On Thursday, Oct. 6, the Hofstra women’s soccer team narrowly lost to the Drexel University Dragons, who lead the conference 3-2, at Vidas Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hofstra slipped to 6-6-2 overall and 1-3-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). 

The Pride struck first in the five-goal game. Midfielder Dagny Run Petursdottir received the ball and sent it to midfielder Wiktoria Fronc near the circle. Fronc split Drexel’s line of defense to put the ball in Krista Agostinello’s path. Agostinello took a touch to the left of goalkeeper Molly Piso, who was off her line, and shot the ball easily into the net. This marked Agostinello’s second goal of the season. 

The Pride had 11 shots in the first half compared to Drexel’s three. Goalkeeper Skylar Kuzmich had one save, and Piso had five.

In the first five minutes of the second half, Drexel was on the board. Forward Casey Touey played the ball through to forward Delaney Lappin. She took it down to the box, where she chipped it over Kuzmich for her sixth goal of the season. 

Hofstra took the lead again in the 58th minute. Agostinello sent the ball to forward Olivia Pearse on the right flank. Pearse took one touch to launch the high-arching ball over Piso for her first goal of the season.

Just over 10 minutes later, the Dragons tied the game once more. Forward Annalena O’Reilly headed the ball up and into the cage. Kuzmich jumped up to make the grab, but the ball went through her hands and into the back of the net. 

The game-winning shot came in the 75th minute. Defender Laila Payton directed the ball to forward Isabel Kuzy who took her time on the ball, faking out a defender before ripping the shot. She sent the shot across the goal into the side-netting of the left side of the goal. Kuzmich made the dive, but it was too far out of her reach to stop. 

The Pride was still fighting to get the last-minute tie. Freshman midfielder Thorhildur Thorhallsdottir had a shot to the top left corner, but Piso denied it.

Hofstra ended the game with 19 shots, nine of them on goal, compared to Drexel’s nine total shots and five on goal. 

Fronc led the team in shots with seven and three shots on goal. Kuzmich ended with two saves, and Piso had seven. 

The next time Hofstra takes the pitch will be away against the University of Delaware Blue Hens on Sunday, Oct. 9, at 1 p.m. 

Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics