Towson, MD – Sophomore attacker and All-Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) first team honoree Brittain Altomare led Hofstra with a pair of goals, but it wasn't enough as Towson used a 5-0 scoring run in the second half en route to a 9-4 victory over the Pride in the CAA Championship on Sunday afternoon from Tiger Soccer Complex.
With the loss Hofstra falls to 11-8 this season, while Towson improves to 10-8 and earns the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The field will be announced at 9 p.m. this evening on NCAA.com.
Today's appearance in the CAA title game marked the Pride's fifth since joining the league in 2002 and the first since 2010.
Just as they had done in Friday's semifinal victory over James Madison, Hofstra went into the halftime break down a goal. The Pride trailed 4-3 after 30 minutes of action as Towson scored the first two goals of the game to lead 2-0 with 22:02 left following a goal from Sarah Hogan.
The star of Friday's win, senior attacker Taylor Albright, would get the Pride on the board as she scored off an assist from junior midfielder Alex Mezzanotte with 20:05 on the clock.
Towson would push its lead back to two goals before senior midfielder Maryann Miller scored an unassisted goal at the 15:39 mark to close the gap to one at 3-2.
After Jackie LaMonica pushed the advantage to 4-2, Altomare closed the first half scoring with 9:40 left before intermission to make it 4-3 at the half.
Hofstra would break the ice in the second half as they knotted the score at four with 26:55 to play in regulation as Altomare scored her second tally of the contest. It marked the first time the score had been tied since it was scoreless.
Towson would respond to the consecutive Hofstra goals as Rhiannon Coogle scored with 24:53 left to make it 5-4 Tigers following a yellow card being assessed to the Pride. Hofstra defense was stellar spanning the two halves as they held Towson without a goal for a period of over 20 minutes of game action.
A goal from Paige Duncan would push the Tiger lead back to two goals, 6-4, with 21:20 remaining in the second stanza as Towson put together back-to-back goals after Hofstra had knotted the score at four.
The momentum would stay on Towson's side as the Tigers kept the pressure on and pushed the lead to five goals, 9-4, with just under 13 minutes left in the game and eventually held on for that score to capture the championship.
Olivia Turner was the difference for Towson in the second stanza as she scored three straight goals down the stretch that turned a 6-4 game into a commanding 9-4 lead for the Tigers.
Sophomore defender April Iannetta was her usual consistent self as she has been all season for Hofstra as she contributed five ground balls, five caused turnovers and two draw controls. Altomare added two draw controls, one ground ball and one caused turnover.
Sophomore goalie Kelsey Gregerson made three saves for the Pride, while Kelsea Donnelly had seven saves for Towson.
Hofstra had a trio of players named to the all-tournament team as Taylor Albright, Kelsey Gregerson and April Iannetta earned recognition from the conference following the championship game.
Hofstra's 11 wins this season are the most since the 2010 squad won 12 games.
