Hofstra field hockey looks to continue home success against national power Old Dominion

 Courtesy Hofstra Athletic Communications

It has been a tale of home and away for Hofstra field hockey so far in 2010 with the Pride a perfect 6-0 on the friendly turf of Hofstra Field Hockey Stadium but a winless 0-7 on the road. After winning a must-win game over William & Mary 3-0 on Friday afternoon to keep its postseason hopes alive, Hofstra (6-7, 1-3 in Colonial Athletic Association) will look to keep the home magic cooking this Sunday with another crucial contest against 19th ranked Old Dominion.  

“Knowing that we know this turf and we play on it every day it definitely helps our confidence level,” said Hofstra junior goalkeeper Amanda Heyde (pictured), who recorded her second shutout of the season with an eight save performance against William & Mary on Friday.

Hofstra field hockey team confident heading into CAA play

Fresh off a 6-0 romp of Siena Sunday, the Hofstra field hockey team is sky high with confidence as it gets sets for Friday afternoon's Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) opener at 14th ranked Drexel.

After losing the first two games to Boston University and Albany, the Pride (5-3) have won five of six including back-to-back shutouts of Fairfield and Siena this past weekend. "Our confidence is very high right now," said Hofstra field hockey head coach Kathy De Angelis. "We do know that we are coming to a team [Drexel] that is one of the top teams in the country and we feel that our performance in the past eight games has prepared us for this coming day."

With All-CAA midfielder Amy-Lee Levey red-shirting this year due to injury, other Pride players have stepped up on offense led by junior Genna Kovar (22 points), Krizia Layne (16 points) and Arielle Williams (13 points). "We're all stepping up and coming together as a team," said Kovar, who earned third-team All-American accolades last year.

Hofstra’s CAA opener at Drexel starts at 4 p.m. Friday Sept. 24 followed by a Sunday road tilt at Ivy League power Yale. Following conference road games next weekend at 17th ranked James Madison and Virginia Commonwealth, the Pride return to the friendly confines of Hofstra Field Hockey Stadium versus William & Mary and Old Dominion on Oct. 8 and 10th.

Former Hofstra women's soccer star Diane Caldwell competing for W-League title while training for Pride field hockey season

 Courtesy Hofstra Athletics Communications

Former Hofstra women’s soccer star Diane Caldwell is keeping plenty busy this summer on the pitch and with a field hockey stick. As Caldwell gets set to play field hockey for Hofstra this fall while attending graduate school, the Balbriggan, Ireland native has continued to pursue soccer by playing for the Hudson County Quickstrike Lady Blues semi-professional club who will be in the USL W-League semifinals on July 29.

Caldwell, who played soccer for Hofstra from 2006 to 2009 and is now pursuing masters in physical education, has been spending her summer thus far housed with her Hudson County teammates at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, N.Y. In the midst of taking part intense daily practices and workouts with her W-League squad, Caldwell has also found the time to practice her technical and tactical field hockey skills each day. When Hofstra field hockey head coach Kathy De Angelis agreed to let Caldwell play semi-professional soccer this summer with the Quickstrike it was understood that field hockey would not be far from her mind.

“When I was leaving she said to me ‘if I see you over summer you better have your stick on you at all times,” said Caldwell, who last played field hockey at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin. “Over spring I really did try and work on improving my game and that definitely helped me having that spring under my belt.”

“We were very clear to the fact that if we were giving her this opportunity that she put a real commitment to playing as much hockey while also playing soccer,” said De Angelis. “It is really about the perseverance to be a dual athlete at that level.”

Caldwell, who has competed for the Ireland national soccer team, describes her experience with the Quickstrike as the highest level of the sport she has ever played and is hoping it can someday lead to an opportunity to play professionally in the WPS. If the Quickstrike manage to make it to the W-League championship on July 31 in Santa Clarita, Calif. Caldwell will have a chance to play before a national television audience on Fox Soccer Channel. The dual athlete will then turn her attention solely to field hockey when the Hofstra sticklers begin pre-season practice on Aug. 11 in preparation for the season opener on Aug. 28 against Boston University.

Hofstra women's soccer star Diane Caldwell to play field hockey for Pride in 2010

Picture courtesy Hofstra Athletic Communications

On Nov. 6 when the Hofstra women’s soccer team’s 2009 season ended in heartbreaking fashion after a 2-1 overtime defeat to UNC-Wilmington it brought incredible heartache for senior defender Diane Caldwell, who suddenly saw her Pride career playing the sport she loved come to a close. The pain still lingers from that early November defeat on the turf of Northeastern’s Parsons Field but Caldwell’s Hofstra’s collegiate career is now being resurrected with a stick.

The Ireland native has earned a spot on Hofstra’s field hockey team and will play for head coach Kathy De Angelis in the 2010 season while she attends graduate school. Caldwell, who played field hockey for Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Balbriggan, Ireland, decided to workout with the Hofstra sticklers last spring and after impressing the coaches with her athletic play in the backfield has been added to the roster for the 2010 season.

“When my four years were up with soccer I was obviously a little disappointed because you don’t want it to end so soon but having [ a chance to play field hockey] gives me another year to enjoy and stay here at Hofstra,” said Caldwell, who played soccer for the Ireland National Team in 2008. “To go into a Division I program is not going to be easy by any means but it is a new challenge for me and I am just looking forward to it because it is these challenges that make life exciting.”

Hofstra field hockey caps dramatic weekend with CAA playoff berth

It was a dramatic weekend for the Hofstra field hockey team that included a loss, a win, a trip the emergency room and nervously viewing a key conference game online that potentially could have ended its season. When the dust settled however head coach Kathy De Angelis found her program back in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championships for the sixth straight year, putting a young team comprised of 11 freshmen and six sophomores just two wins from an NCAA tournament berth. 

Hofstra (12-7, 5-3 in the CAA) officially punched its ticket as the fourth and final seed for a CAA Championships after James Madison defeated Northeastern in double overtime on Sunday afternoon. A victory by the Huskies had the potential to put Hofstra in a logjam for fourth place with Old Dominion, Northeastern and James Madison, and could very well had put a cap on the Pride’s season depending on what tie-breaker formula the CAA used. Instead Coach De Angelis and her players that viewed the dramatic game on Northeastern’s website were joyous in front of their computer screens knowing they lived to play another day.

The Pride learning its playoff fate on a computer was far from the only tense moment during Halloween weekend. After losing at 17th ranked Delaware 4-1on Friday night, De Angelis found herself traveling to an emergency room to visit key players Amy-Lee Levey and Gena Kovar, who had both got hit in the hands by sticks on two separate incidents during the game. The duo was cleared to play in Saturday’s critical game at Towson but had to wear lacrosse gloves in order to protect their hands, but both contributed heavily to the 3-2 come-from-behind win with Levey scoring two goals and Kovar registering two assists.

Hofstra seniors cap home field hockey career with key CAA win over Northeastern

When Hofstra field hockey seniors Kristin Thompson and Ashleigh Daniels first arrived in Hempstead for the 2006 season, the Pride were in their final year calling Shuart Stadium home. The duo has since gone on to be key focal points of ushering in the program’s new era at the three-year old Hofstra University Field Hockey Stadium and capped their final home game in grand style this afternoon with 4-2 win over Northeastern.

Thompson and Daniels both contributed a goal apiece in Hofstra’s huge Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) win on Senior Day that puts the Pride (11-6, 4-2) in prime position to reach the four-team conference playoffs next month. “They are invaluable to our program,” said Hofstra head field hockey coach Kathy De Angelis of her two seniors. “We still have got a great part of the season left so we’re excited about the win and having them with us for a few more weeks hopefully on to the [CAA] championship.”

With today’s win over Northeastern (9-7, 3-2), Hofstra has supremacy over the Huskies by a half game with a tiebreaker advantage for that fourth and final CAA playoff spot with two road games remaining at Delaware and Towson. “This win was crucial,” said Daniels of the playoff implications that stemmed from today’s game.

Ironically both senior’s goals in their final home game bookended each other. Thompson, whose parents attended her senior day festivities all the way from Trinidad, scored the game’s first goal 9:43 into the game off an assist from Nancy Wagenbrenner. Daniels tallied the game’s final goal off a transition feed from Genna Kovar 10:27 into the second half with the Pride clinging to a 3-2 lead and Northeastern mounting heavy offensive pressure.

Hofstra field hockey with “win of a lifetime” over 16th-ranked ODU

It was by far the most enjoyable eight-hour bus ride that Hofstra field hockey head coach Kathy De Angelis had ever been on yesterday following her team’s stunning come-from-behind 6-5 upset of 16th- ranked Old Dominion (ODU). The dramatic comeback from a 5-1 deficit capped a successful Virginia weekend sweep and has positioned Hofstra (8-6, 3-2) with a legitimate shot at making the competitive four-team Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) playoffs next month.

One day after returning to Long Island from a long but rewarding bus ride, Coach De Angelis described the victory over ODU as her greatest since becoming Hofstra head coach in 1998. The Pride had previously been 0-7 against the storied ODU field hockey program, which has nine national championships in its trophy case, and rallying from a four goal-deficit early in the second half made the historic victory that much more rewarding.

“We could have gone on that bus for 24 hours and talked about that game,” joked De Angelis. “This is the win of a lifetime.”

It was a dramatic weekend all around for Hofstra field hockey, who on Friday night defeated William & Mary 3-2 in overtime on a goal from senior Ashleigh Daniels off an assist from junior Amy-Lee-Levey. Levey also tallied the Pride’s tying goal against ODU with 6:33 left and just over a minute later freshman Micaela Gallagher (Pictured) picked an opportune time for her first career collegiate goal off a penalty corner with 5:06 left to cap the comeback. Sophomore Genna Kovar registered two goals during the five-goal barrage with Nancy Wagenbrenner adding the other tally.

Levey thrives under pressure for Hofstra field hockey

An important part of field hockey is penalty strokes and Hofstra head coach Kathy De Angelis has found a reliable executer of these key open shots in junior midfielder Amy-Lee Levey. The Zimbabwe native is striking a .1000 average this season with a perfect three-for-three on penalty strokes including the game-winning overtime goal against Quinnipiac on Sept. 16 and her first of a career high two goals in this past Sunday’s 4-3 overtime win over Virginia Commonwealth (VCU).

“I always look up to the opposite corner and try and fake the goalie out,” said Levey of her mental and physical approach toward taking a penalty stroke. “It is so cool to get it in.”

Since arriving at Hofstra in 2007 from Africa, where she played at an all-girls catholic school in Harare, Zimbabwe called Dominican Convent, Levey has proven to be a reliable offensive producer with 10 points her sophomore season and six as a freshman. However this is the first year where Levey has been called upon to take those pressure penalty strokes, which is a shot taken only 6.4 meters in front of the goalie after a foul occurs in the circle around the goal.

"We are 110% confident that Amy is going to put the stroke in,” said Coach De Angelis of Levey’s clutch goals off of penalties this year. “It’s definitely about power and being technical but you have to have that confidence and composure to get up there and to score.”

Three of Levey’s four goals this season have been by the penalty stroke variety and her other tally came at an opportune time as she poked in a shot off a scramble in front of the VCU net to give the Pride its recent overtime triumph. Hofstra (6-6 and 1-2 in the CAA) needs to finish in the top four if they are to reach the conference playoffs for the sixth straight season and if the Pride manages to keep that post-season streak alive, Levey will likely be a large reason why.

“She is an outstanding athlete with great skill as well as just an amazing heart, which is so important for a program,” said De Angelis.

In addition to her field hockey success Levey also excels in the classroom. The finance major received the CAA Commissioner’s Award and was named a member of the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Academics Squad her first two seasons at Hofstra. “She leads by example in every practice and every game,” said De Angelis.

Hofstra’s quest to reach the CAA playoffs will be largely determined this weekend when the Pride head to Virginia to battle William & Mary on Friday night and 16th-ranked Old Dominion on Sunday. “It’s our fist real away trip so our team is really going to come together,” said Levey. “We’re going to show them what Hofstra is made of.”