The Hofstra University field hockey team fell to the University of Maine Black Bears 4-1 on Sunday, Oct. 1, less than 24 hours after their 1-2 loss to Drexel University. The Pride’s record falls to 4-6 overall and 0-1 in Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) play after the weekend.
The Black Bears got off to a quick start with a goal just under the two minute mark. The goal came off a penalty corner by Maine, with Kate Richardson sending the ball over goalie Pieke Roos’s left shoulder. Roos, who came into the game after making an impressive 19 saves the day before, played for the whole game once again, making nine saves in this game.
Hofstra was quick to respond to Maine’s early goal, evening the score in the eighth minute with a goal by Silvia Vetter after she redirected a shot from Samantha Spera. The action continued in the first quarter, with Maine scoring once again to take the 2-1 lead.
“It’s tough,” said Hofstra head coach Courtney Veinotte. “It’s one thing if it’s just a sole back-to-back game, but it’s the two overtime periods that do it. I knew it was going to be kind of a battle to get these guys going, not only physically. It was an emotional game, an emotional lose.”
Maine earned one more goal before halftime with Kate Richardson tipping the ball in off her teammate’s shot and making the score 3-1.
The third and final quarters of the game saw the Pride’s fatigue set in, with the team taking only three shots in both periods compared to seven in the first two. The Black Bears ended the game with 21 shots, 12 of which came in the last two quarters.
Early into the final quarter at the 46th minute, Maine scored their final goal off a rebound from Roos’s initial save to make the score 4-1.
As for the Pride’s offense, Spera, Vetter and Jamie Mc Millan each earned two shots. After their loss to Drexel, Veinotte talked about controlling the speed of the offense.
“I think today, when you have top level players at top speed, you have to start playing balls into space to allow them to get to that ball,” Veinotte said. “I think they did a really good job connecting to each other in that attack transition style, and they weren’t playing direct pass-to-pass and right to the ball, they were putting the ball into space, which allows that deceleration to happen so they can receive it controlled.”
The Pride will take on the College of William & Mary in their next CAA matchup on Friday, Oct. 6, at 6 p.m. in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Photo Courtesy of Jon Reiss/Hofstra Athletics
