HEMPSTEAD, NY — She's back.
It had been 357 days since
Anna Moors' name flashed on the box score for Monmouth Field Hockey. The senior went through a long recovery, coming back from a season-ending knee injury a year ago and fittingly, against Hofstra, the team she had suffered her injury against, found the back of the net — not once, but twice — to propel her team to a 4-0 victory.
"Last year when we played Hofstra is when I got injured, so scoring my first goal now means a lot to me," said Moors. "Feels full circle."
"The whole sideline you can feel the emotion," said Hawks coach
Carli Figlio. "She's worked so hard and gosh, the setbacks that she's had, and to see the smile afterwards was everything."
Moors helped lead No. 19 nationally ranked Monmouth to their sixth straight win Friday with the team improving to 2-0 in the CAA, while the hosting Pride dropped to 2-6 and 0-2 in conference play.
The Hawks were the superior team, out-shooting Hofstra, 21-5 while totaling five penalty corners to one for the Pride. The hosts came out hot to start the match with Monmouth goalie
Charlie Bowman coming up with a pair of saves early to preserve the shutout. However, the game turned in the second quarter thanks to a goal from junior
Stella Goddard-Despot, getting her shot to go in a scrum in front of net in the 21st minute.
Moors then quickly doubled the lead.
Lauren Relik inserted to
Audrey Mullen on ensuing penalty corner who laid a perfect pass for Moors. The former All-CAA ad All-Region pick swung a hard-hit ball straight into cage to double her team's lead with seven minutes to play in the half.
"It means a lot," said Moors. "I've been waiting for so long. I'm really happy to be back. There's just been a lot of support from the team. I couldn't have gotten through it without them."
Gallery: (9-25-2026) Field Hockey at Hofstra 9/25/26
"The sheer power that she has," added Figlio. "And just giving her permission to be confident again. I think every major injury that's such a big hurdle to overcome and we all fully believe in her and I'm hoping that this gives her the extra oomph to really believe in herself. It was an incredible game for her in the positions that she was playing and the finishes that she had was fantastic."
Milla Frye added to the Hawks' lead midway through the third quarter after Monmouth dominated possession. She was played in by
Alicia Vanderlyde, who one-touched a pass forward to a wide-open Frye in transition and the junior did the rest as she scored her team-leading 10th of the season to fatten the cushion to 3-0.
Moors capped the offensive night for the Hawks in the final minute of the third quarter. Monmouth earned back-to-back penalty corners and capitalized on the second attempt, as Relik inserted to
Luisa Schlueter who placed a pass for Moors. Again, the senior effortlessly sent a laser toward cage that was deflected by a Pride defender and lofted over the goalie into the open net for her second of the afternoon.
"She creates so much, just her vision in that position and power as well," Figlio added. "Having a center back as powerful with hitting and with the ball, playing into the screens. She really brings a big oomph for us in the backfield, even when we have her at outside back too. She's very composed and organizes the girls as well, so to have two center backs that we can actually give breaks to is huge for us. Both of them are so consistent and play a little bit differently, so it would be really hard for other teams to play against that rotation I think."
Schleuter followed Moors offensively with two points on assists, followed by Goddard-Despot and Frye with a goal apiece. Bowman earned the win, playing the first half and adding two stops, while
Djoeke van Helsdingen aided in the shutout finishing the last 30 minutes of play.
"We always look at the games one game at a time, so it's nice that we won but we always start from 0-0 every game, so we just have to focus on the next one," Moors added. "It's nice to get the win today but we have to keep going."
Monmouth is back in action Sunday, going on the road to face Ivy League's Columbia at 1 p.m.
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