The Hofstra men’s soccer team’s 2020-21 season came to a crushing end on Saturday, April 17 as they fell to No. 18 James Madison University (JMU) in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championship.
The Pride and the Dukes each had several scoring opportunities throughout the match, but completed regulation at a scoreless tie. After five rounds of penalty kicks, JMU prevailed in the end to win their third consecutive CAA championship.
Despite Wessel Speel’s near-perfect performance in goal with eight saves, the Pride offense couldn’t take advantage and was held in check by JMU goalkeeper TJ Bush.
The Dukes opened the match with momentum offensively and sent several shots toward Speel. The freshman goalkeeper came up big and made one save, while another shot from Josiah Blanton clanked off the post.
Hofstra’s had its best scoring chance at 32:35 when Matthew Vowinkel sent a header toward the far post of the goal on a beautiful feed from Stefan Mason, but it went right into the hands of Bush.
JMU came out firing again in the second period and recorded four shots, two on goal, in the first 10 minutes. Later in the period, Speel made a great play sliding out of the goal area to cut down the angle on a wide-open shot from Ethan Taylor in the 54th minute.
JMU continued their strong offensive play in the period, as they outshot the Pride 8-2. In the 67th minute, Speel came up big again with a diving save on a header from Axel Ahlander.
The second period ended with both teams still stuck at zero, but JMU created several golden opportunities while the Pride struggled offensively.
Despite the offensive struggles for the Pride early on in the match, Ryan Carmichael was inches away from giving Hofstra the win in overtime. However, his blast was just tipped over the goal by a leaping Bush to keep the game scoreless.
With the match now in penalty kicks, the Pride and Dukes finally began to get shots past both goalkeepers. Alex Krakowiak opened the penalty kick round with a goal for JMU, and Hofstra’s Jack Nuttall immediately answered.
JMU took a 2-1 lead with a goal from Rodrigo Robles and a miss from Hendrik Hebbeker for the Pride. The Dukes hit their next two shots from Tyler Clegg and Luca Erhardt, and led 4-3 going into the fifth round.
Speel finally made a stop on a diving play to his right on Steve Foss to give the Pride one more shot at a tie, but Carmichael’s shot bounced off the crossbar and down away from the goal. With that, JMU was crowned champion for the third time.
Hofstra finished the season with a 5-2-3 overall record and a 2-0-2 record in CAA play. They finished in first place in the CAA North Division, while JMU finished first in the CAA South.
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
