Women's lacrosse falls in road match to #20 Boston College

The strong offense of Hofstra’s women’s lacrosse team was put to the test in a 20-10 loss against #20 nationally ranked Boston College on March 11, 2020 at the Newton Lacrosse Complex in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. The Boston College Eagles were the 2019 NCAA runner-up, falling to Maryland in the championship match last season. The win extends Boston’s record to 4-3 while Hofstra falls to the exact same record, having only lost to three top 20 nationally ranked opponents so far this season. The Eagles dominated the first half scoring seven unanswered goals in nine and a half minutes to lead the Pride, 7-0 with 20:30 left to go. The goals came courtesy of redshirt freshman midfielder Cassidy Weeks who scored three, and Ryan Smith, Jenn Medjid, and Jordan Lappin as well as Charlotte North who each recorded one of their own. However, Hofstra lacrosse’s all-time scoring leader senior Alyssa Parrella sparked some energy into her team, scoring an unassisted goal at the 20:18 mark. From there, it became a back and forth battle until halftime with Lappin answering Parrella’s goal 30 second later to extend Boston’s lead to 8-1. Throughout the remainder of the first half Parrella would go on to record two more goals--one assisted by sophomore Grace Langella at 15:04 and the other unassisted at 3:19--as freshman Taylor Manella also recorded an unassisted goal with 10:29 left in the half. But Hofstra couldn’t keep up with the Eagle offense as Boston found the back of the net five more times to dominate the contest 13-4 with a minute left in the first period. Courtesy of an assist by Katie Whelan, the Pride’s Amanda Guerra had the last word at 00:58, scoring one more goal to reduce Boston’s lead, 13-5 going into halftime. Both teams struggled to score coming out of the locker room but it was eventually Hofstra senior co-captain Alexa Mattera who went up first six minutes into play. The Pride would follow it up with another goal at the 21:33 mark thanks to Whelan, to cut their deficit 13-7 as they’d go on to score five of the first seven goals of the second half. Whelan scored again at 18:53, junior Arianna Esposito clocked in at 16:09 off an assist by Parrella and 12 seconds later sophomore Erin Demek scored at 15:57 to allow the Pride to only trail by five, 15-10. However, Hofstra was shut-out for the remainder of the game as the Eagles went on to score five more times and close out the game 20-10. Parrella’s hat trick marks her fourth of the season as she’s now recorded 216 career goals and is only five away from Loyola University’s Stacey Morlang’s conference record of 221 set between 1999-2002. Throughout the match the Eagles led in every category but one: caused turnovers in which Hofstra led 5-4. The Eagles also recorded 38 shots to the Pride’s 33 and led in both free-position shots and ground balls, 7-5 and 16-10 respectively. In net, the Pride’s goalkeeper Jess Smith recorded ten saves. This meeting marks the first time the two teams have played since 2012. The Pride will take the field next on Sunday, March 15 as they head to Hamden, Connecticut to face Quinnipiac University. Game time is set for 12 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics