Rutgers women’s soccer suffered a tough loss to Hofstra on Sunday night at Yurcak Field. The hard fought game was tied all the way into the 88th minute before the Pride broke through. Olivia Pearse scored the game winner that was assisted on by Wiktoria Franc. The Scarlet Knights dropped to 1-1 on the season.
Hofstra are the defending CAA Tournament champions and advanced to the NCAA Tournament last fall.
Despite holding a 17-8 shooting advantage and a 6-5 edge in shots on goal, it wasn’t enough. RU also held a 4-2 edge in corner kicks. Goalkeeper Olivia Bodmer made four saves in just her second career start.
The Pride almost took the lead in the 80th minute game before defensive stopper Emily Mason stopped a shot from going in an otherwise open net.
Allison Lowrey led Rutgers with 3 shots overall and 2 shots in defeat.
It was a disappointing night but this team has the talent and depth to recover. Last season’s leading point getter, Sam Kroeger, remains out as she recovers from an injury. In addition, Mason is working her way back and played about half of the first two games of the season. She tore her ACL last fall and is the leader of the Rutgers defense.
Rutgers will next travel to NC State on Thursday, August 24 at 7:00 p.m. The Wolfpack have advanced to six consecutive NCAA Tournaments and have 18 players returning after finishing No. 36 in the RPI rankings last season.
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Henry Rutgers
August 21, 2023 at 1:54 am
Tough loss. An improbable loss based on the RU field of play domination. If I was frustrated watching the game, I cannot imagine how the RU women feel. While it is generous to call out Hofstra’s previous seasons success the game was Rutgers to lose. They had the home field, they had the crowd, the defense and midfield played well. Rutgers controlled the game everywhere but inside Hofstra’s 18 and the scoreboard. Your center forward must put the ball in the net or you need to find another center forward. Lowrey is a hardworking, tenacious champion. It looks like she needs a medical red shirt. She has had a string of injuries going back to the beginning of last season. She looks slower and is wearing a back brace/massager when not playing. Baren, on the other hand, looks fast, durable and extremely skilled. Lowrey played 62 minutes and had three shots in the direction of the goal (mostly directly at the Hofstra goalie). Girman played half as much and had the same number of shots. She put the team in scoring position several times. Kroeger can’t heal fast enough. Fluchel and Banks delivered stellar performances. North Carolina is a good opportunity to regroup but it won’t happen without some tough lineup changes.