Hofstra women's lacrosse clinches CAA berth

The Hofstra University women’s lacrosse team clinched a spot in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) tournament with a 19-11 win over the University of Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens on Sunday, April 14. The Pride continued their perfect start to conference play, improving to 6-0 on the season, their best mark in CAA play since 2015. They hold a 9-5 overall record. The Blue Hens have a 9-5 record overall but only a 2-4 conference record.

The Pride had an incredibly explosive offensive output, with all six of their goal-scorers putting at least two in the net and five of them recording hat tricks.

Delaware never led, and after a high-octane first quarter where the Pride outscored the Blue Hens 8-5, Hofstra’s defense buckled down and their offense continued to roll, outscoring Delaware 11-6 the rest of the way.

Melissa Sconone’s career season continued with a monster six-point performance. The University of North Carolina transfer potted three goals and assisted on another three. Sconone crossed the thirty-goal mark against Monmouth University on Friday, April 12, and is showing no signs of slowing down. She now has 33 goals and 31 assists on the season, and she has scored multiple points in each of the games she has played this year.

Freshman attacker Kristen Redding continued her excellent first season with her second hat trick, scoring three goals and adding an assist to bring her season totals to 15 and 11, respectively. Redding has been on a strong streak, scoring 10 goals in her last five games and tripling her season goal total.

It was another spectacular performance for the Mennella sisters: Nikki Mennella put up her second straight four-goal outing and her third of the season, while Taylor Mennella contributed two goals and two assists.

Kerry Walser continued also a hot streak, with her fifth four-goal game in six contests. Hofstra’s goals leader this season cracked 40 on Sunday, April 14, reaching 41 tallies. Walser also cracked the 50-point plateau for the first time in her career.

Riley Gillin led Delaware with five points on the afternoon, two of them being goals. Gillin has had success against the Pride before, as she won CAA Defensive Player of the Week the last time she faced off against the Pride.

Lizzie Hsu, a Blue Hen captain, scored a hat trick for her squad, giving her 25 goals this season.

The Pride will face one of their most daunting challenges of the season thus far next Sunday, April 21, a road matchup against rival Stony Brook University. The Seawolves are the No. 15 ranked team in the country and are riding an eight-game winning streak. Gametime is 12 p.m. from Kenneth P. Lavelle Athletic Stadium.

Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics/Matteo Bracco