On a cold Saturday Feb. 22 morning, the Hofstra Pride women’s lacrosse team came out with a 17-13 win over the Fairfield University Stags at home in James M Shuart Stadium.
“Obviously really great to get another win under our belt,” said Hofstra head coach Shannon Smith. “I thought we were very dominant on the draws which was impressive to us.”
The Pride started the game with fireworks when it scored just 13 seconds in thanks to a quick goal from Florida transfer Sabrina Cristodero.
“I mean, once that first goal was in, the momentum [started] picking up,” Cristodero said when asked about her first goal. “I’m thinking, ‘we can do this.’”
The Pride scored four more goals before the Stags got their first goal of the game at the 20:49 mark thanks to a low corner shot from Meaghan Graham that beat Pride goalie Jess Smith.
The Pride responded with another goal of its own when sophomore Erin Demek got her second goal of the season off a free position shot after taking a hard foul inside the box to make it 6-1.
Fairfield responded with three goals before the end of the half to make it four, but the Pride scored four of its own to make it 10-4 at the end of the first half. Erin Demek, Alyssa Parrella, Katie Whelan and Kelly Horning scored the goals for the blue and gold.
At the start of the second half, history was made when Darcie Smith won her 201st draw control which now gives her the most draw controls in Hofstra Pride women’s lacrosse history.
The Pride continued capitalizing off the record-breaking draw control when it scored the first goal of the half just three minutes in thanks to a speedy shot from Alyssa Parrella into the top left corner of the Fairfield net.
“Our offense has put a lot of work in during the offseason, and to have multiple threats is exciting,” Smith said. “Go ahead and face guard Alyssa; she has three goals, but we have seventeen.”
The Stags scored back-to-back to make it 6-11 with goals from Camryn Dera and Diana DeVita respectively, but the Pride then responded with three of its own from Amanda Guerra, Taylor Mennella and Grace Langella who got her fifth of the game.
“I was just really excited going into today’s game,” said Langella. “Putting the extra work in has really helped us click.”
The teams continued to exchange punches with each other up until the end of the game when Fairfield scored two goals in the final 35 seconds to make it 13-17. However, the Stags still fell short as the Pride held on for the win.
“Hats off to Fairfield, they play a really tough game,” said Coach Smith. “I’m just really excited to get our third win and [have] a full week of practice ahead of us.”
Next for the Pride, the team heads on the road for most of March when it travels through Maryland to face Johns Hopkins University and the defending champions No. 3 University of Maryland Terrapins.
“We’re going through the gauntlet in March,” Smith said. “I think we have a really strong strength of schedule and it’s going to prepare us for our conference games in April.”
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
