The Hofstra Pride women’s lacrosse team dropped a Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) conference match to the Drexel University Dragons 18-6 on Saturday, April 22. The team’s overall record now stands at 4-11 and 1-5 in the CAA, and they are in seventh place.

“Drexel played really well; they shot well, they got a lot of draw controls,” said Hofstra head coach Shannon Smith. “I thought our team fought really hard for the full 60 minutes. Obviously [it was a] tough [loss] but we’ll hang in there, we’ve got one more game left in the season.”

Drexel came out of the gates firing, outscoring the Pride 10-1 in the opening 15 minutes. 

“We just had too many moments where we weren’t locked in and that was kind of right away in the first quarter,” Smith said. “We just got to be able to put together a full game.”

The Dragons had a strong offense and defense, putting up 26 shots on goal and 14 saves across all four frames.

“They’re tough, they communicate, they’re playing great one-on-one defense,” Smith said. “We weren’t getting the right shots off of them, we just had to finish better.”

However, the second period was a complete turnaround, as Hofstra shutout the visitors 3-0.

“We were making some [defensive] stops,” Smith explained. “And we were winning some draw controls.”

Senior Day celebrations were hosted prior to the start of the game, in which seniors Courtney Carollo, Lauren Colleti, Kate Fiola, Rachel Graff, Katie Kelly, Margo McCormack, Ashlyn McDonald, Taylor Mennella, Caitlin Murphy, Kayla Robertson, Cara Scanio, Kendall Smith and Samantha Tarpey were honored.

Mennella found the back of the net four times, spearheading the team’s offense du jour.

“Taylor had a great game and finished her shots,” Smith said. “She had four goals for us and played really hard.”

“Shoutout to all of our seniors,” Smith added. “They’re a really tremendous group, really resilient group. I know we got one more game with them, just really thankful for everything they’ve given us and given to our program and really excited to watch them in those next steps and their endeavors in their future.”

The team’s next appearance on the pitch will be in LaValle Stadium out east in a Long Island rivalry match against the No. 10 Stony Brook University Seawolves on Friday, April 28. Initial draw control is set for 6:30 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Matteo Bracco