By Joe Pantorno, Assistant Sports Editor
Inside Champions Bar and Grill at the Marriott on Hempstead Turnpike, the Hofstra University women's soccer team discovered that it would be playing the University of Connecticut in the NCAA Tournament on Friday Nov. 12 in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts on the campus of Boston College.
The 18-2 Pride will be facing a 10-9-3 UConn side that lost in the Big East conference semifinals against West Virginia. Connecticut has taken down some big programs like Notre Dame in the conference quarterfinals and a strong Illinois side.
"We're always excited just to make it to the tournament," said Hofstra head coach Simon Riddiough. "It will be the third time in five years that we've made it so you can't take anything for granted."
"We're really excited and it should be a tough match up," said junior forward Laura Greene. "It should be a tough game and should be pretty evenly matched and hopefully we can get out if it and play BC [Boston College] next."
Just a day removed from having its NCAA leading win streak snapped in the Colonial Athletic Association final loss to James Madison University, who will be playing the University of Texas in the first round, the squad is keen on moving forward and preparing for UConn.
"Tomorrow we have to let this [the loss to JMU] all go behind us," said Greene. "We'll pick it up tomorrow, we'll be back to normal, we won't worry about this loss anymore, it doesn't matter anymore because we're in a new season now."
"The good thing is we're playing at BC," said Riddiough. "We've been there before, it's a surface that is preferable to us, it's a turf surface so there is a familiarity which is always good and I like Boston this time of year so that's nice as well and if we can extend the week to play BC in the Sunday game that would just be awesome."
Members of the Hofstra women's soccer team watch the NCAA tournament selection show on Monday afternoon. (Sean M. Gates/The Chronicle)