By Kyle Kandetzki -- MANAGING EDITOR The Hofstra women’s lacrosse team saw their tournament hopes officially come to an end with a deflating loss to the Elon Phoenix Sunday, 12-5.
The Pride trailed by just two goals at halftime, but their offense would be shut out in the final thirty minutes to mathematically eliminate them from the CAA Tournament. A dejected head coach Shannon Smith lamented the loss coming on Senior Day for a key set of four players.
“[This is] really hard to swallow because you’ve got four seniors in that locker room that have made it to a conference tournament for the first three years of their career and we’re sitting here and their seasons could be over,” said Smith. “They’ve given everything to this program.”
Momentum seemed to have shifted Hofstra’s way when Carlee Ancona notched the final goal of the first half to bring the Elon advantage down to 7-5. But Hofstra only got off five shots in the second half, turned the ball over six times and allowed five unanswered scores.
The first half was a bit of a reversal of the second’s theme, with the offense responding again and again, but the defense couldn’t back things up.
Alexis Greene started the game in goal, but only lasted 23 minutes before being pulled. She surrendered seven goals while only making two saves. Maddie Fields played efficiently the rest of the way, making six saves and allowing five goals.
Elon made its first mark on the board one minute into the game on a speedy rush from Shelby Scanlin. Hofstra, though, responded right back with a Drew Shapiro strike 38 seconds later, followed by a Tiana Parrella score, both of which were assisted by Morgan Knox controlling the offense.
After two Phoenix scores to regain the lead, Lindsay Scott scored on an acrobatic shot parallel to the net to notch her 50th of the season, by far leading the conference. The same pattern followed this sequence via two more Elon goals and a free-position score by Scott, making it 5-4 with 13:09 left.
Before the game, Hofstra’s four seniors, Scott, Shelby Milne, Lindsey Alfano and Becky Conto were honored on Senior Day, their final game at James M. Shuart Stadium.
Hofstra’s final regular season contest comes on the road at Drexel on Apr. 30.