HEMPSTEAD, NY -- The University of Delaware took a lead into halftime, but host No. 18 Hofstra scored twice in the second half, including the game-winner with 11:27 left to play, to knock off the Blue Hens in a Colonial Athletic Association field hockey quarterfinal playoff game Wednesday night at Shuart Stadium.

Freshman Alexis Esbitt (Sanford/Hockessin, DE - at right) put the Blue Hens on the board with her second goal of the season eight minutes and 56 seconds into the game, but the Blue Hens couldn’t find the nets again fell to the Pride. Delaware, the tournament No. 6 seed, finishes the season with a record of 7-12. Esbitt scored her goal off a breakaway, shooting on Hofstra Jessica Cowperthwait, grabbing the rebound off the save, and scoring.

Hofstra, which avenged a 3-2 overtime loss to Delaware back on Sept. 24 in Newark, DE, improves to 13-6 and advanced to face No. 2 seed James Madison in the CAA semifinals Saturday afternoon in Virginia Beach, VA. Top seed Old Dominion will face No. 4 Northeastern in the other semifinal game.

The Pride, which outshot the Hens 16-5 and held a 9-4 advantage in corners, tied the score with 29:01 left to play when McEneaney took a shot off a penalty corner and Brit Blankmeyer tipped it in for the goal past Delaware’s Nikki Rhoades.

Hofstra then won the game with 11:29 left to play as McEneaney scored off another penalty corner from 12 yards out off an assist from Reyna Farnum.

“We had to find a way to get shots on goal today but we didn’t do that,” said Delaware head coach Carol Miller, whose team played without All-CAA back Molly Burke who was out with a concussion suffered in practice Tuesday. “This season was a positive one in the fact that we had a lot of new faces on the field and that youth will be a positive for us next year. At times our freshmen played like seasoned players. Because of all the injuries we had this year, it was a roller-coaster season. We had a lot of ups and downs.”

Rhoades posted five saves for the Hens while Cowperthwait made two saves.

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