This post was written by Hatchet reporter Agam Mittal.
With his parents watching from the stands, German-born sophomore goalkeeper Thor Arne Hofs once again proved why he is considered one of the best goalkeepers in the Atlantic 10.
Hofs recorded his league-leading sixth clean sheet of the year as men’s soccer opened conference play with a double overtime 0-0 draw against Fordham (3–3–3, 0-0-1 A-10). GW (5–2–4, 0-0-1 A-10) remains undefeated at home, with a 2-0-3 record.
Hofs boasts an impressive .55 goals-against average, which ranks best in the A-10 and 15th in the nation. He has now recorded a shutout in each of his last three starts.
In their first meeting since 2013, both teams fell victim to sloppy play in the wet conditions as light rain persisted throughout the afternoon causing a number of players to slip and mishandle the ball.
“The first half, I thought we struggled a little bit, we couldn’t really get into the game. In the second half, we had a good 20 minute spell when we should’ve scored but didn’t,” head coach Craig Jones said. “Maybe it was because of a little tiredness from playing on Wednesday, but in the first half we struggled.”
The Rams neutralized junior forward Christian Lawal and sophomore forward Dylan Lightbourn, who lead the Colonials with a combined six goals on the year. Lawal attempted five shots but was only able to get one on target. Lightbourn did not attempt a shot.
“I need to target my shots a little more obviously, just get into more dangerous positions in general,” Lawal said. “I think we had spells, we looked dominant, but we couldn’t quite find the goal which was quite disappointing.”
GW came out of the half strong, riding the legs of Lawal and senior midfielder Garrett Heine. The Colonials threatened to score twice, but the Rams – who were on a two-game winning streak – held their own defensively.
The Colonials’ defense maintained the shutout leading into the final third of the game, when their pace of play picked up.
With four minutes remaining in the game, GW caught a huge break when Fordham freshman Connor DeFilippis broke free towards the goal but missed an easy chip shot over the crossbar.
On the next possession, off of a Heine corner, Lawal just missed the target with a header over the crossbar.
In both overtime periods that followed, GW and Fordham picked up the aggressive and physical play on defense, pushing for goal-scoring opportunities, but to no avail.
“We could’ve won the game in the last 10 minutes of regulation, or we could’ve gotten one in overtime,” Heine said. “We were getting forward, but we just have to be a little more creative, a little more sharp in the final third. I thought we got our chances, we just have to put them away. We got a result, and I look forward to the next game.”
GW hosts VCU (3-5-2, 1-0-0 A-10) on Wednesday at 2 p.m.
