The Hofstra Pride women’s lacrosse team was officially eliminated from Colonial Athletic Association tournament contention after dropping a hard-fought game to No. 4 James Madison University 15-10.

The contest was Hofstra’s second road game against a ranked opponent in a row after Hofstra lost to No. 8 Towson 15-11. In this game, the Dukes got out to an early advantage with four straight goals in the first 10 minutes of the game. Alyssa Parrella finally got the Pride on the board thereafter, but the Dukes would answer with four more goals to pull ahead 8-1. 

Hofstra would outscore James Madison 9-7 in the final 40 minutes of the game, but it was ultimately too little, too late for the Pride.

Hofstra put together its late game surge despite struggling at the draw circle (7-4 James Madison advantage in the second half). Hofstra also had fewer groundballs over that stretch, but the Pride were able to succeed thanks to a massive decrease in turnovers (13 in the first half, 3 in the second), and efficient shooting (12 of 14 shots were on goal). Even when Hofstra was down by half a dozen goals on the road against a top-5 opponent, the Pride made improvements to try to claw back into the game before falling just short.

The loss, combined with the other CAA results from Sunday, pushed the Pride just outside of the playoff picture. At 2-4, Hofstra is just behind #4 seed Delaware at 2-3. At 8-8 overall and 2-4 in conference play, Hofstra has the same record that the team produced last season.

Parrella officially crossed the 50-goal plateau with her four scores and she now has 53 on the year. The sophomore is also now just one of 11 players in Hofstra history with 100 career goals. With one game left to play, Parrella has the same number of points she finished last season with: 76. Even though the Pride will miss the playoffs this season, Parrella should be square in the discussion for CAA Player of the Year. Her 76 points are currently eight more than Kristen Gaudian of James Madison.

Although Hofstra is out of the playoff picture, the squad has one game left to play. The Pride will close out the regular season on Thursday with a home matchup against No. 19 High Point with first draw control set for 7 p.m. Hofstra is 0-4 against ranked opponents this season, but the Pride need a win to secure their first winning season since 2015.