The Hofstra Pride field hockey team battled late, but their comeback attempt fell short as they lost at home to the No. 21 University of Delaware Blue Hens on Friday, Oct. 8, 3-2. Delaware received goals from Julia Duffhuis and Morgan Rigual, while Djuna Slort and Eline Oldeman scored for the Pride.
The loss dropped the Pride to 5-8 this season, with a 0-3 record in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play.
“[I’m] incredibly proud of our team and our development and our bounce-back from last weekend,” said Hofstra head coach Courtney Veinotte. “We’re in a tough conference, we know that. But I’m happy with our growth and what we’re putting together.”
After a first half controlled entirely by Delaware, the Pride bounced back, scoring both of their goals within 22 seconds of each other. They played significantly more aggressive in the third quarter, getting six penalty corners after not getting a single one in the first half. On the sixth one, they finally broke through, as Slort scored her second goal of the season.
Shortly after the first goal, Simryn Desai turned defense into offense, taking the ball from the Blue Hens and finding Oldeman for her fifth goal of the season.
“We could feel that the momentum in the game was shifting,” Veinotte said. “[We needed to] continue with doing the simple [things] and trusting that we could put together some attacking opportunities.”
In a late-game move, Veinotte pulled goalie Merlijn van der Vegt in order to get an advantage on the attack. It almost paid off, as Mercedes Currie pushed the tempo and nearly scored the game-tying goal. However, the shot was stopped by Lizzie Gaebel, securing the win for the Blue Hens.
The Blue Hens got the scoring going early in the game, with Duffhuis scoring on a penalty corner in the first five minutes. After a quiet remainder of the first quarter, Rigual scored the first of her two goals at the beginning of the second quarter. While they only recorded one more shot than the Pride in the half, they dominated, with the ball rarely leaving their attacking third.
In a battle between two of the top three saves leaders in the CAA, Gaebel and van der Vegt both impressed, despite only recording one save each. Both faced intense pressure, seeing a combined 11 penalty corners in the game. Out of those 11, only two resulted in goals.
“[van der Vegt] has really done a good job with making sure that they’re communicating and organizing the backfield and making key saves when they need to make key saves,” Veinotte said. “I’m really proud and Merlijn [van der Vegt] is a very stable goalkeeper that’s keeping us in games.”
The Pride look to get their first win of conference play on Sunday, Oct. 10, at home against Drexel University. They will be hosting their Senior Day.
Photo courtesy of Adam Flash/The Hofstra Chronicle
