Hempstead, NY - Ryan Carmichael and Stefan Mason scored first half goals, and George O'Malley provided some insurance in the second half as Hofstra defeated Columbia, 3-1, in a non-conference game at Hofstra Soccer Stadium Tuesday night. The win gave Hofstra Head Coach Richard Nuttall his 300th career victory.

The Pride continued the best start in program history by moving to 10-1 on the season and won for the seventh consecutive time. Columbia fell to 1-6-2 on the season with its fourth consecutive loss.

Carmichael opened the scoring for Hofstra at the 18:04 mark as he headed in a long feed into the box from Hendrik Hebbeker. The goal was Carmichael's team-leading ninth of the season and his seventh in the last four games. Mason would double the lead at 33:49 when he took a pass from the right side from Matthew Vowinkel and moved left across the top of the box before blasting a blistering left-footed shot into the top left corner of the net for his third goal of the year.

Columbia cut the deficit in half at 66:04 when Will DeNight scored his first goal of the season, sending in a free kick. However, O'Malley gave the Pride some breathing room eight minutes later as he headed in a free kick from midfield that was sent into the box by Storm Strongin. The ball bounced once and O'Malley headed it from right in front of the goal past Columbia keeper Michael Collodi. It was O'Malley's first goal of the season.

Wessel Speel had three saves for the Pride, including two consecutive stops from point blank range at the end of the first half.

Coach Nuttall, who is in his 33rd season at Hofstra, became the 22nd active Division I head coach to achieve 300 victories and he is just the 60th Division I head coach all-time to win at least 300 games.

Hofstra will look to continue its torrid play Saturday when it heads to the College of Charleston for a 12 p.m. start time.

Notes:
-Hofstra took a season-high 19 shots in the game
-For the first time this season, Hofstra's opponent took more corner kicks (5-4)
-Vowinkel has assists in three consecutive games.
-Hebbeker has eight points in his last four games (2 goals, 4 assists)
-Strongin's assist was the 21st of his career, which ties him for fifth-place all-time at Hofstra with Michael Todd (2003-06) and Rob Youhill (2006-09).
-Hofstra is 5-16-4 all-time against Columbia but has won the last two meetings.
-This is Hofstra's 18th 10-win season in program history (67 seasons) and the 15th under Coach Nuttall's direction.