The Hofstra men’s soccer team defeated the University of Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens in convincing fashion on Saturday, Oct. 26, with a score of 5-0. The Pride won their second straight game, moving to 7-6-1 on the season and 4-2-1 in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play. Delaware suffered their fifth loss in a row and dropped to 2-8-3 overall and 1-4-2 in CAA play.
Hofstra kicked off to start the first half, but Delaware saw an early chance in the opening seconds. After they failed to get a shot on goal, Hofstra quickly regained possession of the ball and started to keep control. They generated plenty of chances in the first 15 minutes, keeping the ball on the offensive side of the pitch.
A foul from Delaware’s Alvin Halley set Hofstra up with a free kick in the 17th minute. Storm Strongin sent the free kick into the box where it was batted around until Frederik Rieper found the back of the net for his fourth goal of the season to put the Pride up 1-0.
“I think Rieper was our best player today,” said Hofstra head coach Richard Nuttall. “I thought he won a lot of headers and he came through and was commanding.”
Delaware tried to even things up, but a shot from Mark Battle was not enough as the momentum shifted back to Hofstra. Oscar Ramsay set Strongin up with a breakaway opportunity and Strongin would fire a rocket near post for his third goal of the season to put the Pride ahead 2-0 in the 22nd minute.
Hofstra kept putting pressure on the Delaware defense for the rest of the half but could not capitalize. Delaware almost made an own goal to give Hofstra a 3-0 lead, but the score would stay 2-0 as the first half came to an end.
Halftime saw members of the 1985 Hofstra men’s soccer team being honored for Alumni Night at the stadium. The team, coached by Tom Lang, went 11-6 and won the East Coast Conference championship after defeating Delaware 1-0 in eight overtimes.
Matthew Vowinkel put on a clinic in the second half, blowing the game wide open for the Pride. A corner kick from Strongin sent the ball into the penalty box before eventually being knocked in by Vowinkel to make it 3-0 in the 47th minute.
Two more shots from Ramsay and Etienne Botty would put more pressure on Delaware goalkeeper Renan Thomazo, until Vowinkel found the back of the net again in the 57th minute to make it 4-0 Pride.
Another corner kick in the 65th minute from the Pride’s Adam Savill gave Vowinkel the hat trick and his ninth goal of the season to extend the lead to the eventual final score of 5-0.
Delaware would finish the game with zero shots on goal and four shots overall. Hofstra finished with 14 shots on goal and 18 shots overall.
“I think we worked hard,” Nuttall said. “[I’m] just pleased with our work ethic.”
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
