By Juliana Battaglia -- SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE The Pride suffered a tough defeat on Friday, dropping a 2-1 loss to Columbia University in a tightly-contested match at Hofstra Field Hockey Stadium.
Columbia senior Lauren Crane’s tiebreaking goal in the second half proved to be just enough to knock off the Pride. Hofstra drops to 3-5 on the season with its second consecutive loss in a row, while Columbia improves to 2-3.
Junior Katherine Cavanaugh put Columbia on the scoreboard first with a goal in the first half, her second of the season. The Pride was able to battle back to tie the game after junior Madison Reed scored her first goal of the season late in the first half, but that was the only damage that the Pride could manage against Columbia’s defense.
Crane scored the game-winning goal after redirecting a shot off a penalty corner from teammate Maeve Doherty that would get past Hofstra goalie Carys Swan. Hofstra was outshot 14-11, while also only garnering four penalty corners to Columbia’s 10. Freshman Philine de Wolf led the Pride with four shots and two shots on goal.
To give up 10 corner is very difficult...and [Columbia] collected on them when they scored and that obviously was the outcome of the game,” said Hofstra head coach Kathy De Angelis.
De Angelis was disappointed with the lack of discipline that she saw from her girls, remarking that this was the only time she had seen her team display a lack of determination and will to stay in the game.
“This is really the first time that I have felt that our team did not come with that tenacity and that fight.”
De Angelis acknowledged that heat played a factor in the team’s resilience, but that is something that the team will need to work through in order to secure victories in the future.
In spite of the fact that the game didn’t end in Hofstra’s favor, goalie Carys Swan made eight saves against Columbia’s attackers, which prevented the Lions from running away with the game. Swan was able to keep the Pride very much in the game, and De Angelis was appreciative of her efforts.
“She had some key saves today...If she didn’t have those the margin could’ve been different,” De Angelis said.