Alyssa Parrella tallied four goals and two assists as she led Hofstra women’s lacrosse in a fiery comeback in which they cut a six goal deficit to two goals, but were unable to complete the effort. The Pride fell to No. 8 Towson University 15-11 on Friday night at Johnny Unitas Stadium.
Hofstra is now 8-7 overall and 2-3 in Colonial Athletic Association play. The Towson Tigers remain undefeated in the CAA and improved to 13-2 on the season.
The Pride jumped out to a 3-1 lead with 20:41 to play in the first half behind Parrella’s two goals and one from Alexa Mattera for a 3-0 scoring run. But the Tigers would answer with an even bigger scoring run of their own, scoring seven straight goals for an 8-3 lead with 4:26 left in the half. Carly Tellekamp scored four goals for Towson during the run, and a game-high seven goals on the night. With 1:50 left on the clock, Carlee Ancona put an end to Towson’s dominance, but the Pride still trailed by four.
The Tigers opened the scoring again in the second half and extended their lead to 11-5 about 11 minutes in after halftime, but the Pride had a rally brewing.
Parrella began the comeback and was followed by Jenna Budd, Katie Whelan and Ancona. With the score at 11-9, it appeared Hofstra had a chance to upset Towson, but instead the Tigers crushed the Pride’s thoughts of a comeback and responded with three goals of their own. Ancona and Mattera scored two goals in the final 1:40 of the game, but Towson’s lead was too large for the Pride to overcome.
Parrella finished the night with her ninth hat trick of the season. She also tallied six more points to raise her career points total to 147, which is only two points shy of Rebecca Wales, who played from 1993-1997, and Janet Walsh, who played from 1996-2000, for ninth place on the Pride’s all-time scoring list.
Ancona also finished with her second hat trick of the season for the Pride. Whelan added two goals and two assists, which is a season high for her. She previously had one assist in several different games.
Mattera recorded a game-high seven draw controls, along with a pair of goals and Maddie Fields made 10 saves in the net for the Pride.
The Pride will return to the field on Sunday in Virginia where they face off against No. 4 James Madison University for a noon start.
