Hofstra midfielder Jill Mulholland continued her torrid start to the season as she added one goal and two points in a 1-1 draw against the DePaul Blue Demons at the Army West Point Invitational on Friday night. In the 30th minute, Mulholland was able to gather the loose ball in the 18-yard box and find the back of the net. The Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Week now has four goals and nine points through Hofstra’s first five games, including two game-winners. She is the team leader in tallies, points, and shots on net.
Hofstra moved to 3-1-1 while DePaul remains winless at 0-2-2.
This was the fourth time in five games Hofstra allowed one or fewer goals. The two Pride goalkeepers put together a solid combined effort to limit DePaul to just one goal.
Redshirt sophomore Ashley Wilson started the opening 45 minutes making four saves, none bigger than the rejection of DePaul’s Abby Reed’s penalty kick in the 18th minute that kept the game scoreless.
After the teams traded chances despite the tight defense, the Blue Demons answered Mulholland’s goal in the 77th minute when DePaul’s two leading scorers Abby Reed and Taylor Schissler teamed up to find the back of the net. Reed sent a pass towards the middle of the box that Schissler buried for her second score of the season.
Schissler and Reed were two of seven DePaul players to play for the entire 110 minutes. Reed led DePaul with five shots with three of them being denied by Hofstra’s keepers.
Madeline Anderson, Rhian Cleverly, Emily Agudelo, and Kelly Gerdes were the only members of the Pride to play for the full hour and 50 minutes.
With the game tied, Hofstra’s senior goalkeeper Friederike Mehring stonewalled DePaul on three consecutive shots as regulation time was closing. Mehring showcased her vertical ability when she tipped a shot from DePaul’s Reed that glanced over the crossbar. She has allowed just two goals while stopping 18 shots through her first four games.
Before the first overtime started, Hofstra’s versatile forward Kristin Desmond failed to convert in the 89th minute as Blue Demon’s goalkeeper Jaimie Leas, who was making her first collegiate start, made one of her three total saves.
The extra session commenced but both keepers stood tall. Mehring and Leas traded saves in the first overtime, but it was the freshman Leas standing even taller as she watched Desmond and Noriana Radwan chip the ball high in the final two minutes of double overtime.
DePaul finished the game outshooting Hofstra 18-12 and 9-4 in shots on goal. The Pride stopped eight shots while the Blue Demons denied three.
Hofstra is next in action Sept. 4, when they continue the Army Invitational against the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.