Field hockey earns weekend split with win over Hofstra

Amir Vera
Staff Writer

After a 3-1 loss to Drexel on Friday, the Rams brought the momentum back with a come-from-behind win against Hofstra on Sunday. Though the game started out slow, the intensity of the second half is what ultimately led the girls to a 5-2 victory over the Hofstra Pride.

Along with the split weekend victory, the Rams also celebrate their first win against Hofstra.

“We have never won against Hofstra in all three years that I have been here, so a split is definitely better than what I am used to,” senior center midfielder Marle van Dessel said.

In terms of a spot in the Colonial Athletic Association championship, Sunday’s win was an important one for the Rams.

“This was a huge must-win. Because only four teams go [to the CAA championship], we have to get every win that we can,” head coach Kelly McQuade said. “We have some powerhouses in this conference that are continually up in the top 20 polls, as well as the CAA, so this is an absolute must-win.”

However, the Rams cannot look towards the future just yet. They have to concentrate on the present flaws that need to be fixed. In Sunday’s game against Hofstra, the first half was not as strong as it could have been in the energy and momentum department. The Pride had aggressive playing style; they were on the ball during offense, and prevented forward progress as well as penetration on defense.

This forceful style of play would backfire on them as a key Pride player was injured. Junior midfielder Arielle Williams suffered a knee injury early during the first half. Three cards were also given to Hofstra players: two green cards and a yellow card.

“I’m sure it kind of messed with their heads a little bit, they were a very physical team. There were a lot of calls, a lot of cards, more so than I have ever seen. You could definitely see that it affected them mentally,” McQuade said.

While Hofstra was mentally compromised, the Lady Rams stayed calm, learning from their mistakes. At the end of the half they knew they needed a better sequence of attack, getting open more, instead of just “hitting and hoping” as McQuade put it. With a halftime score of 2-1, the Lady Rams came into the second half more energetic and ready to win.

A big part of the second-half victory was attentiveness and reaction to the ball. Sophomore midfielder Kelsey Scherrer scored on a fast break, while freshmen fullback Emilie Soares reacted to a loose ball on a rebound and scored.

While reaction to the ball helped the Lady Rams’ victory, there were many corner-shot attempts, most of them assisted by freshmen right back Stephanie DeMasi.
“They are great, I think we all feel really good when we execute corners, it really changes the momentum of the game,” DeMasi said.

Though corner shots did change the momentum of the game, only one of the 13 of them had results.

“We need to be a little bit stronger with our percentage of execution of corners and scoring off of corners. The fact that we were able to get a couple from a corner play is great, but we need to improve upon those numbers,” McQuade said. “Anytime we have corner, it should be 50 percent of our goals.”

With the split win-loss weekend, learning from mistakes, and becoming more of that “70-minute” team the Lady Rams now look forward to their game against James Madison University Friday.

“The split was huge, we needed to absolutely split this weekend in order to go into Friday’s game strong and confident, and with a new found rejuvenation,” McQuade said. “Friday’s game, we just have to make sure we play 70 minutes and it is definitely going to be a fun game.”