Harrisonburg, Va. - Junior Sam Scolarici, sophomore Lulu Echeverry and freshman Jill Mulholland all scored as the Hofstra women's soccer
team netted three unanswered goals to help the Pride defeat Temple, 3-1, on a
neutral field on Friday night.
Scolarici (Aldie, Va.) and Echeverry (East Meadow, N.Y.) scored
for the second straight game to help Hofstra improve to 2-0 on the season.
Mulholland (Levittown, N.Y.) registered her first career goal in the 67th
minute to provide insurance as the Pride won the first matchup in the Fairfield
Inn By Marriot Invitational on James Madison's campus. Temple's Jourdan Brill
scored her team's only goal, but the Owls fell to 0-1-1.
Junior goalkeeper Emily Morphitis (London, England) made three saves in the win.
Hofstra's 2-0 start is the best beginning to a season since the Pride won the
first four games in 2007.
Three Hofstra freshmen earned their first career points
in the win. Mulholland, Chloe Dale (Solihull,
England) and Leah Galton (Harrogate, England)
all made the score sheet, with the latter two picking up assists.
Hofstra entered the contest receiving votes in the first
NSCAA poll after knocking off Ohio State, 2-0, in the season opener. But Temple
got the early jump when Brill opened the scoring 21:16 in off a shot from eight
yards out.
The Pride responded with Scolarici and Echeverry showing
the offensive skills they both displayed in the win over Ohio State. Scolarici,
who blasted a 40-yard shot to beat the
Buckeyes last week, took Dale's feed and fired a shot from the left corner
almost 18 yards out for her second goal of 2012 in the 36th minute. The teams
went into halftime tied at 1.
Echeverry and Mulholland then scored less than three minutes
apart to secure the victory. Echeverry was riding the momentum of her first
career goal on Opening Day. The midfielder is now on a hot streak with back-to-back
game-winning goals after scoring from 10 yards out at 63:08.
Just 2:57 later, Mulholland reached a personal milestone with
her first career goal. The insurance marker was generated by an all-freshmen
connection with Galton setting up Mulholland for a 16-yard scoring strike.
Hofstra will next be in action on Sunday
when it concludes the invitational with an 11 a.m. contest against Big
East-member Georgetown at the same location.
