By Joe Pantorno, Assistant Sports Editor
Saturday, Oct. 30 brought an extraordinary regular season to a close as the Hofstra University women's soccer team laced up for a finale against rivals Northeastern University.
Looking to extend on its 16 game win streak and to record a perfect conference season of 11-0, the 16-1 Pride started the game flying.
Senior forward Salma Tarik could not convert a chance in the early minutes and in the sixteenth minute, a Northeastern defender handled the ball in the box for a Hofstra penalty kick.
Senior midfielder Tiffany Yovino, who coming into the game had scored eight goals in the past seven games, launched her shot straight into the stomach of Northeastern's diving senior keeper Sarah Fylak to keep the game scoreless.
"I was a little down on myself," said Yovino. "I think it took me out of the game for a little bit but my team got me going and my coach got me going."
Yovino would get back in the game later, but the first half ended with neither team able to find the net.
Junior forward Laura Greene saw her shot carom off the crossbar in the fifty-sixth minute and the Pride were able to put another three shots on target with no success.
It was Northeastern though that shocked the Pride with just 12 minutes left to play when junior forward Veronica Napoli poked her shot past the rushing Hofstra freshman goalkeeper Emily Morphitis to give the Huskies the lead.
"That's when I started questioning if it was meant to be," said Hofstra head coach Simon Riddiough. "I told the girls to keep their heads up, we'll start driving balls more in the box and we'll start finding half chances and creating chances."
Hofstra's domination finally paid off in the eighty-fourth minute when sophomore defender Amy Turner's long ball bounced in the box to the waiting feet of Yovino who sent the ball past Fylak and tied the game with six minutes left to play.
"Well, you start to say maybe this is our turn," said Riddiough. "In the emotions of the game, you go from ‘oh my goodness let's get the post game speech out' to ‘wow, here we go."
The first ten-minute period of overtime was uneventful until the final seconds when junior midfielder Courtney Breen's shot was cleared off the line by Northeastern junior defender Kelly Matthews.
The excitement at the end of the first overtime period carried right over to the second, as fans didn't have to sit in the cold for much longer.
In the first minute, senior defender Dana Bergstrom's cross could not be caught by Fylak as it bounced off her hands where it was run down by Yovino, who turned and half-volleyed the game winner into the net for Hofstra's seventeenth consecutive win and the exclamation point on a perfect Colonial Athletic Association season with an 11-0 record and a 17-1 record overall.
"It was amazing!" said Yovino. "It was a great feeling. I was just trying to get a foot on that ball and it was so hard but it was amazing and I want to re-live it."
"I've said it all year, this team never fails to surprise me," said Riddiough. "It's not all about talent and that's what showed today and that's what was great about today. The way we kept the unbeaten record, the way we got our eleventh win was so indicative of what this team is about. It was a perfect way to end the regular season."
The Pride will host Georgia State in the semifinals of the CAA Tournament on November 5 at Hofstra Soccer Stadium.