On Sunday, Oct. 17, the Hofstra women’s soccer team concluded an uncharacteristic week of play at home with a 0-0 draw against the College of William & Mary, moving their record to 12-2-1.
“We were poor, both professionally and in our execution. It’s the first time in the last 25 games that I’ve been disappointed with this team,” said Hofstra head coach Simon Riddiough. “We didn’t handle adversity very well. The longer the game went on, the more frustrated we got and the more finger pointing occurred, and that’s very unlike us.”
Hofstra entered the game looking to correct course after being shutout in an upset loss to Northeastern University their last time out. But rather than taking a step forward and getting back to their winning ways, the Pride players instead tripped over their own feet and exacerbated their struggles.
As a team that began the week leading the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) in goals scored, Hofstra hasn’t been able to find the back of the net in their last 200 minutes of action against teams in the bottom third of the conference. The last time Hofstra was held scoreless in back-to-back games came when they lost to the University of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania State University at the start of the 2017 season.
“It’s the second game this week where we haven’t scored and that’s not because of the other team but more from a lack of quality on our part, and that’s just not Hofstra,” Riddiough said.
Amanda Ebbesson seemed to have found a quality scoring chance in the 82nd minute after she connected with Lucy Porter and Miri Taylor, but an offsides call negated what would have been the fifth-year midfielder’s third goal of the season and added on to Hofstra’s frustration.
“The longer we go without scoring, the more annoyed the girls get, and the more annoyed they get with each other,” Riddiough said. “This team hasn’t been in this situation probably in four years. Losing just isn’t something we’re used to. We all should’ve done better, including myself.”
If there is one thing to take away from a match that the Pride would otherwise like to forget, it’s the fact that players such as Cailey Welch and Emily Rose were able to come in off the bench and make an impact.
“A lot of our better players looked a bit jaded,” Riddiough said. “We wanted to give them a break and I thought all the people we brought in as substitutes impacted the game in a positive manner. That makes me more comfortable to make that decision in the next game.”
Hofstra’s next game takes place on Thursday, Oct. 21, on the road against another CAA rival in Drexel University.
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