The Hofstra field hockey team was defeated 8-4 in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play by No. 12 ranked University of Delaware Blue Hens on Friday, Oct. 25, at the Hofstra Field Hockey Stadium. The Pride dropped to 6-10 (0-4 in CAA) on the season as Delaware improved to 11-3 (3-0 in CAA).
Cami Larsson led Hofstra with two goals, giving her nine goals this season – a team high. Djuna Slort scored her third goal in as many games and assisted on both of Larsson’s goals, while Madison Warfel added her seventh goal of the season.
Penalty corners have doomed Hofstra all season long and Friday was no different with Delaware’s first three goals of the match coming from the corner. Ashlyn Carr gave the Blue Hens the lead five minutes into the match, scoring off a rebound. Grace Hoepfner deflected a corner shot from Kerri McClay to extend it to 2-0 with just three seconds left in the opening quarter.
From the jump, the Pride were noticeably aggressive, trying to keep pace with the highly-ranked Blue Hens. Both teams pushed the ball at any chance given while also suffocating the ball handler on defense, creating a high-speed game full of interceptions and possession changes.
Warfel set the tone for Hofstra, constantly attacking early on and hunting for any opening to score or make a play. She found her chance to strike, scoring for the Pride just 44 seconds into the second quarter – but it was sophomore Haley Carter who found the senior midfielder after a heads-up play, quickly taking a free hit and catching the defense on their heels.
“That goal was actually created by Haley Carter,” said Hofstra head coach Courtney Veinotte. “Sometimes it’s a tough decision as a defender to stay up or drop off, especially at that range, [but] the defense dropped off and she found Warfel. It was a very well-executed play which we’ve been working on in practice, so it’s good to see that turnout.”
The Blue Hens responded 12 minutes later, giving Delaware a two-goal lead at the break as Femke Strien scored the first of her game-high three goals with just 2:05 left before halftime.
The Blue Hens opened the floodgates in the second half, scoring three goals in a 96-second span of time. McClay scored just 3:21 into the third quarter and before the Pride even realized it, Hoepfner and Grace Miller added two more to put Hofstra in a 6-1 hole.
Merlijn van der Vegt, who had not allowed more than four goals since her debut against Monmouth on Wednesday, Sept. 4, was pulled in the third quarter as Veinotte was looking for any way to stop the bleeding as quickly as possible.
“I wouldn’t blame it fully on her, I think she still had eight saves,” Veinotte said. “It was a hard six minutes [and] our midfield was very disorganized. I made a couple changes to try and settle things and one was just [van der Vegt] in the net.”
Both sides added two more in the final period; Strien scored just 1:43 into the quarter before completing her hat trick just four minutes later, putting the game out of reach for the Pride.
Larsson responded for the Pride with two nearly identical goals coming off of very well executed give-and-go’s with Slort just two minutes apart from each other. Those, along with Slort’s goal in the third, made Hofstra the first team to score in the second half against Delaware in any game this season.
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
