October 24, 2008

RAMS SUFFER ANOTHER HEARTBREAKING DEFEAT WITH 2-1 LOSS TO HOFSTRA
Pride scores game-winner with 58 seconds left in the game
Box Score

RICHMOND, Va. – The baseball great Yogi Berra once said, “It’s like déjà vu all over again.”

The Virginia Commonwealth University women’s soccer know that feeling all too well as for the second time in the past three contests the Rams suffered a heartbreaking loss, this times at the hands of Hofstra University.

After VCU lead for the first 61 minutes of action, Hofstra notched two goals, the last one being with just 58 seconds remaining in the game, to earn a 2-1 road victory on Friday night in Colonial Athletic Association women’s soccer action.

The loss drops the Black and Gold to 8-8-1 overall and 4-4-1 in the CAA, while the Pride improve to 10-5-2 on the year and 7-1-1 in conference action.

Both teams unleashed several shots in the first 10 minutes of play, but neither squad was able to muster up much of a scoring opportunity.

VCU got the first good chance when senior Samara Stephen-Dowd (Vienna, Va.) delivered a long cross pass to a speeding Laurel Pastor (Springfield, Va.) who got past the Hofstra defense and blasted her eighth goal of the season into the back of the net to give the Rams a 1-0 advantage just 14 minutes into the contest.

Senior goalkeeper Lauren Hardison (Midlothian, Va.) would take over the first half from there as the veteran made six saves in the first 45 minutes of play to give the Black and Gold a 1-0 lead at the intermission.

The Pride came out of the locker rooms aggressive and got its first scoring chance in the 62nd minute when Marie Curtin launched a shot that Hardison was able to save, but the rebound bounced around in front of the net where Tiffany Yovino sent a short pass to Salma Tarik, who poked in her fifth goal of the season and tied the game at 1-1.

It looked as if the VCU defense would hold off the powerful Hofstra offense as the Pride owned the second-half tempo with a 5-0 advantage in corners and 10-3 advantage in shots, but the score remained even at 1-1 entering the final minute of play.

Tarik would make sure there was no extra time as she lofted a long pass across midfield to a speeding Laura Greene, who got past the VCU defense and sent a shot from 15 yards out into the bottom right corner of the net with just under a minute to play to give Hofstra the 2-1 victory.

Hardison, who was making her first start since September 14th, was tested all night facing a total of 19 shots with 11 of them being on target. In all, the veteran registered eight saves on the evening.

Pastor was the offensive force for the Rams tallying seven of VCU’s 11 shots on the evening. The sophomore has now tallied five of the Rams’ past six goals.