The Hofstra Pride men’s soccer team brought their record above .500 for the first time this season on Tuesday, March 16 with a win over the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) Highlanders in Newark, NJ. The 2-1 victory featured Jason Ramirez and Matthew Vowinkel assisting one another for the Pride’s two goals of the match.

After the first half ended with both teams unable to put points on the board, Ramirez opened up the scoring by sending a shot into the upper right corner of the net off a pass from Vowinkel. The Pride’s 1-0 lead did not last long, however, as NJIT’s Regsan Watkins finally put the ball behind freshman goalkeeper Wessel Speel to tie the game up at 1-1 just 3:01 later.

Still knotted up with less than seven minutes to play, the Vowinkel and Ramirez connection proved to be too much for the Highlanders once again, as this time it was Vowinkel who broke the tie off of an assist from Ramirez. The goal gave Hofstra the lead, which they held until the final horn.

Vowinkel has found the back of the net four times in five matches this season, including three goals over his two most recent outings. He also notched his second assist of the season in the match with the Highlanders. He leads the Pride with 10 points through the season’s first five matches.

Ramirez, in contrast, earned his first points of the season against NJIT. The second-year player put in the first goal of his career against the Highlanders. He was aggressive coming off the Pride’s bench, taking three shots in the match. Ramirez is the only member of the Pride this season to tally points without starting in any match.

In goal for the Pride, Speel continued to wreak havoc on opposing teams’ attempts, making a career-high six saves against the Highlanders while allowing just one goal. He currently holds a season-long save percentage of .739, and he hasn’t finished a match below .667 since the Pride’s season-opener against Syracuse.

The box score tells a very different story from the match’s 2-1 result in favor of the Pride. The Highlanders outshot the Pride 24-12, taking seven shots on goal compared to Hofstra’s five. They also took five corner kicks while allowing just two from the Pride, and committed eight less fouls than Hofstra did, 15-7.

The Pride’s record improved to 3-2 with the win in their final non-conference match of the season. They have three matches of Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play remaining on the schedule, starting off with a trip to Boston, MA to face Northeastern University on Sunday, March 21.

Photo courtesy of Evan Bernstein/The Hofstra Chronicle