Improve To 2-0 On The Season

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The members of the Yale women's soccer team probably didn't know a whole lot about Hofstra prior to Sunday's game at Reese Stadium. After all, the teams were playing for the first time. There was, however, one key piece of information that caught their attention - the result of the Pride's game Friday night, a 2-1 win over Princeton, which shared last year's Ivy League title with Harvard.

That made Sunday's game a good early-season test for the Bulldogs, and they passed with flying colors. Enma Mullo, Leslie Perez and Becky Brown each scored as Yale cruised to a 3-0 victory over Hofstra on a beautiful late summer afternoon.

"They all knew," said Yale head coach Rudy Meredith when asked if he had needed to tell his team of the Pride's win over Princeton.

Yale (2-0) came out sharp and grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 20th minute when Mullo curved a free kick into the top right corner from just outside the box.

"Enma is very smart," Meredith said. "She saw that the goalie was cheating a little bit and knocked it by the back post."

It was Mullo's second career goal.

The Bulldogs made it 2-0 early in the second half. Freshman Kristen Forster dribbled down the far side and sent a perfect cross to Perez, who all alone in front and tapped it into the empty net.

Brown, who scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Wagner on Friday in the season opener, capped the scoring midway through the second half when she settled a Perez pass and fired a shot from 12 yards out that deflected off the crossbar and in.

Ayana Sumiyasu made nine saves to post the shutout in goal for the Bulldogs. Her best save came when she punched Diane Caldwell's hard shot over the crossbar with 15 minutes left in the first half.

Hofstra's best scoring chance came late in the second half, but Courtney Breen's shot from 25 yards out banged off the crossbar.

Both teams finished with 17 shots, but Yale had a significant edge in quality opportunities.

"This was a battle," Meredith said. "It was a very physical game. Hofstra is a good team. I was very impressed with our hustle and how we helped each other out."

The Bulldogs have now outscored their first two opponents 5-0.

"We have two shutouts so it's hard to complain about that," Meredith said.

Yale hosts Sacred Heart on Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Reese Stadium.

Report filed by Tim Bennett, Yale Sports Publicity