Women's soccer's season ends in NCAA Second Round

The final whistle blew on another historic season for the Hofstra women’s soccer team, along with the collegiate careers of a core group of seniors, on the afternoon of Friday, Nov. 19, in the City of Angels. The Pride fell 3-0 to the University of South Carolina (USC) in the second round of the 2021 NCAA women’s soccer tournament in a match held at a neutral site, Soni McAlister Field, on the campus of the University of Southern California.

“What this team’s managed to accomplish from four or five years ago is truly something special,” said Hofstra head coach Simon Riddiough. “I thought we gave a very good Gamecock team everything they could handle.”

The match started slowly, with little action in the first 20 minutes. Hofstra’s Georgia Brown had the first shot attempt on goal only a minute into the game, but it was easily caught by South Carolina goalie Heather Hinz. The Gamecocks returned the favor with a shot in the 8th minute but were unsuccessful at finding the net thanks to Pride keeper Skylar Kuzmich.

The scoreboard saw its first addition in the 21st minute as Gamecock midfielder Samantha Chang slotted one into the top right corner, putting her team up 1-0 for the remainder of the first half.

Coming out of halftime, and with tensions rising, the Pride had multiple close shots on net but couldn’t convert any of them.

Miri Taylor, the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Attacking Player of the Year and Hofstra’s season leader in goals with 17, had the first big chance for the Pride in the second half. As Jordan Littleboy played in a cross in the 53rd minute, Taylor attempted to head the ball in but was stopped by Hinz.  

Less than 10 minutes later, Lucy Shepherd had an attempt of her own as Littleboy crossed in another ball off a free kick, but Shepherd headed it too high.

Throughout the second half Hofstra took five corner kicks, including a close shot on goal in the 69th minute off of both Taylor and Lucy Porter’s heads, but the ball hit the crossbar and eventually went out of play just left of the goal following some chaos in the box.  

While Hofstra struggled to score, South Carolina doubled its lead in the 76th minute courtesy of a goal by sophomore forward Catherine Barry to the bottom left corner of the net, bringing the score to 2-0. 

Defender Louise Hayden attempted to answer the call a minute later with the last big attempt for the Pride as she launched a shot from outside the box but was denied by the crossbar. With minutes left to play, USC added a third to their total with a goal by graduate forward Ryan Gareis, assisted by Chang.

As the clock wound down to full time, the scoreboard read Hofstra 0, South Carolina 3, eliminating Hofstra from the tournament. An ironic end to their run after shutting out first round opponent, Providence College, by the exact same score last weekend. 

With the win, the Gamecocks improve to 13-6-1 this season and will now face Pennsylvania  State University on Sunday at McAlister Field. As for the Pride, they end their 2021 season with a 17-4-1 record, the second best mark in program history.

With four CAA championships and NCAA tournament appearances in the last five years, as well as countless awards and records broken for individual players and coaches, the loss closes a chapter in Hofstra women’s soccer history with a key class of seniors now graduating.  

“[I am] unbelievably proud of this team,” Riddiough said. “I’m humbled to be coaching them.”

Among other accolades, including being the reigning CAA Midfielder of the Year three years running, Porter ends her career as the Pride’s leader in total points with 123 across five seasons. Both her marks of 48 career goals and 27 assists ties for second all-time in program history. Meanwhile, Taylor now holds that assist record with 31 across four seasons and finishes with 45 points this season alone, a single-season program record.

“We’ve got diamond players. Diamond people. They’re just good human beings,” Riddiough said. “They’ve set the tone for the Pride and we’ve got to keep building on it. We’re going to find the next Lucy Porter, or the next Lucy Shepherd or the next Miri Taylor, and we’ll keep fighting and we’ll keep pushing.”

Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics