No. 16 Hofstra Stays Perfect in CAA
from press release
FAIRFAX, Va. - Senior midfielder Corrine
Gandolfi tallied three goals and two assists, while senior attack
Liz Falco chipped in with two goals and two assists as the #16
Hofstra Women's Lacrosse team held on for a 12-9 victory over
George Mason on Friday afternoon at George Mason Stadium.
The victory was Hofstra's third straight and improves the Pride's
record to 9-3 overall and a perfect 3-0 in Colonial Athletic
Association (CAA) play. George Mason falls to 3-10 and 0-3 in
conference action.
With her three goals in the game today, Gandolfi took over sole
possession of third place all-time in goals at Hofstra with
136. She broke a tie with Kim Hillier, who notched 133 goals
from 2004-07.
Senior midfielder K'Leigh Vanaman was clutch for the Pride in the
contest as well as she tallied a game-high tying three goals,
including the final two goals of the contest after the Patriots had
narrowed the gap to 10-9 with less than 13 minutes to play.
Hofstra jumped out to a 7-4 lead at the break as Gandolfi had two
goals and two assists in the opening thirty minutes to lead the
way. The Pride never trailed in the first half as Gandolfi
assisted on goals from junior attack Stephanie Rice (27:23 mark)
and Vanaman (26:28 mark) to put Hofstra up 2-0 to start the
contest.
With Hofstra holding a narrow 5-4 advantage after a goal from
George Mason's Callie Hoyt with 12:13 to play before intermission,
Gandolfi scored twice in the final 6:14 of the half to push the
Pride lead to three goals.
Emily Ellisen would open the scoring in the second half for the
Patriots at the 27:38 mark before an unassisted goal from Gandolfi
pushed the lead to 8-5 and a goal from senior attack Courtney
O'Connor off an assist from Falco with 22:11 to play in regulation
allowed Hofstra to take a four-goal advantage (9-5).
With Hofstra holding the 9-5 lead, George Mason would score four of
the next five goals in the game to cut the deficit to just one,
10-9, with 12:39 left on a goal from Madalyn Jamison.
Vanaman would end the scoring run for the Patriots as she tallied
her second goal of the game off an assist from freshman midfielder
Jill Maier with just over 11 minutes to play to allow Hofstra to
push the advantage back to two goals.
After a nearly six-minute scoring drought for both teams Hofstra
would add another goal, Vanaman's third of the game, with 5:17 left
to push the lead to 12-9.
That would be the final tally of the game as Hofstra held on for
the three-goal victory.
Vanaman and senior defender Bryana Borrelli tied for the team-lead
in ground balls with three, while senior goalie Mary Cuddihy earned
the win with five saves in nearly 47 minutes of action.
Vanaman led Hofstra with four draw controls, while Gandolfi added
three. Vanaman is now just one draw control shy of becoming
just the fifth player since draw controls became an official NCAA
statistic (2001) to record at least 100 career draw controls.
Sara Longobucco made 10 saves for George Mason, which got a
game-high six points (three goals, three assists) from Jamison.
Hofstra returns to action on Sunday when they travel to
Harrisonburg, Virginia to take on #10 James Madison at 1 p.m.
