Just three days after opening up the season with an impressive 15-goal performance at Bucknell, the Hofstra women’s lacrosse team continued its torrid offensive pace on Tuesday, scoring early and often in a 14-10 victory over Wagner College at James M. Shuart Stadium.
“I think it’s exciting that we were able to go and get another win out there,” said Hofstra head coach Shannon Smith following the victory.
After surrendering a goal just 13 seconds into the contest, the Pride responded with a run of six consecutive goals, all in the first ten minutes of the contest.
At the center of it all yet again was freshman Alyssa Parrella. After putting everyone on notice during Saturday’s opener with five goals, Parrella was in fine form again on Tuesday, scoring three goals and assisting on three more.
“The older girls around me have made it so easy for me to come in and be comfortable,” Parrella said after the win.
But it wasn’t just Parrella shouldering the load on offense. She had plenty of help from veterans Becky Conto and Drew Shapiro, each of whom tallied a hat trick of their own to help put this game into the win column for the Pride, who improves to 2-0 on the season.
Carlee Ancona and Lexi Lenaghan added two goals apiece, while freshman Alexa Mattera scored her first career goal in Tuesday’s victory.
“We want to have a scoring offense where we have multiple threats,” Scott said. “I think we’ve done that, but it’s still extremely early, and we need to continue to work hard.”
This disparity on the attack was something that the Pride was sorely lacking last season. While most opponents last season were able to key in on Lindsay Scott, this year’s Hofstra squad possesses way too many weapons for opposing defenses to keep up with, which has been the case through the Pride’s two victories this season.
On Hofstra’s six-goal run early in the first half, five different players were able to get in on the action. After Shapiro knotted the game at 1 just 13 seconds after Wagner’s opening goal, Parrella added her sixth goal of the season just a few seconds later.
For about the next 12 minutes, it was all Hofstra. Conto was very efficient on draw controls throughout the day, and when Wagner would get the ball, Hofstra’s defense would give the Seahawks very little room to work with, forcing turnovers and setting up the Pride attack.
However, once Wagner broke the Pride’s streak with a goal from Olivia Streilein, the Seahawks ran off an impressive four-goal streak of their own to pull within a goal of the lead.
True to the streaky nature of Tuesday’s contest, the Pride responded with three more goals, and would ultimately take a 9-6 lead into halftime.
The scoring wasn’t as frequent in the second half, but the runs were still there. Hofstra would use one final scoring outburst to put itself up 12-7 with 18 minutes to go, and from there, Hofstra kept the Seahawks at bay for the remainder of the period.
Parrella would put the finishing touches on her hat trick with 11:44 to play. The freshman is now up to 13 points through her first two collegiate games.
Next up for the Pride is a trip to Connecticut to square off with Fairfield University on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 3 p.m.