker room looking to continue their offensive success from the first half.
Five minutes into the second half, Madison Warfel found her first goal of the season off another assist from O’Brien.
Trailing 4-1 in the 45th minute, Saint Francis cut the deficit in half with a goal from Brea Sebrook, her seventh of the season.
Philine de Wolf added her second goal of the game less than a minute later as she swerved through Red Flash defenders and put the ball up and over the left shoulder of Marzec and into the back of the net.
After a 20-minute scoring drought, Hannah Zemaitis traveled along the endline before finding an open Anne van den Boomen in the middle of the field to add to the scoring affair.
Brea Sebrook capitalized on another penalty corner in the 69th minute to cut the deficit in half yet again and make it a 6-3 Hofstra lead.
As time expired, the Pride had one last chance to add to their lead. Sauve sent the corner to O’Brien who passed it back to a scoring Sauve to give Hofstra a 7-3 victory.
The Pride had six different goal scorers including Philine de Wolf who scored multiple goals for the second time this season.
“It’s exciting when we have different players score… really excited about how we finished on the attack,” De Angelis said.
O’Brien would go on to be named CAA Rookie of the Week after tying a school record with three assists.
Hofstra will get back into conference play against James Madison University on Sunday at 12 p.m.
