By Victoria Mickens - STAFF WRITER
On Wednesday evening, the Pride took on the Northeastern Huskies. Although the past several Hofstra men’s soccer games have not been playing out in the most conventional manner, this change in dynamic seems to be working in their favor. The Pride defeated the huskies in double overtime as a result of junior Joseph Holland’s goal in the 107th minute of the game, assisted by sophomore defender, Jon Fraser. This win left Hofstra undefeated in Colonial Athletic Association play.
Hofstra seemed very eager to win this game from the start. Within the first five minutes freshman Daniel Massey took a shot that was followed by shots from junior Andreas Iosifides, and two shots by Joseph Holland. Needless to say Hofstra was quite active while Northeastern did not take their first shot until the middle of the first half. Shortly thereafter, in the 34th minute of the game, Fraser assisted junior midfielder Lerthon Theuma in his first goal (header) of the season.
Wednesday night’s game marked the Pride’s fourth consecutive double-overtime game. Of those four they have taken home three wins. Head coach Richard Nuttall was not frustrated with this fourth double-overtime circumstance but rather content with the win. He stated, “I think the win overrides everything.”
In terms of the rhythm of the game, motivation seemed to be there but the coordination was not. According to Nuttall, “After the first twenty minutes I think we lost the plot a little bit and we panicked a little bit.” Nuttall even goes as far as to say with regard to Northeastern, “During the second half I thought they were slightly the better team.”
One particular stand out player for Northeastern was sophomore Frantzdy Pierrot. His exceptional speed and agility seemed to intimidate several of the members of the Pride as they could not keep up with him.
Yet the men of the pride demonstrated undeniable effort and sportsmanship throughout such a long game. Nuttall reminds us, “I’m just proud of the boys, again the work in the second overtime was there and I thought we’re just getting on top again and our fitness showed well. It’s very pleasing and I’m happy for the boys.”
Hofstra had a 2-1 victory over Northeastern despite their brief loss of momentum. “The signature of this team is we keep going and we keep working and then we eventually get there,” Nuttall said.