Women’s soccer, No. 2 in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), fell 1-0 in a battle against the CAA leader Northeastern at home on Thursday, Oct. 4.

Northeastern forward Chelsea Domond gave the Huskies a one-goal advantage after scoring midway through the first half. Domond maneuvered around two Hofstra defenders and put the ball over the hands of Hofstra goalkeeper Jenna Borresen in the 26th minute.

“Their chance was a half chance which we did not deal well with,” said head coach Simon Riddiough. “Our defenders should have dealt with that. It is a game of inches, and sometimes you fall on the bad side of it, and sometimes you are on the good side of it.”

Hofstra tried to respond to Domond’s goal with two scoring opportunities in the first half, but both were shut down by Northeastern goalkeeper Nathalie Nidetch.

In the second half, Hofstra applied more pressure and outshot the Huskies 11 to seven. Although they had five scoring opportunities, the Pride could not manage to find the back of the net.

Due to the increased pressure in the second half, Hofstra finished the game with a total of 20 shots compared to Northeastern’s 13.

In one of the last scavenging attempts, Pride forward Sabrina Bryan charged down the field in a breakaway but was taken down by two Northeastern defenders, shutting down a Hofstra opportunity with 15 minutes left to go in the contest.

As the second half was coming to a close, Hofstra took every opportunity to score but could not get past Nidetch.

“We got 20 shots, that’s a lot of shots for Hofstra,” Riddiough said. “It’s just a matter of if we can put them away, and that is what we will be focusing on. We have got to buckle down and focus on Sunday’s game and get back in the playoff race. It just wasn’t meant to be today.”

For the first time this season, Borresen remained in the net for the entire game and made three saves. She has allowed two goals this season and four goals in her 33 career games.

With the loss, the Huskies end a four-game Hofstra win streak in the CAA matchup, setting the all-time record between the two teams at 14-8-2 in favor of Hofstra.

The Pride are now 9-5 overall, with their conference record dropping to 3-2 as they fall two spots down in CAA standings, landing in fourth behind James Madison.

Northeastern remains at the top of the conference with a five-game win streak since CAA play began.   

Up next, the Pride will be home again on Sunday to play sixth place William & Mary (2-2) at 1 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Cam Keough