Hofstra women's soccer eliminated in CAA semi-finals

The Hofstra University women’s soccer team lost to the Monmouth University Hawks 2-1 in overtime in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) semifinal at the Hofstra Soccer Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 29. The Hawks move on to the championship while Hofstra finishes their season.

 “Tough one. I thought we played well, especially the first half,” said Hofstra head coach Simon Riddiough. “I thought we created enough chances to put the game away, but when you don’t, there are teams that are good enough, especially at this level, to manipulate the situation and find themselves back in the game. That’s what Monmouth did. We changed systems, we adjusted, and they had one really good chance, and they put the game to a tie. Today wasn’t our day. Proud of the team but disappointed in the result, but that’s the play of soccer.”

 The Pride kicked off the scoring first as they scored 22 minutes in. Sophomore midfielder Millie Davies took a left-footed shot from outside the box that soared in and bounced off the crossbar.

 Sophomore forward Thorhildur Thorhallsdottir collected the rebound before taking a touch toward the center of the six-yard box and then shooting the ball back in the opposite direction past the keeper and scoring. This marked Thorhallsdottir’s fourth goal of the season.

In the 76th minute, Monmouth scored their first goal to tie the game. Off a throw-in, freshman midfielder Liza Suydam went around a defender and fired a shot into the upper far corner of the net to tie the game up 1-1. This was Suydam’s seventh goal of the season.

Hofstra had a chance to end the game with a win in the 80th minute as sophomore midfielder Aimee Hodgson put up a shot, but it wasn’t on goal, launching the two squads into overtime.

 The first overtime period resulted in a 1-1 stalemate. The second overtime period held a different story.

 The Hawks’ game-winner came at the 107:15 mark. Senior defender Chloe Ferreira found sophomore forward Summer Reimet running into the box. Reimet took the ball around graduate goalkeeper Skylar Kuzmich and shot the ball into the net for the winning goal. This was Ferreira’s third assist and Reimet’s third goal of the season.

 Hodgson had a shot following Reimet’s goal to try and tie up the game again, but her shot went out top, giving Monmouth the 2-1 win.

 Both teams finished with 12 total shots, while Hofstra had four  and Monmouth had three on goal.

 Kuzmich finished with two total saves. Opposing junior goalkeeper Cassie Coster also had two for the Hawks.

 Fouls were prevalent in the game as Hofstra had 19 total fouls and Monmouth had 17. Davies was also issued a yellow card for the Pride in the 64th minute.

 The Pride finished their season with an overall record of 12-5-1 and a CAA record of 9-2-1. The two-time defending CAA champions are out of the playoffs while Monmouth moves on to play Towson in the championship.

Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics/Evan Bernstein