the Hofstra University men’s soccer team officially clinched a spot in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) championship for a 12th consecutive season. The Pride’s conference record improved to 4-1-2 as they snapped a two-game losing skid.
“It’s your first aim,” said Hofstra head coach Richard Nuttall. “When you make your goals at the beginning of the season, ‘make the conference playoffs’ is your first aim, then hopefully you could do a little better. We have a chance now to possibly finish first, so it’s a little bit of a relief as it is every year to get a playoff spot. But now we want more; we want to go onwards and upwards.”
Reigning CAA Player of the Year and leading scorer for the Pride Ryan Carmichael recorded his 11th goal of the season in the 25th minute to ultimately lead his team to victory and hand the Dragons only their second loss of the year. Eliot Goldthorp and Albert Kang got the assists, with Goldthorp getting his ninth assist of the season in the process. He leads the roster in that category.
The Pride played high-pressing soccer, especially in the first half before and after Carmichael’s winner. They had multiple takeaways on the opposing side of the pitch while making quick passes to move forward. They controlled over half of the ball going into halftime.
“I really thought we should’ve gone [up] two or three [to] zero,” Nuttall said. “And we didn’t, so that meant the game had a bit of squeaky bum time at the end. But I’m really pleased with what we’ve done out there today.”
Goalkeeper Wessel Speel made five saves and combined for 12 saves in his previous two appearances. The defense, playing in a back-four formation, held firm as their side was outranked 13-10 in total shots. Hofstra managed to seal the deal by not conceding in the second half, something they failed to do in their previous two losses against the University of Delaware and the University of New Hampshire.
“We are doing a lot of traveling,” Nuttall said. “We’re fatigued, and yet we had the mental fortitude with what we had today, which was exceptional. That’s the key point here: our attitude, our mentality, how we stayed in the game and how we stay focused.”
By clinching their spot in the CAA championship with one game to spare, the Pride can now focus on seeding. With the win against Drexel, the Pride jumped over the Dragons in the standings and is now in a three-way tie for first with the Stony Brook University Seawolves and the Monmouth University Hawks.
The reigning CAA champions have the tiebreaker thanks to their head-to-head record against both teams this season. A win in their final regular season match means they’ll have homefield advantage throughout the conference championship.
“Proud of what we’ve done,” Nuttall said. “Now we move onwards, and we control our own destiny, which is what we were looking to do, so I’m very happy.”
The Pride play their final regular season match on Saturday, Oct. 28, against the Northeastern University Huskies in Boston, Massachusetts. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics/Matteo Bracco
