On Sunday, Oct. 2, the Hofstra women’s soccer team lost to the Northeastern University Huskies 2-1 at Parsons Field in Brookline, Massachusetts. Hofstra now sits ninth in the Colonial Athletic Association with an overall record of 6-5-2 and a conference record of 1-2-1.
The Pride had a strong offensive attack early in the first half of the game. At the 0:46 mark they earned a corner, but nothing came from the set piece, and the game turned over to the Huskies.
Northeastern got onto the scoreboard first at 23:18. Defender Jane Kaull saved the ball from going out before she sent the ball toward the end line for forward Lauren Ahles.
Defender Anja Suttner attempted to clear the ball away from danger, but the clearance hit right off of Ahles and deflected right in the path of forward Vivian Akyirem.
Akyirem took one touch to put it past goalkeeper Skylar Kuzmich, who dove across the net to try and save the ball.
A little over 10 minutes later, the Pride found the equalizer. The ball was played into the box from the left flank, but it was initially cleared by a Huskies defender. Midfielder Thorhildur Thorhallsdottir took the initiative to receive the clearance, take the touch inside the box, and unleash the shot to the top right corner of the goal. Goalkeeper Holland Stam went for the top-hand save but fell short of the ball’s fast pace.
Coming back from halftime, Northeastern got their second goal of the match. Defender Louise Hayden went for ball possession but went too hard for it, resulting in a penalty kick for the home team. Midfielder Jessie Hunt slotted the ball past Kuzmich, who went the other way.
Although the scoring ended there, the fouling from both sides was persistent. Each team earned a yellow card in this stretch: Northeastern’s Alexis Legowski and Hofstra’s Olivia Pearse.
One final push for a goal came in the final seconds of the match. Midfielder Wiktoria Fronc went one-on-one against the goalkeeper and shot the ball past Stam. The ball seemed to roll into the net, but a Huskies defender cleared the ball off the line at the last moment to deny Fronc a goal.
Hofstra ended the game with 18 total shots and eight corner kicks, compared to Northeastern’s 13 total shots and two corner kicks. Kuzmich ended with three saves and Stam with nine in the match.
The next time Hofstra takes the pitch will be on the road against the Drexel University Dragons on Thursday, Oct. 6, at 7 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Evan Bernstein/Hofstra Chronicle