The Hofstra Pride women’s lacrosse team got themselves back in the win column against the Villanova University Wildcats with a 12-9 victory on Saturday, March 13, at the James M. Shuart Stadium.
It was a sunny day in Hempstead as the Pride was looking to get back on track after a recent tough loss to the University at Albany.
The Pride struggled early, finding themselves down by three goals early in the first half causing head coach Shannon Smith to call a timeout.
After a fourth Wildcat goal, Alyssa Parrella put the Pride on the scoreboard with her first goal of the game. Not long after, she followed up with her second goal, putting Hofstra at a two-goal deficit. Grace Langella and Alexa Mattera continued the Pride’s scoring with a goal each, tying the Pride with the Wildcats at four apiece.
The Pride’s offense was taken over by Parrella for the rest of the afternoon. The captain closed out the first half on an individual three-goal run, giving Hofstra seven total goals in the first half.
Heading into halftime, the Pride held a two-goal lead due to Haley Driscoll finding the back of the net in the final seconds of the first.
Parrella opened up scoring in the second half with her sixth goal of the day, but the Wildcats responded with Kayla Gulmi finding the back of the net.
After Parrella netted her seventh goal to give the Pride a three-goal lead, the Wildcats stormed back. In the run, Driscoll chipped in two goals with Brittany Bruno adding one, tying the game at nine.
With time dwindling down, Parrella rose to the occasion and helped the Pride secure the win with three unanswered goals as the Pride went on to defeat the Villanova Wildcats 12-9.
Jess Smith got the win for the Pride; she added five saves on the day. Shannon Boyle led the Pride in the groundball category with four, while Mattera led the Pride with two assists in the afternoon.
Parrella is close to breaking the CAA all-time points record. Currently, she has 318 points to rank second all-time in conference history. Saturday’s game was the 16th time in her career she has had six or more goals.
“Our scout defense doing whatever they can to prepare us for the game really helped,” Parrella said.
“We [have] a lot to work on defensively, offensively, clearing, riding, goalkeeper; we [have] a lot to focus on in the beginning of the week, and then we’ll, as a coaching staff, come up with our game plan for Boston College,” Smith said.
The Pride, now 3-1, will play next against Boston College in Hempstead on Saturday, March 20.
Photo courtesy of Adam Flash/The Hofstra Chronicle
