Hempstead, NY - Junior
Alyssa Parrella tied her career-high with seven goals and junior
Darcie Smith tied her career-high with 12 draw controls but it wasn't enough as the Hofstra Women's Lacrosse team dropped a close 13-12 decision to Towson on Friday afternoon at James M. Shuart Stadium.
The 12 draw controls gave
Darcie Smith exactly 100 on the season, establishing a new single-season school record. She broke the mark of 93 set by Brittain Altomare in 2015. Parrella's seven points pushed her season total to 86 points to give her the single-season school record in that category. She broke the mark of 81 set by Altomare in 2015. Parrella now has three of the top four single-season scoring totals in program history with 86 so far this season, 80 a season ago and 76 as a freshman.
The loss drops Hofstra's record to 9-6 overall and 2-2 in Colonial Athletic Association play. Towson improved to 5-9 and 3-1 in the league.
Hofstra would score the first two goals of the game and three of the first four in the contest and led 3-1 after a free-position goal from sophomore
Arianna Esposito with 21:22 left in the first half. Towson clawed back and the Tigers scored the game's next four goals to take a 5-3 advantage with just under 10 minutes left before intermission following a goal from Kaitlin Thornton. The Pride would close the gap to one as Parrella scored off an assist from sophomore
Katie Whelan with 2:22 left in the opening stanza.
The Pride tallied the first goal of the second stanza as Parrella scored off a feed from senior
Jenna Budd. Towson would quickly answer with a 3-0 run, including a pair from Natalie Sulmonte, and led by a trio of goals with just over 21 minutes left. Hofstra gradually chipped away and used a 4-0 scoring spurt to take a 9-8 lead following another goal from Parrella with 16:26 to play. The Pride got an important goal during the run from freshman
Camryn Faith, marking the rookie's first career tally.
It would go down to the wire as neither team could pull away with the score knotted at 11 with 9:57 left after a Sulmonte goal. Parrella would tally her 72nd goal of the season with 3:09 left on the clock to put the Pride back in front but Sulmonte tied the score with 2:05 left and Shelby Stack scored the game-winner with one minute showing on the clock to allow the Tigers to earn the win.
Junior
Alexa Mattera finished with two goals and five draw controls for Hofstra, which also got nine saves and three ground balls from freshman
Jess Smith. Whelan had a goal and two assists for the Pride, while Esposito had a goal and an assist and Budd tallied two assists.
Sulmonte had five goals for Towson, which also got two goals from Stack and two from Thornton. Kiley Keating made 13 saves in net for the Tigers.
Hofstra has a quick turnaround until its next game as the Pride will head to Delaware to take on the Blue Hens on Sunday at 1 p.m.
NOTES
- Today marked the final home game for the Pride's five seniors -
Tessa Sinatro,
Jenna Budd,
Kaitlyn Shanahan,
Sara Guarascio and
Annalise Martin. The five were honored in a pregame ceremony.
- Hofstra is 15-25 all-time against Towson.
- It marks the third time in her career that
Darcie Smith has tallied 12 draw controls. Most recently she had 12 against Sacred Heart on March 23, 2019.
- It is the fourth time Parrella has tallied seven goals in her career, most recently doing it against Sacred Heart as well.
- Mattera moved into third all-time in program history for draw controls. She now has 146 and passed Becky Thorn (145 from 2003-07) and Kimberly Hillier (143 from 2004-07).
Darcie Smith moved into sixth place all-time in draw controls with 140. She passed Bridget Eder, who had 135 from 2002-05.
- Parrella, who is a junior, is nearing a pair of historic numbers in program history. She currently has 176 career goals and 242 career points. She is seven goals shy of the program record for goals, currently held by Kathleen Mikowski (183 from 2000-03). She is five points shy of the program record for points, currently held by Altomare (247 from 2012-15).
