By Juliana Battaglia — SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
The Hofstra womens soccer team ended its final game out of a four-game home-stand in a frustrating, scoreless draw with Monmouth University after two overtime periods on Sunday afternoon.
Hofstra outshot the Hawks 27-5, led by forward Kristin Desmond with eight, but couldnt manage to notch a point against goalkeeper Amanda Knaub, who made eight saves in the game. Desmond alone took three more shots than the total number of shots taken by Monmouth all afternoon.
Aside from Knaubs eight saves, the defense managed nine blocks against Hofstras shot attempts. Hofstra finished with an 8-2 advantage in shots on goal and each team took four corner kicks apiece.
There were many squandered opportunities that could have tilted the game in Hofstras favor, but freshman Lucy Shepherds missed shot in overtime arguably came the closest to securing a win for the Pride. Her shot deflected off the crossbar, mere inches away from sealing the win and putting an end to the teams game-long struggles.
Head coach Simon Riddiough believes the team played well against Monmouth, but he acknowledges that there is still work that needs to be done with Hofstra opening up CAA competition in just two weeks.
We cant get away with [ending in a tie] in Conference, we have to finish a team a lot earlier than what we did today, Riddiough said.
In spite of the work that lies ahead, the amount of pressure the team exerted to hold Monmouth scoreless is a step in the right direction.
That means we are getting to where we need to be. That means when it comes to confidence when we play on Thursday, we are going to be a very difficult team to beat, Riddiough said.
On another note, Hofstras goalkeeper Jenna Borresen put up two saves and held attackers scoreless in her second complete game. When asked his thoughts on Borresens efforts, Riddiough expressed his delight with his goalkeepers performance.
[Borresen was] competent, confident, dominant. She was good … You cant fault Jennas performance in the last two games.
With the tie, Hofstras record moves to 3-2-2 on the season. With the four-game home swing all wrapped up, the Pride will next be in action on Thursday night at 7 p.m., heading out east to take on Stony Brook University in the latest chapter of the Battle of Long Island.