Hempstead, NY- Sophomore goalkeeper Amanda Heyde posted 11 saves, including seven second-half stops, while four Hofstra players scored to lead the Pride to a 4-2 win over Northeastern in a key CAA contest Friday afternoon.
Ashleigh Daniels and Kristin Thompson were honored in a pregame Senior Day ceremony. The two veteran scorers proceeded to make their final collegiate home game memorable, with each contributing goals to help Hofstra improve to 11-6 and 4-2 in conference play.
Northeastern entered leading Hofstra by a half game for fourth place in the conference but dropped to 9-7 and 3-2. Thompson and sophomores Arielle Williams and Genna Kovar helped Hofstra build a 3-0 first-half lead as the Pride won its season-high sixth in a row and catapulted over the Huskies for the fourth spot. The top four teams qualify for the CAA Tournament.
Thompson opened the scoring 9:43 in when she converted junior Nancy Wagenbrenner's pass into her fourth goal, beating Northeastern goalkeeper Lizzie Priest at Hofstra Field Hockey Stadium.
The Huskies built a 10-1 edge in penalty corners. But the Pride capitalized on its only corner chance when Williams took junior Amy-Lee Levey's pass and pushed it into the net for her season's first goal at the 14:01 mark. Kovar picked up her Hofstra-leading 14th goal 9:09 later for a three-goal Hofstra edge.
Northeastern responded after a timeout. Nicola Graham scored off a corner just 1:48 after Kovar's tally to cut the deficit to 3-1 entering halftime. The Huskies parlayed another chance into a goal 6:38 into the second half when Anne-Reike Stuhlmann and Carolyn Malloy facilitated Kaela Barker's top-of-the-shooting circle blast to make it a one-goal game.
Yet Daniels stymied Northeastern's comeback hopes when she took Kovar's lead-in pass and broke free to the right of the shooting circle. Daniels fired a shot that beat Priest near the right post for her sixth goal. That extended Daniels' career-high for goals.
Northeastern held a 13-6 shot advantage, though Heyde was up to the challenge. She improved to 7-3 on the season.
Hofstra is now on its longest winning streak since recording victories in the first eight games of the 2003 season. The Pride also finished the season 6-6 at home.
The Pride will close out the regular season with back-to-back road games against conference opponents Delaware and Towson starting Friday, Oct. 30 against the Blue Hens.
