The Hofstra’s women’s soccer team took a 2-1 loss to the Stony Brook University Seawolves on Sunday, Oct. 23, at Hofstra Soccer Stadium. The loss put the Pride as the No. 8 seed for the upcoming Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) playoffs.
The game also served as Hofstra’s senior day, adding some positivity in an otherwise aggravating matchup. Senior Anja Suttner scored the Pride’s only goal of the game with a header off of a corner kick by freshman Thorhildur Thorhallsdottir.
“[Thorhallsdottir]’s crosses are fantastic, and once you put it in those areas, [Suttner] is going to find it,” said Hofstra head coach Simon Riddiough. “She played a senior role today, and [Suttner] certainly did everything possible to carry the team.”
Suttner’s goal was her fifth of the season and came a week after being selected as defensive player of the week by the CAA. Stony Brook’s Gabrielle Côté followed Suttner’s goal with two of her own in the 33rd and 55th minutes.
The first let up goal came after Hofstra goalie Skylar Kuzmich made an ambitious play by coming out of the box to anticipate the shot before having the ball slip right by her and into the net.
The first half of the rather wet and dreary game was evenly matched, as the Pride had five shots and the Seawolves attempted six. The second half saw an escalation in shots with only three shots by the Seawolves for the Pride’s 15. Eight of Hofstra’s shots came from Thorhallsdottir and four from fellow freshmen Aimee Hodgson.
“We just have to be better. We’ve been harping on it, I know [associate head coach Gerry Lucey] is as frustrated as I am. We’ve been working on finishing, we’ve been harping on quality in the final third, a bit of focus,” Riddiough commented about accuracy on goal. “I think the girls are trying, I wouldn’t question their application to it or their desire for it, it’s just not happening. We’ve got to keep working and getting that repetition in practice, and hopefully it’ll click next week when we have playoffs.”
The loss is the first the Pride has had against the Seawolves after 12 consecutive games won against them. Stony Brook’s win puts them into the CAA tournament as the sixth seed.
The Pride ends the regular season 8-7-3 and 3-4-2 in conference play. Moving their sights towards postseason play, Hofstra will face the No. 1 seed Monmouth University on Thursday, Oct. 27, at 3 p.m. in Kessler Stadium in West Long Branch, New Jersey.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
