CollegeHofstra Women’s Soccer Set For Tough Tests to Begin Season Hofstra begins 2015 season on Friday. by Gregg Snyder August 20, 2015 Leah Galton (gohofstra.com) There will be no easing into the 2015 season for Hofstra women’s soccer. Head coach Simon Riddiough will lead his squad into the Penn State Invitational where the Pride will face two nationally ranked opponents in a span of three days, beginning with Friday’s match against No. 6 Penn State.Hofstra returns seven of its top 10 scorers from last years squad which reached the Colonial Athletic Association championship game. The Pride were selected second in the conference’s preseason poll. Hofstra has tallied double-digit victories in each of the past eight seasons and expectations remain high for this years group.After Friday’s opener against Big Ten favorite Penn State, the Pride will face No. 24 Rutgers on Sunday in the tournament’s finale. Rutgers was picked third in the Big Ten preseason poll.Hofstra will once again be led by Leah Galton. Galton, now a senior, has won the Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year award the past two seasons and was selected as the preseasons honoree in that category this season. Galton was also named the DoubleGSports.com Collegiate Female Athlete of the Year for 2014.Galton enters this season with the seventh-most career goals of any active Division 1 player, with 36. She is 14 goals shy of the Hofstra all-time program record, currently held by Sam Scolarici.Scheduling tough matches early in the season is nothing out of the ordinary for Hofstra and Riddiough. The team is looking forward to the challenge once again.“I always set a challenge for our team on the opening weekend and there’s no better opponent for that than Penn State, who is a perennial national power,” Riddiough said. “They’ll be a large crowd with thousands of screaming fans, so the experience will be great for us. Rutgers has a great coaching staff and they’ve made the step up to the Big Ten and they’ll be extremely good. We’re going to have to work really hard overachieve to get anything. It’s a process but we’re in a good position now and hopefully we can use this week as a springboard for the rest of the season.”Hofstra is 0-3 all-time against Penn State. The Nittany Lions return 18 players from last year’s squad that advanced to the national quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament last season. Post Views: 1,183The following two tabs change content below.BioLatest PostsGregg SnyderLatest posts by Gregg Snyder (see all) ITZ Staff Makes Super Bowl LV Predictions. Which team wins? Who is MVP? - February 5, 2021 Jets And Nike Create New Jersey High School Girls Flag Football League - February 3, 2021 NJ Sports Photographer, Lauren Guillen, Raising Funds For Local Youth Holiday Gifts - December 11, 2020 President Trump Awards Lou Holtz With Medal of Freedom - December 3, 2020 Related TopicsHofstraLeah GaltonPenn StateRutgersSimon RiddioughSoccer Click to comment You must be logged in to post a comment Login Leave a Reply Cancel replyYou must be logged in to post a comment.Newsletter SubscriptionCan't Miss Posts! UFC Long Island: Ticket & Fight Card Info by Kristine Haugsjaa | posted on May 31, 2017 Women in Sports: Podcast Host, New York Riptide Sideline Reporter, Dani Wexelman by Luke Porco | posted on March 3, 2020 A Look at Paternity Leave in MLB as Trout Becomes a Dad by Elizabeth DiPietro | posted on August 5, 2020 Women in Sports: Ariel Epstein, On-Air Host at SportsGrid (VIDEO) by Anthony Paradiso | posted on March 12, 2021 A Conversation with Nancy Newman: “We Are All a Yankee Family” by Elizabeth DiPietro | posted on July 27, 2020More in College You Know I’m Right, Episode 107: New York Post’s Columnist Mike Vaccaro (Audio/Video)On the 107th episode of You Know I’m Right, Nick Durst and Joe Calabrese are joined by... Master P’s Son, Hercy, Commits to Tennessee StateMaster P’s son, Hercy Miller, is committing to Tennessee State to play basketball. While... EA Sports Plans to Revive College Football Video GameEA Sports announced that they plan on making college football video games again. The... UVM Women’s Basketball Team Quits 2020-2021 SeasonThe University of Vermont (UVM) women’s basketball will be ending their 2020-2021 season early... USWNT Wraps up a Pair of Friendlies against Costa Rica Showing Dominant Form Rutgers Defense Must Improve In 2nd Year In The Big Ten