Hempstead, NY – The Hofstra Women's Lacrosse team will open Colonial Athletic Association play this weekend at home as James Madison and William & Mary visit Hempstead for a pair of games.
The Pride will host the Dukes on Friday night at 7 p.m. before closing the weekend with a 1 p.m. tilt against the Tribe on Easter Sunday.
There will be Pride Productions live video and audio of both games as well as live stats. Links for both can be found on the women's lacrosse schedule page at GoHofstra.com and on the story links on this page. Friday's broadcast, featuring Nick Valastro and Gio Annatelli, will start with the pregame show at 6:45 p.m. and Sunday's Pride Productions broadcast opens at 12:45 p.m. and will feature Valastro and Ryan LaFaye.
JMU will be the second straight ranked opponent the Pride will face as Ohio State was No. 18 in last week's Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association poll and the Dukes are No. # in this week's IWLCA poll.
Hofstra (5-4, 0-0 CAA) heads into the opening weekend of conference play having won three of its last five games with the two losses during that stretch being narrow defeats to nationally-ranked opponents. The Pride is coming off a one-goal loss, 12-11, at No. 18 Ohio State on Sunday. In an unfortunate recurring theme, it marked the third consecutive season that Hofstra has lost to the Buckeyes by one goal.
Senior defender
April Iannetta broke out offensively in the game at OSU as she established a new career-high with four goals for the Pride, while also notching six draw controls. Both totals were good for game-high honors. Senior attacker
Brittain Altomare had two goals and five assists for seven points, while also contributing four draw controls. Her seven points led all players and her five assists were tied for game-high honors. Also contributing well was senior attacker
Sam Lenox with two goals and an assist.
Altomare leads Hofstra with 50 points on 22 goals and 28 assists, while also contributing a team-best 51 draw controls. Iannetta has team-highs of 24 ground balls and 19 caused turnovers, while also posting 37 draw controls and 11 points on eight goals and three assists.
Betsy Angel leads James Madison (8-3, 0-0 CAA) with 44 points on 31 goals and 13 assists. Stephanie Finley has 30 goals, seven assists and 35 draw controls to assist in the Dukes efforts.
Ellen Shaffrey is tops on the Tribe with 24 points on 21 goals and three assists. She also leads the team with 37 draw controls. Abby Junior has 21 ground balls and 18 caused turnovers for William & Mary.
James Madison leads the all-time series with Hofstra, 15-4, while the Pride leads the all-time series with the Tribe, 8-6. The Dukes won last season's only meeting and in 2013 the two squads spilt the two meetings with JMU winning in triple overtime during the regular season and Hofstra capturing a victory in the CAA semifinals. Hofstra defeated William & Mary last season, 10-5, offsetting a Tribe overtime victory over the Pride in 2013.
