By Zack Penn -- STAFF WRITER
Hofstra men’s soccer continued a familiar trend Saturday night at Sentara Park tying with James Madison University (JMU) 1-1 for their fourth consecutive draw.
It looked like the Pride had a chance to grab their first win since Aug. 25, when freshman Matthew Vowinkel broke a scoreless tie with just under 20 minutes left to play.
JMU countered nine minutes later when Manuel Ferriol secured a pass from Yannick Franz and sent it past the outstretched arms of Pride goalie Alex Ashton.
Vowinkel’s goal was his second on the season and he’s now scored in back-to-back games on head-ins.
With the Pride struggling on offense, Vowinkel may end up providing them the spark they need.
Both teams were sloppy on offense all-game long and combined for only 12 shots in the entire contest.
Poor passing could be attributed to the anemic offensive output as neither team was able to string together positive possessions without defenders being decidedly out of position.
This was the second consecutive game where Hofstra clearly outplayed and outshot their opponent for most of the game; they simply failed to capitalize on countless opportunities of set-plays.
It seems as if it is only a matter of time before the Pride explodes for a big-time offensive performance, but they have been unable to put a complete performance together thus far in the season.
The Pride has now tied in six of their last seven games. They now share the national lead for ties this season with fellow Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) rival Elon University.
They have not won a game in CAA play, yet remain undefeated with a peculiar 0-0-4 conference record.
Despite not yet having won a game in conference play, Hofstra is somehow tied for fourth place in conference. This is due to the nature of the European points system that counts wins as three points and draws as one point.
Hofstra (1-3-6) will take a quick break from conference play when they travel to Dartmouth College for a match Tuesday, Oct. 3, at 7 p.m. in New Hampshire.