Hofstra falls in narrow defeat to No. 16 Army

The Hofstra University women’s lacrosse team entered its Saturday, March 4, matchup with the 16th-ranked United States Military Academy Army Black Knights searching for their second straight win over a nationally ranked team, but the Pride narrowly lost the heart-pounding contest by a score of 14-11 at James M. Shuart Stadium in Hempstead, New York. Army improved their record to a perfect 5-0 with the win while the Pride fell to 2-4 on the year. Hofstra has now lost four straight games after jumping out of the gates with a 2-0 start to the season.

“A really hard-fought match; Army is a really great lacrosse team,” said Hofstra head coach Shannon Smith. “They made us work hard out there on the field for 60 minutes.”

The contest looked to be incredibly lopsided early on, as Army scored on each of their first three possessions to go up 3-0 in the opening minutes. Freshman goalkeeper Luciana Cardello made her first start in net on Saturday, and her head coach was largely pleased with her efforts in goal.

“Luciana certainly played great in the cage, she made some great saves and that was really exciting to see,” Smith said.

The Pride picked up their young goalie after going down early as they stormed back into the game in the latter parts of the quarter with goals from Nikki Mennella, Taylor Mennella and Kerry Walser. The Mennella sisters now rank first and second in the scoring department for Hofstra with 23 and eight goals, respectively. This duel was a game of runs through and through, as the two teams traded strings of unanswered goals throughout the first three quarters.

The teams entered the fourth quarter tied 10-10, but the Black Knights completely took over the game from there, outscoring Hofstra 4-1 in the final frame. Hofstra had numerous chances to respond in the final quarter, but the offense fell short and missed several key opportunities.

“Offensively, we had a lot of possessions that we needed to capitalize on in that quarter,” Smith said. “There were a couple of free positions we could have hit, but we’ll get back to the drawing board.”

The Pride will hit the road to face the Wagner College Seahawks for their next matchup on Tuesday, March 7. Hofstra has just two out-of-conference games left before Colonial Athletic Association play begins on Saturday, March 18.

Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics