All season, the Hofstra women’s lacrosse has been led offensively by Alyssa Parrella and Katie Whelan, but recently a new scoring threat has appeared on the team in freshman midfielder Amanda Guerra.
While still new to the team, Guerra has established herself as a scorer that the team can turn to as of late. After not scoring in her first five games of the season, Guerra scored in four straight games between March 30 and April 14, and has brought her season total up the 10 goals, along with also gaining more playing time during the goal streak.
The scoring streak began back on March 30, when Guerra scored three goals at Columbia University for both her first collegiate goal and her first collegiate hat-trick. The Pride defeated Columbia 13-8. During the game she registered three shots as well, which is the second most in her career.
“I was really excited about it,” Guerra said. “But it was really a team win because we all worked hard that whole week to get that win.”
Guerra never forgets her teammates and that’s what she says motivates her. She mentioned how the team as a whole works as one cohesive unit and also motivates each other every day. It is this motivation and togetherness that she says makes her better every day and helped spark the goal streak.
“We all pick each other up when we’re down … Since the fall I’ve been trying to help the team as much as I can … It means a lot with this team behind me,” Guerra said.
A week later, Guerra scored in two more games with a goal versus the College of William and Mary, which Guerra felt was one of her best games besides the Columbia game because of her contributions to help the team win 14-11, and another goal at Elon University where the Pride came back after being down by more than four goals at one point to win 10-6.
“We’re starting to get into conference play … I’m really trying to help the team win and get them riled up,” Guerra said.
Guerra and the rest of the team have started Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play off with a bang as they went 2-1, while also receiving votes ranked No. 18 on the NCAA Women’s Lacrosse RPI Poll as well.
To Guerra she knew the conference games were huge and mentioned how she “needed a little time to spark up” before she began the torrid goal streak she is currently on.
But for Guerra, she was not always a key contributor. She has played in all 11 games, none as a starter, and still has yet to produce any assists for the team.
“You can step up, even though you haven’t really been out there,” Guerra said. “It means a lot for the team.”
Guerra aims to keep her head up and motivate herself to be as big as an influence she can be coming in as a substitute player during the game.
Against No. 11 James Madison University on April 14, Guerra had another personal best performance as she totaled six shots with four on target for new season highs. Guerra scored two critical goals that helped the Pride nearly edge the Dukes before the Pride fell in double overtime 9-8.
She scored another three goals against Delaware on April 21.
As for the Pride’s lone remaining CAA game, Guerra hopes to continue her recent success.
“Play as hard as you can with the time that you get,” Guerra said. “Get the team win out of every game.”
Image courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
