The Hofstra Pride women’s soccer team clinched the regular season Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) championship on Sunday, Oct. 27, with a 2-1 victory over the College of William & Mary Tribe at Martin Family Stadium at Albert-Daly Field. The Pride concluded the regular season with an unbeaten streak of 13 straight matches.
The Pride got the scoring started in the 21st minute. Skylar Kuzmich booted the ball upfield where it found Lucy Porter who then sent a seam pass to Sabrina Bryan. Bryan dribbled all the way into the box, cut back to the middle, and sent a knuckler off of her right foot that fooled keeper Katelyn Briguglio and found the back of the net.
The lead held for 18 minutes before a defensive error caused an own goal. The Tribe came in on a two-on-one break and tried a cross to Charlotte Hyland. Hofstra’s Anja Suttner slid to break up the pass, but in doing so, accidentally knocked the ball in her own goal, as Kuzmich was moving the other way to prepare for a shot off the cross.
The match was tied heading into halftime, but it didn’t take long for Hofstra to take the lead in the second. Under four minutes in, Lucy Porter found an outlet pass out of the defensive end and sent a seam pass right to the foot of Miri Taylor. Taylor took a few steps to the top of the box, cut back towards the middle to evade a defender and rifled a left-foot shot to the bottom right corner, out of the reach of a diving Briguglio. It was Porter’s second assist of the match and seventh on the year.
That’s all the scoring the Pride would need, as the defense was lockdown the rest of the way. The Tribe managed just one shot on goal, which Kuzmich stopped. Sabrina Bryan’s goal was her seventh of the season, good for third on the team. She also extended her point streak to eight matches.
Miri Taylor finished the regular season second on the team in goals with nine, a career-high, and a goal in each of the final four matches. Lucy Porter reached 35 points on the season, tying Carlene Wawrzonek’s 1994 season for fourth-most in Pride history. She needs two more to catch the third place holder, Sam Scolarici, who had 37 in 2014.
The Pride won the CAA regular-season title for the second time in the past three seasons and the fourth time under head coach Simon Riddiough. The team also went undefeated in conference play for the second time in three seasons and the third time during Riddiough’s tenure.
The Pride begin their conquest for their third straight CAA Tournament title on Sunday, Nov. 3, when they host the winner of the match between the No. 4 seeded Northeastern University and the No. 5 seeded Elon University in the CAA Tournament Semifinals.
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
