Goals late in the game from Tara McNally and Teresa Karoff brought the Hofstra field hockey team within one point, but the Pride couldn’t come up with the tying score as they fell to the Villanova University Wildcats 3-2 on Friday, Sept. 2.

Villanova’s star junior forward Amanda Middleman scored her fifth goal of the season just over eight minutes into the matchup. Other than the lone score, the period was even between the two sides, as both tallied three shots a piece.

The Wildcats doubled their lead early in the second frame when Makenna Maguire scored on one of Villanova’s four penalty corners of the period. Less than four minutes later, senior forward Maggie Mick made the most of a Wildcat counterattack to extend the lead to 3-0. Villanova out shot Hofstra 7-2 in the second period.

After surrendering three goals in the first half, Hofstra head coach Courtney Veinotte swapped veteran goalie Merlijn van der Vegt for first year netminder Pieke Roos who shut down Villanova for the remainder of the afternoon.

McNally scored on the first of 12 penalty corner shots for the Pride in the fourth period for her second goal of the year. Later on, Karoff cashed in a rebound of Cami Larsson’s shot from another penalty corner. Karissa Hough factored into both Hofstra penalty corner goals, providing an assist to each.

Roos made four total saves during the second half of the game for Hofstra. After trailing in the shot department during the first three quarters, Hofstra held a 13-10 shot advantage in the final frame.

The Pride’s next matchup comes against the Yale University Bulldogs on Sunday, Sept. 4th at Hofstra Field Hockey Stadium at 1 p.m. 

Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics