After 457 days without a match, the Hofstra women’s soccer team finally took the field on Sunday, Feb. 21, kicking off the 2021 season and the team’s pursuit of a fourth-straight Colonial Athletic Association championship, starting with a win over the Stony Brook University Seawolves by a score of 4-3 at the Hofstra Soccer Stadium.

The latest edition of the Long Island Rivalry resulted in the Pride’s first win of the season. Lucy Porter led the way with two goals, both of which came within 10 minutes of each other to give Hofstra a 4-2 lead 18 minutes into the second half. Her first goal came off of assists from Sabrina Bryan and Amanda Ebbesson, while her second goal just 7:32 later was set up by Lucy Shepherd following a well-placed corner from Bryan.

Miri Taylor earned the honor of scoring the Pride’s first goal of the season, tying up the game 1-1 just before halftime, capitalizing on a lead pass from freshman Louise Hayden who tallied an assist in her first game with the Pride. 

Bryan rounded out Hofstra’s goal-scorers, tying the game up at 2-2 when she took a Stony Brook defender 1-on-1 on the left side of the box. Bryan created space and got around the defender to set up a clean shot at the goal, and she placed her shot just out of the reach of Seawolves’ goalkeeper Emerson Richmond Burke.

“It was good and exciting for the team to get the chance to play, and I just thought, overall, beating Stony Brook is always a positive,” said Hofstra head coach Simon Riddiough.

Hofstra maintained a formidable attack throughout the match, taking nine shots on goal and 16 shots total. The offensive load was spread among the Pride’s premier scorers, with Porter, Shepherd and Bryan taking four shots each, along with three shots by Taylor and one from Krista Agostinello.

Hofstra goalkeeper Skylar Kuzmich let three balls past her while corralling one shot from the Seawolves, while Stony Brook’s Richmond Burke had a much heftier load, making five saves on the Pride’s nine shots on goal.

“Are there places where we can improve? Most definitely,” Riddiough said. “Defending set pieces, we need to get better at. [Having] a little more aggression to attack the ball, we need to get better at.”

The Seawolves, helmed by head coach Tobias Bischof who spent eight years on the Pride’s coaching staff, struck first when Chelsie DePonte sent a lead pass ahead of the Pride’s back four, setting up Alyssa Francese for the first goal of the match 15 minutes in. DePonte regained the Seawolves lead 4:52 after halftime when she sent in Kimmy Chavkin’s free kick. 

After the Pride responded with three goals in 9:25, the Seawolves trailed by two until Mari Brenden converted on a penalty kick with just under 10 minutes to play. Despite taking a corner kick at the 85:27 mark, the Seawolves were unable to create any more scoring opportunities following Brenden’s goal.

“It’s good for momentum,” Riddiough said, “it’s good to take off where we left off, and hopefully we can maintain this moving forward for [Fairleigh Dickinson University] on Thursday.”

After the season-opening win, the Pride will look to build upon their success on Thursday, Feb. 25, when they host Fairleigh Dickinson University for another non-conference matchup at 7 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Adam Flash/The Hofstra Chronicle