After losing a handful of role players from last season, there were some doubters about whether the Hofstra women’s soccer team would be rebuilding in 2012 or be for real.
And then Sam Scolarici scored on a 12-yard shot 3:39 into double overtime against UNC Wilmington to clinch Hofstra’s third Colonial Athletic Association title. That solidified an appearance in the NCAA Tournament, where the Pride eventually lost 2-0 to Boston College.
Just making it there was more than enough for junior defender and Sachem alum Brittany Farriella.
“We’ve trained our hardest for four solid months and dedicated every ounce of blood, sweat and tears for the love of the game,” she said. “Coming into this season many thought after losing three of our top starters this would primarily be our rebuilding year. We proved everyone wrong and I couldn’t have asked for a better team to a part of.”
Farriella is one of five Long Island natives on the Hofstra roster. In her fourth year after redshirting as a freshman, Farriella has started in 35 of the last 37 games over the last two seasons. She has been a constant in a defensive unit that has aided in Hofstra’s 12 shutouts spanning 2011 and 2012.
At Sachem North, she played five years of varsity soccer under head coach Claude Amollobietta and graduated in 2009 with All-County and All-League honors. Interest from Miami, Connecticut and Boston University was there, but she kept it in the family and chose Hofstra since her sister Krysten, also a Sachem alum, was a goalie with the Pride.
“I had the privilege to play soccer with my sister for her junior and senior years in high school as well as my freshman and her senior year at Hofstra,” said Farriella, who is a criminology major and taken the NYPD and Nassau County Police tests, and is open to potential careers in Homeland Security or the D.E.A. “It’s something that few sisters are able to experience and ultimately has created a forever lasting friendship and bond that can never be broken between us.”
This season Hofstra’s forward line was led by freshman Leah Galton, who had a team-leading 11 goals and was the CAA Rookie of the Year.
“All our forwards are equally as talented and thrive off of one another,” Farriella said. “Lulu Echeverry brings so much passion and heart when she steps onto the field, Sam Scolarici is a complete work horse and refuses to stop until she gets the result, and again Leah Galton is such a dangerous threat to other teams with her immense speed and strength that it’s almost impossible to compete with her.”
When Scolarici scored the goal heard around Williamsburg, Va., the site of the CAA tournament, it sent a sensational rush upon Farriella and her teammates.
“I still get chills when I think about it,” she recalled. “I remember an overwhelming feeling of energy, excitement, and happiness surge throughout my entire body as Sam put away the game winning goal. I don’t think I’ve ever ran so fast in my entire life to join my teammates in the pileup. The feeling was so surreal and amazing; something that only a few are lucky enough to experience in a lifetime.”
-Words by Chris R .Vaccaro