The Hofstra University women’s lacrosse team is having their best start in 12 years with their 17-11 win over Fairfield University on Saturday, Feb. 22.
Nikki Mennella continued her scorching hot start to the season with a game-high five goals and three assists. Julia Harris matched Mennella with a career-high five goals for her first career hat trick.
Mennella leads the team with 24 points in just three games played this season, leading the team with 12 assists. She is also tied with Kayleigh Bender for the team lead in goals with 12 each.
Bender, Kristen Redding, and Kate Lemery each scored two goals, while Megan Flannery added a goal of her own for the Pride.
The Pride has now started 4-0 for the fourth time in program history and the first time since 2013 which was also head coach Shannon Smith’s first season with the program.
The Pride scored the first five goals of the game in just over four minutes. Mennella scored her first goal just under five minutes into the first quarter. Redding scored back-to-back goals 45 seconds apart before Harris earned her first goal with just over six minutes to go in the quarter.
Mennella wasted no time scoring her second goal, winning the draw control and scoring just 11 seconds later as the Pride finished the first quarter up 5-1. She finished with 11 draw controls on the day, the most by a member of the Pride since Kerry Walser had 12 against Drexel University on April 27, 2024.
Flannery and Harris each scored to bring the match score to 7-2 before Mennella completed her hat trick about 18 minutes in. Harris joined her with her third goal about nine minutes later as the Pride entered halftime leading 9-3.
The Pride looked to be on their way to another blowout win as Mennella, Lemery and Harris extended the lead to 14-5 with just under five minutes to play in the third quarter. However, the Stags found their footing on offense, outscoring the Pride 6-3 the rest of the game.
Fairfield’s Grace Slater led her side with four goals in the game, trailed by Amanda Kozak with three goals.
Christine Dannenfelser led the Hofstra defense with three caused turnovers, while Brynn Hepting had two of her own. They each had a yellow card late in the fourth, leading to two goals for Fairfield to cut the Hofstra lead to 16-11 with just under five minutes to play.
Despite the sloppy defense down the stretch, the Pride held on as Harris iced the game with her fifth goal to reach the final score of 17-11.
Hofstra will look for their first 5-0 start in program history when they travel to Princeton, New Jersey, to take on Princeton University on March 1. The first draw is set for noon.
