By Alex Mitchell - Staff Writer On a snowy Valentine’s Day, the Hofstra Pride defeated the Wildcats of the University of New Hampshire (UNH) by a score of 15-11.
The game was off to a very physical and offensive driven pace, as Hofstra got on the board first a minute and one second into the contest, and then scored again about three minutes later.
UNH quickly answered one of Hofstra’s goals, however that only provoked a three goal run for the Pride, giving Hofstra a 5-1 lead midway through the first half. UNH responded with two quick goals in a span of 40 seconds.
Following that, Hofstra produced their largest offensive run of the game, with five goals in under two minutes. Before time expired in the first half of play UNH answered one Hofstra goal, cutting the deficit to 10-4.
The second half of play commenced with a quick Hofstra goal, but following that UNH applied their most offensive pressure of the game. The Wildcats scored two more goals only to be answered by a pair from the Pride.
However, the UNH offense was persistent as they scored another pair of goals, bringing the score to 13-8 in favor of Hofstra.
The closing minutes of the game went greatly back and forth. Hofstra scored, UNH scored, Hofstra scored again, and then UNH scored two. Although the Wildcats outscored Hofstra in the second half 7-5, it was too little, too late. Hofstra took home a snowy 15-11 victory to open the season.
Hofstra’s massive offensive charge was generated by mostly three players. Altomare, Lenox, and Knox all had hat-tricks and at least one assist. Freshman attacker Drew Shapiro also scored once with two assists in her first collegiate game. Altomare scored four altogether along with four assists, Morgan Knox scored three goals off of three shots, and Sam Lenox scored four with one assist.
They complied eleven of fifteen goals for the Pride. Following the game Altomare said, “It was just about finishing. Our struggle has been sometimes not moving the ball to the back of the net when we have those wide-open opportunities. I think today when we had those we finished them.”
Coach Shannon Smith was highly pleased from her Pride’s all around effort. She said “ I think overall from goalies to the attackers we played an exceptional game for the first game of the season. I think that’s something we need to continue.”
The Pride will embark on a two game road trip to New England this week, playing both Farifield University as well as Harvard University. Fairfield is currently undefeated.