The Hofstra men’s soccer team scored two late second half goals to defeat the College of William & Mary Tribe 3-1 on Saturday, Oct. 19. The Pride notched their first win in their last four games and improved to 6-6-1 on the season, as well as 3-2-1 in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play. William & Mary dropped to 4-7-2 and 2-2-1 in conference play.

The first twenty minutes of play was controlled by William & Mary, as they generated plenty of scoring chances and registered two shots to Hofstra’s none. The Pride turned the tables at the 20:27 mark and turned their first shot on goal into a 1-0 lead. Stefan Mason sent a cross in front of the goal and George O’Malley headed it in at the far post for his third goal of the season.

The Tribe nearly tied it four minutes later when Alexander Levengood took a hard shot towards the left corner of the goal, but was stopped by a diving Alex Ashton. The Pride responded with an attack of their own as Adam Savill found Matthew Vowinkel with a great pass in front of the goal, but Vowinkel left the shot wide.

William & Mary finally got on the board at 57:59 after Julian Ngoh had space in front of the goal and sent a shot past the past a diving Alex Ashton. The Tribe continued to control on offense and nearly took the lead three minutes later, but Ashton denied Ngoh of his second goal of the game on a tough shot that almost got over his head.

Hofstra scored a clutch late goal at 79:59 by Jesse Schleeper to retake the lead 2-1. Lennart Seufert took a deep shot towards the net that deflected off the goal post, but put in on the rebound by Schleeper for his first career goal.

 The Pride did not look back after that and got some insurance thanks to Petter Soelberg’s third goal of the season. Storm Strongin’s pass deflected off a Tribe defender right in front of Soelberg, who rocketed a shot past a diving Kieran Basket to the top left corner of the goal. With the goal, he tied Vowinkel for most goals this season for Hofstra.

Hofstra registered 13 total shots to William & Mary’s 10, and also lead in shots on goal five to four. Ashton had a strong game for the Pride by making three great saves, with two of them coming late in the game.

Hofstra returns home next Saturday, Oct. 26, when they take on the University of Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens in a crucial CAA matchup at 7 p.m.

Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics