Matching last year’s undefeated run to a Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championship was always going to be difficult for Hofstra’s women’s soccer team. Indeed, since joining the CAA in 2002, Hofstra was the first team to win every single conference game en route to a title. Head coach Simon Riddiough, now in his 13th year as head coach, said simply, “Last year’s run was a miracle run.”
As for this this year? Riddiough knows his team has a tougher road ahead, especially with this team no longer having the luxury of sneaking up their opponents. With the championship of last season behind them, the team now has a bullseye on their back as one of the league’s strongest opponents.
“The year before last we had a terrible year, so I think teams might have underestimated us last year, and we snuck up on a couple of teams. This year, that’s not going to be the case, being the preseason No. 1,” Riddiough said.
Fast forward to the middle of this season, and the Pride’s margin for error if they want to repeat as champions is nonexistent, having already lost two 1-0 nail biters to James Madison University and Northeastern University. Not only that, the pressure is on to simply get back into the playoffs, let alone repeat as CAA Champions.
“There’s always pressure, and they understand the importance of each game,” Riddiough said. “We take it one game at a time, but we know that William & Mary is a huge, huge game for us, and while we don’t have to win, winning would ease the next couple of fixtures.”
That pressure is a major part of trying to repeat the successes of last year, along with competing in Hofstra’s soccer program.
“Most of the pressure on our team is self-inflicted. [The players] know what to expect. They know the pressure,” Riddiough said. “That’s what comes when you commit to a program like ours, [that] traditionally has had a lot of success. They know what to expect, and we’re just going to take it one game at a time and claw our way back into the playoff picture.”
Not only are the Pride facing everyone’s best shot because they are coming off a championship season, but they’re doing so while integrating an astonishing 10 new players.
“We think it’s a really good class, and I think it’s going to be the bedrock of our program for the next three or four years,” Riddiough said. “We’ve got a young team … We’ve got 10 freshmen and seven sophomores. That’s two thirds of our team … We know we’re going to experience some hiccups, as you do when you’ve got young, inexperienced players at this level. But they’re going to grow from this year and they’re going to get better. The next few years are exciting for this program if we can fill in a couple of holes that we’re losing next year. We should be good for a while now.”
In particular, Miri Taylor from England accumulated 21 caps for England’s U15 and U17 national teams while also becoming the second youngest player ever to play for the Chelsea Ladies. She received significant recognition, as she was named the Medway Junior Sportsperson of the Year in 2017. So, as you might expect, she was a highly touted recruit coming into her freshmen year, and thus far, she’s been far from a disappointment.
“Miri’s a special player,” Riddiough said. “If she plays like she has been and continues to develop, she could be the CAA Player of the Year. She is that good. So, we’re excited about her future.”
In addition to Taylor, the Pride have other exciting young freshmen as well, which can only mean good things looking to the future. Taylor Curcio was named the Conference AA1 Player of the Year as a high school senior, and she earned All-Long Island and All-County selections, was named First-Team All-State honoree and was the 12 Sport Award winner the same year. She also earned three all-conference selections in her career. Krista Agostinello and Emily Rose are also two local products. Agostinello earned three All-League and All-Conference selections, while Rose was named to the All-Long Island Second Team and All-State Third Team as a senior.sai If these young players develop, they could be major contributors later in the season and help their team return to glory. While the Pride have had an excellent past, they look to have an equally as amazing future.
In the present, however, Hofstra is led by Lucy Porter, who’s No. 3 in the CAA in scoring, and Jenn Buoncore, who is No. 1 in the conference in assists. But what’s even more impressive is that the Pride have an astonishing 10 goal scorers this year. They pose a threat up and down their lineup, and any player could be the hero for any game. Having threats throughout the lineup is something that makes it easier on the Pride for multiple reasons.
“There’s two different ideologies about it. Obviously, teams always want the one star player who’s going to score the boatload of goals, and in the past we’ve had that, quite a few times,” Riddiough said.
“But the other side of it is having a good balance of goal scorers makes it more difficult for teams to stop us from scoring. We’re finding new ways to score, and we’re finding different ways to score, which is always important, especially as you get toward the end of the season when teams are scouting you. They can’t pick on one person and double that person because they don’t know where the goals are going to come from.”
Indeed, this approach seems to be working so far this season. Hofstra is in the top three in the CAA in shots, shots per game, shots on goal and shots on goal per game. And as a result of that, they’re second behind University of North Carolina Wilmington in both goals and goals per game, while also being second in both assists and assists per game. The Pride is the class of their league offensively, which bodes well down the line if they are to get where they want to go.
Currently, the Hofstra Pride are 9-5, including 3-2 in league play, which is good enough for No. 4 in their conference. Northeastern University, who just beat Hofstra this past Thursday night, sits out in front at No. 1. Hofstra has three games left after Sunday’s match with the College of William & Mary, beginning on the road at Drexel University on Thursday, Oct. 11, before traveling to Elon University next Sunday, Oct. 14, and then coming home to finish up the regular season against the College of Charleston.
Hofstra’s fate is entirely up in the air, and each game from here on out will be the most important game of the season. Only time will tell how the Pride respond and if they will make their way back to glory.
Photo courtesy of Cam Keough
