Hempstead, N.Y. – The Hofstra Women's Soccer program will kick off the 2014 season on Friday with a 7 p.m. road contest at UConn. The Pride will then open the home portion of the schedule with a noon kickoff versus Bucknell on Sunday from Hofstra Soccer Stadium.
Friday's game will feature live video, for a fee, through UConnHuskies.com. Sunday's home opener will be broadcast locally on WRHU (88.7 FM) along with the WRHU mobile app and WRHU.org. Hofstra enters 2014 with a 12-10 all-time Opening Day record. The Pride dropped a close contest to Syracuse, 3-2, in the 2013 opener. Hofstra's last win in an opener came at home in 2012 against the Buckeyes at Hofstra Soccer Stadium.
To purchase tickets, call the Hofstra Athletics Ticket Office at (516) HOF-TIXX.
Hofstra Head Coach Simon Riddiough has never had a losing season entering his ninth season on the job. He is two wins shy of 100 for his career with a 98-52-13 all-time ledger that equals more than 12 wins per season. Under his guidance, Hofstra was picked to finish first in the CAA preseason poll for the second consecutive season. The Pride received three first-place votes and gained 74 points in the poll overall.
A veteran team is back for the new season and features 12 players on the roster who were members of the 2012 CAA championship squad, including junior forward Leah Galton, who was named the league's preseason Player of the Year for a second straight season.
Galton was the 2013 CAA Player of the Year and is on the 2014 MAC Hermann Trophy watch list, which is given to the top player in Division I. Last season, Galton's 11 assists led the league. She has 54 points in just 41 career games and has 19 goals and 16 assists while being named a NSCAA All-Mid Atlantic First Team pick in her first two collegiate seasons.
Senior forward Sam Scolarici also returns after winning the CAA's scoring title in 2013, netting 18 goals and 38 points. She was selected to the league's all-first team along with Galton, giving two of the three forward spots to Hofstra players.
Hofstra is 1-3-1 in the all-time series against UConn with the series dating to 2003. Hofstra last played the Huskies in 2010. The Pride's first win in the series was a memorable one that year, as the Pride outlasted UConn in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Tiffany Yovino's header goal off a 10th-minute cross was the difference in the win at Newton Soccer Field on Boston College's campus.
The Pride will be playing its first-ever game against Bucknell. The Bison finished 2013 with a 7-9-2 record and 2-1-2 in its final five games of the season.
