Hofstra University defeats Kent State in overtime to break a four-game losing streak.

On Saturday, Sept. 10, the Hofstra women’s field hockey team faced off against the Kent State University Golden Flashes for the first time ever. Hofstra was victorious in a 2-1 overtime win after Simryn Desai scored the winning goal. The Pride broke their four-game losing streak and have now improved to 2-4 on the season.

Hofstra started the game on the right foot. The first period saw seven shots from the Pride, compared to only one from the Golden Flashes. Three of the shots were on goal, but they were all saved by Kent State’s goalkeeper Cecile van Eijck. Hofstra’s Merlijn van der Vegt made one save in the period.

The second period saw a similar outing from the Pride. They recorded four shots compared to Kent State’s one, including two on goal. 

The first goal of the game did not come until the third period when Kent State was awarded a penalty corner. Alex Sacker converted off the penalty corner with the assists going to Iris Bekker and Danielle Hamm. Kent State evened out the shots with five apiece, four of which were on goal. Hofstra had the majority of the fouls, a disadvantage as the Kent State goal came off of a penalty corner.

With less than five minutes left in the game, Hofstra was awarded a penalty stroke after a foul was called on the Golden Flashes. Cami Larsson converted the penalty to tie the game at one. This marked Larsson’s fourth goal of the season, the most on the team. In the final period, the Pride had three shots with two on goal, compared to Kent State’s zero. 

In the first overtime period, the game remained 1-1. Hofstra’s two shots on target gave them the upper hand, but they were both saved by van Ejick. Van der Vegt also had two saves in the period to keep the opponents off of the score sheet.

The second overtime period featured the winning goal for the Pride. Desai scored the goal after she received a pass from Cami Valor two minutes into the period. This marked Desai’s first goal of the season.

The Pride outshot the Golden Flashes 23-9 and had 14 shots on goal compared to their opponent’s eight. Samantha Spera led the Pride with four shots on goal.

Van der Vegt made seven saves throughout the game and even stopped a penalty stroke for Kent State. They have 249 total saves in their career and are only 34 saves shy of the 10th most career saves in Hofstra field hockey history. Van Ejick made a career-high 12 saves for the Golden Flashes.

Hofstra’s next matchup will see them back at home on Friday, Sept. 16, at 3 p.m. to host the Long Island University Sharks.

Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics