On Friday, Nov. 1, the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) will kick off the conference’s women’s soccer championship tournament that will conclude with the CAA championship game on Saturday, Nov. 9.
The slate of matches for Friday will include the No. 4- and No. 5-seeded teams in the conference going head-to-head as well as the No. 3 and No. 6 seeds. The matches will be held at the home fields of the No. 1- and No. 2-seeded teams, respectively. The semifinals will then take place on Nov. 3 between the winners of those matches and the first- and second-seeded teams.
Hofstra earned the No. 1 seed in the tournament, followed by No. 2 University of Delaware, No. 3 UNC-Wilmington, No. 4 Northeastern University, No. 5 Elon University and No. 6 James Madison University.
The 2019 iteration of the Pride has been one of the most successful in the 14-year tenure of head coach Simon Riddiough, boasting an impressive record of 12-3-2 with just one regular season game remaining. The team has not a lost a home game all year, going 6-0-1 at Hofstra Soccer Stadium, and has put together an unbeaten conference record of 7-0-2.
Entering the tournament, the Pride will look to claim their third CAA championship in as many years and their fifth under the helm of Riddiough. This feat would be a landmark achievement for the Pride and cement the squad’s status as a CAA dynasty. The team, comprised of many players who can already list CAA championships on their resumes, hopes to use their experience with tournament success to their advantage this year.
“I think [championship experience] is very important,” Riddiough said. “It’s been proven over the years. I think the mindset and mentality of a team going into playoffs is a huge advantage if you’ve been there and experienced it before, so I think it will help us down the stretch. Hopefully we’re at home and we can take care of business.”
Past success is no guarantee for a championship this season, however. The CAA has a number of teams that prove to be tough outs in championship play, including the stout defensive teams of UNC-Wilmington and the University of Delaware; as well as a team in Elon University that produces the second-most scoring in the conference, with just one fewer goal scored than the Pride this season prior to the teams’ final regular season matches.
“[The College of] William & Mary’s got Sarah Segan, who’s been one of the most dominant, if not the most dominant forward (in the CAA) over the last four years,” Riddiough said. “She’s a handful. There’s a plethora of good players [in the CAA]. I like [Audrey Harding] for Wilmington, I thought she was effective; Delaware’s got [Riley] Dixon, she’s effective; [Northeastern University] has [Chelsea] Domond; [James Madison University]’s got [Haley] Crawford. There’s plenty of teams who have one or two players who we have to game-plan for. I think we’re fortunate that we’ve got three or four, so that gives us a slight advantage.”
Those game-changing players for Hofstra include Lucy Porter, who leads the CAA in goals this season with 14; Miri Taylor, who’s accumulated the second-most points in the conference and second-most game-winning goals with four behind Porter’s five; Sabrina Bryan, who’s tied for second in the conference in assists made with nine; and Lucy Shepherd, right behind Bryan with eight assists for fourth-best in the CAA.
The importance of the home-field advantage that comes with securing the No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the CAA is not lost on Riddiough.
“[Earning the first or second seed] is extremely important for us,” Riddiough said. “Last year, we had to go up to Boston on a Friday and play Delaware. Then, playing Northeastern, they had a week’s rest and we had to play them after two days. Then we had to drive down to Harrisonburg, which is always a tough trip. If we can get the one or two seed, it eliminates quite a lot of that. It just makes your path to the NCAA [tournament] a lot easier and a lot less stressful on the team.”
Going into the 2019 season, two additions were made to the team’s coaching staff: Gerry Lucey, a former volunteer assistant, returned to the team as the associate head coach and Kelsey Yam took the responsibilities of assistant coach. Riddiough points to the contributions of the two newcomers as big factors in the Pride’s play this season.
“[Yam and Lucey] are both new to the staff, and I think they’ve both imparted a lot of positive information on the team,” Riddiough said. “I think the offensive output this year has been tweaked a little bit from last year, and I’ve got to give credit to [Lucey] for that, and [Yam]’s been putting in lots of work with our goalkeepers and has gotten them sharper. I think it’s always good to have different opinions and different ideas, especially when you’ve been doing this job for as long as I have, you always need to bounce ideas off of each other and this staff’s done a great job of that, and I’m excited moving forward.”
With the season nearing conclusion and the prospects of a three-peat and NCAA tournament berth on the horizon, the Pride must battle through fatigue and injury to maintain the momentum they’ve built through a successful regular season.
“It’s typical this time of year: we’re tired,” Riddiough said. “We’ve got some injuries. The players have worked hard. The weather’s changed. That puts a little bit of melancholy on the players’ attitudes, but they’re grinding. That’s how you can explain it – everybody’s grinding right now and they’re enjoying the grind. They’re a great group of players, and I think we just need to keep putting our foot down on the gas and make sure we get to the CAA finals and hopefully get to the NCAA [tournament].”
Images courtesy of CAA Sports/Anthony Roberts
