No. 4 Penn Awaits Hofstra on Wednesday

from press release

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. - The Hofstra Women's Lacrosse team, off to a 3-1 start in 2010 and coming off a 12-10 victory over Cornell on Saturday, will head to Philadelphia, PA on Wednesday for an important early season test at #4 Pennsylvania.  First draw is set for 3 p.m.

Hofstra trailed Cornell 10-8 with 20:44 left in the contest after a goal from Jessi Steinberg before senior midfielder Sandy Wasserbach started the game-ending run that propelled Hofstra to the road victory with a free-position tally at the 17:15 mark.

After Wasserbach got Hofstra going, senior midfielder and Tewaaraton candidate Corrine Gandolfi knotted the score with an unassisted goal just under four minutes later before senior midfielder K'Leigh Vanaman tallied the eventual game-winner with 8:53 remaining to make it 11-10 in favor of the Pride.  Freshman attack Jackie Ardolino would add an insurance goal with 3:22 left on the clock to account for the 12-10 final.

Gandolfi, a returning third team All-American, has picked up where she left off last season as she leads Hofstra in nearly every statistical category.  The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Player of the Week last week, Gandolfi has team-highs of 12 goals, four assists, 16 points, 20 draw controls and seven caused turnovers.  The only category in which she trails another member of the Pride is ground balls as junior defense Katie Hertsch has 10 to Gandolfi's eight.  Hertsch, Hofstra's top defender, also has 10 draw controls and six caused turnovers to anchor the Pride defense. 

The meeting with Penn will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools and Hofstra's second straight against a school from the Ivy League.  The win over the Big Red was Hofstra's first in Ithaca since the 2004 and allowed Hofstra to match last season's 3-1 start.  The Quakers enter Wednesday's game with a 2-1 record, having defeated Drexel and Temple and lost to then-No. 4 North Carolina.

A win over Penn would be the highest ranked victory the Hofstra Women's Lacrosse team has ever achieved as Boston University was #6 in the nation when Hofstra defeated the Terriers, 11-8, on March 15, 2006.

After the meeting with Pennsylvania, Hofstra will return home to James M. Shuart Stadium on Saturday when they host longtime rival #20 Rutgers at 1 p.m.  Rutgers is Hofstra's most contested opponent all-time.  The 28 meetings in the all-time series is two more than Towson and Drexel.  Hofstra and Delaware have also met more than 20 times (22).