The Hofstra women’s lacrosse team was handed a close 13-10 loss, this time at the hands of the University of Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens, on Saturday, April 8 at James M. Shuart Stadium. The team’s record now falls to 3-10 overall and 0-4 in conference play.

“Obviously a tough really loss,” said Hofstra head women’s lacrosse Shannon Smith. “We didn’t perform well in clearing today or on draws. The changing points in this game was that we couldn’t win enough possessions to get the ball on offense; when we got the ball we were scoring we just didn’t get enough.”

This loss comes despite senior Taylor Mennella’s hat trick to open the first period, sending the Pride into the second period up 3-1.

“She was dodging hard and she was finishing her shots,” Smith said. “She was on point today, which was really nice to see.”

The team presented even strength on both sides of the field, with Luchianna Cardello’s eighth start in net this weekend who had a career-high 14 saves.

“Lulu is an outstanding goalie,” Smith said. “She doesn’t let her highs get too high and her lows get too low, she’s very in the middle and did a really really great job for us in the cage. Outsanding game by Lulu.”

Going into halftime, the Pride was up 5-3 over the Blue Hens. Delaware got second wind when a Hofstra player got a two-minute non-releasable penalty, a yellow card, opening the door for a 6-0 run in just under six minutes.

“Our fast start in the first half didn’t result in a fast start in the second half, which is what we normally do,” Smith explained. “We had that yellow card that was back breaking to us in the third quarter, where they scored a lot of goals in the non-releasable, so we have to play smarter.”

The team didn’t lose hope until the game clock expired, though. While Hofstra went into the fourth quarter down 10-6, the team made it a two-goal game with 5:03 left when Kerry Walser scored.

“We’ve been down like this before,” Smith said about the conversation between the third and fourth quarters. “We’ve seen this before and I thought we worked hard, but like I said we just couldn’t get enough possessions.”

The team will take a trip to North Carolina in search of their first conference win against the Elon Phoenix on Saturday, April 15. Draw control is set for noon.

Photo courtesy of Monmouth Athletics