By Kevin Carroll -- SPORTS EDITOR Four Yale goals in the first half put the Hofstra field hockey team in a hole it just could not come climb out of as the Pride finished up the weekend with a 5-2 loss to the Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon at Hofstra Field Hockey Stadium.
“We’re very disappointed in the loss … we were not organized in our defense,” said Hofstra head coach Kathy De Angelis after the game. “The first three goals came in the first 19 minutes, all pretty much the same way.”
Conventional sports wisdom suggests that, while games cannot be won in the first half, they certainly can be lost there. Hofstra found that out the hard way, falling behind 3-0 early in the first half on goals from Yale’s Iliana Cabral, Katie Smith and Camille Scheyer.
“We really struggled in the fundamentals of one-on-one defense and in team defense,” De Angelis said.
The Pride would break onto the scoreboard with Alyssa Kohler’s first goal of the season, but the Bulldogs answered right back in less than a minute. Imogen Davies knocked home a backhand shot past Hofstra goalie Cecelia DeSimone, who played the second half in relief of Carys Swan.
DeSimone would make a solid impression on the fans in attendance in her first game action of the year, staring directly into the teeth of a very potent Bulldogs offense and making five saves while only surrendering one goal, a shot from Carol Middough that increased Yale’s lead to 5-2.
“I thought she did a very nice job … she communicated right from the start and organized her defense,” De Angelis said.
Her effort would prove to be in vain, however, as Hofstra couldn not claw their way back into this one, despite a solid performance in the second half. Hofstra’s offense, a unit that has struggled throughout much of this season to get into a groove, really came alive after halftime. The Pride had 11 shots in the second half, compared to just three before the break.However, all those second-half shots only resulted in one goal for the Pride, a penalty corner shot from freshman Frankie O’Brien to cut Yale’s lead to 4-2 at the time. Other than that, Yale keeper Sydney Terroso played a great game in net for the Bulldogs, making five second-half saves and keeping Hofstra at bay long enough to secure victory.
“We gave ourselves a lot of really good opportunities; we just did not finish,” De Angelis said.
O’Brien’s goal was her second of the year, and the first-year player from Pennsylvania has continued to be a huge factor in the Hofstra game plan on both ends of the field. She led the Pride on Sunday with three shots on goal and leads the entire team in shots this year with 19.
Hofstra drops to 3-4 on the year with the loss, while Yale improves to 2-1.
Hofstra will stay home to play a pair of games at Hofstra Field Hockey Stadium next weekend. First the Pride will welcome Columbia University on Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. before taking on Sacred Heart University on Sunday, Sept. 17 at noon.