Lions Pick Up First Win of Season

The Columbia women’s soccer team (1-1-0, 0-0-0 Ivy) opened its season under the bright lights of Columbia Soccer Stadium, but found no home-field advantage in a disappointing 1-0 loss to Hofstra (2-2-0, 0-0-0 CAA). The Lions managed to bounce back on Sunday, however, to defeat William and Mary and split their weekend.

The Light Blue opened its match against the Hofstra Pride with 21 minutes of back-and-forth threats by the two teams, including two shots by the Lions that fired up their supporters.

With just over 31 minutes remaining in the first half, junior midfielder Christina Eckhardt sent a potential tally to the net, but her shot veered to the left. The Light Blue had another opportunity to score just seven minutes later, but sophomore forward Kelly Hostetler sent the ball too high.

Hofstra found the back of the net in the 22nd minute, when the ball ricocheted off a Columbia defender. It cruised past senior goalkeeper Rebecca Taylor, who dove but could not record a save. While the ball took an unlikely path, it was still a goal and was all the Pride needed to win.

“To have a bounce like the goal, an unlucky bounce, define that game is very frustrating,” head coach Kevin McCarthy said.

The Lions held Hofstra scoreless for the rest of the game, but could not find the back of the net themselves. McCarthy was pleased with his team’s showing, if not with the end result.

“I’m not unhappy with our performance and the overall effort,” he said. “However, the expectation for this program is that we win on our home field ... There’s a much higher ceiling for our performance level.”

Junior midfielder Sophie Reiser, one of the Light Blue’s three captains, agreed.
“We had some good plays, some shaky decisions, but I think that’s going to come with the first game,” she said. “There’s a ton of potential.”

Columbia’s abilities shone through on Sunday afternoon in a 1-0 victory against William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. The Lions recorded their first goal of the year after just eight minutes of play on freshman midfielder Liz Wicks’ unassisted shot. Taylor prevented the Tribe (2-2-1, 0-0-0 CAA) from completing a comeback effort with six saves and zero goals allowed. Columbia came close to scoring again, thanks to efforts from Reiser, but Tribe goalkeeper Meghan Walker went in for the save.

The Light Blue continues nonconference play on Tuesday against Iona (0-4-0, 0-0-0 MAAC). Last season, the Lions defeated the Gaels 4-0. The game is set for 7 p.m. at Columbia Soccer Stadium.