By Jeffrey Werner - STAFF WRITER
The Hofstra Pride field hockey team remained hot as they traveled to Columbia University to take on the Lions and came out with a 4-3 victory. This win was the Pride’s eighth straight and they improved their record to 10-3 on the season.
It didn’t take long for the Pride to take their first lead in the game. Just two minutes in, freshmen midfielder Madison Sauve was open when Claudia Marin-Samper passed her the ball and Sauve fired the ball past the goalie, her second goal of the season, to put the Pride up 1-0.
All the Pride defense needed to do was hold off the Lions offense until somebody on the offense scored again. It took nearly 32 minutes, but that somebody came in the form of freshmen forward Samantha Schlegel, who notched her fifth goal of the season with just a minute left to go in the half. Marin Samper was credited with another assist and the Pride took a 2-0 lead into halftime.
With Marin Samper contributing to the offense with two assists, one could wonder when she would add a goal to her stat line. A little over ten minutes into the second half, Marin Samper answered those thoughts with her 15th goal of the season that put the Pride up 3-0.
Realizing the game was getting away from them, the Lions needed to look to someone to bring them team back in contention. They only needed to look to one athlete, as Katie Ruesterholz finally put the Lions on the scoreboard with a goal a little over 12 minutes into the second half. Two minutes later, Ruesterholz scored again to bring Columbia to within one goal of Hofstra’s lead, 3-2.
Possibly fearing her team was starting to get too comfortable with the lead, freshmen Madison Reed took it upon herself to extend the Pride’s lead back to two goals with her first of the season. Ruesterholz would score her third goal of the game to bring the game to 4-3, but that would be the closest Columbia would get as Hofstra escaped with the 4-3 win.
These teams last met a year ago when the Pride hosted the Lions. That game went into overtime and a goal by then-sophomore Stella Schoen won it for the Pride 4-3.
This matchup against Columbia was Hofstra’s final non-conference game of the season, as they begin CAA play at home against the University of Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens, who are 10-2 on the season, 1-1 in CAA. That game is scheduled for 3:00 pm EST on Friday, October 9th.