All teams dream of winning a championship. Some are lucky enough to win back-to-back. The Hofstra Pride women’s soccer team, however, is looking to four-peat as Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) champions and return to the NCAA tournament once again.

In a unique season shaped by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Pride has more than just a ring on their minds as they remain thankful for the opportunity to play this season at all, even with the challenges it’s bringing. 

“We’ve had to step up and show a new level of resilience that we’ve never had to before,” said senior midfielder Lucy Porter. “It’s brought the girls together off the field and on the field in a closer way where we’re definitely more together and more excited for the season and how we’re lucky enough to even be playing.”

“Everything from now is a bonus. Being a senior, I honestly thought it was the end which makes this season more important to me,” Porter added.

With almost exactly 15 months since last season, the Pride will pick up where they left off as defending Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) champions in 2019, breaking countless records and winning accolades on their way to the second round of the national tournament. This season, they’re hoping to match their success and raise the bar even higher.

“Getting to the second round of the NCAAs, hosting the first round NCAA game, those were milestones which we hope to continue to do on a regular basis,” said Hofstra head coach Simon Riddiough in his W.B. Mason Coaches Report on Wednesday, Feb. 17.

This season marks the team’s 15th with Riddiough at the helm. In 2019 he was named CAA Coach of the Year.

Amid a season of uncertainty, Hofstra returns a core group of players including 10 of 11 starters from their 2019 campaign. That consistency and the players’ chemistry both on and off the field could prove to be a key advantage for the Pride.

“It’s a real benefit for us to know even though we’ve not had much training we still know how each other play,” Porter said. “We all really know each other thoroughly which I feel like a lot of other teams haven’t really had the chance to do.”

Among the starting 11 is Porter herself, the 2019 CAA Midfielder of the Year. Last season she set a Hofstra program record with 40 points in one season, including 16 goals and eight assists. Overall, she ranks fifth in program history with 33 goals and has already been named to the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List for the second year in a row.

Last fall, Porter trained with Lewes FC, a Championship side in England before returning for her final collegiate season.

“I’m definitely bringing back all the high intensity [from] training in [that] setting. We always have really replicated [that intensity] at Hofstra but it was that extra step up that was really exciting for me personally,” Porter said.

Among the team’s other returning leaders, both on the stat sheet and in the locker room, is Sabrina Bryan. Last season, the senior forward totaled 11 goals and 10 assists, earning herself the title of 2019 CAA Attacking Player of the Year. The Pennsylvania native was also named to the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List and was eligible for selection in the 2021 National Women’s Soccer League Draft.

“To just have one of [Porter and Bryan] back is unbelievable and to have them both is outstanding. As great as those two are, and they’re really tremendous players, they’re just fantastic people,” Riddiough said. “The best is yet to come from both of them I hope.”

Rounding out the starters are other members of a historic senior class including Lucy Shepherd and Jordan Littleboy, as well as younger teammates such as Miri Taylor and Anja Suttner.

“Anja Suttner, she’s potentially going to be one of the best players in our program’s history,” Riddiough said. Suttner, a sophomore defender from Germany, was both last season’s CAA  co-Defender of the Year and Rookie of the Year. 

The Pride also welcomes a handful of new players providing depth in all positions of the field, from freshman goalkeeper Katrine Thisgaard to winger Ellen Halseth, a sophomore transfer from Florida International University. 

“We’re looking forward to seeing them blossom,” Riddiough said.

Whether it be through senior leadership or energetic rookies hoping to make their mark, the competitive nature of Hofstra’s women’s soccer program is ever present in their past accomplishments. This year, it’s only getting more intense. 

“The competitive level is absolutely astronomical at the moment,” Riddiough said. “Their ability to challenge each other in an aggressive and competitive manner and still be friends when they get off the field, I think that’s a new stepping stone for our program.”

The Pride will look to take advantage of every opportunity they have as their regular season currently sits with only eight matches, four non-conference games and four conference matches, six of which they’ll host.

They started with cross-island rival Stony Brook University on Sunday, Feb. 21, and will end with Towson University on Saturday, April 10, with schedule changes subject to happen throughout the season.

With all the uncertainty in the world, the Pride is taking this season day by day.

“We’re all just going to take each game as it comes,” Porter said. “Each training session as it comes. We just have to do everything we can at the moment that we can control and hope that that’s enough to get the results.”  

However, it isn’t stopping them from always keeping their eyes on the prize. 

“This year is more important to me than the previous three. You want to go out on a high,” Porter said. “A lot of the senior class who are in the starting lineup feel the same way too.”

“I’d be lying to you if I said I didn’t think of the ring all the time but when it comes down to [the] season it’s definitely each day as it comes,” she added.

Another defining characteristic of the season is the lack of fans. Hofstra University’s Department of Athletics announced on Wednesday, Feb. 10, that there would be no fans in attendance at any home sporting events this spring in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“We love having our fans there and the pep band makes it such a great atmosphere for everyone,” Porter said. “It’s going to be a switch-up but we just need to deal with what we can.”

For Porter and her teammates, the lack of fans will require more of a
mental switch than a physical one.

“It can feel more like it’s just training and it doesn’t count as much. You’ve got to get it into your head that it is a game, it is important and prepare yourself as you would a normal game,” she said.

As the Pride gets set to play their 2020 season a few months late in 2021, they’re putting an emphasis on working hard and controlling what they can.  

“We need to focus on what we can control and ignore the things that are out of our control,” Porter said. “We can focus on how hard we work, what we put in, how intense the training is and that’s the most important thing.”

Hofstra kicked off the season with a 4-3 win against Stony Brook University Sunday, Feb. 21. The Pride will be back in action Thursday, Feb. 25 against Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Photo Courtesy of Adam Flash/The Hofstra Chronicle