Hofstra men's soccer's NCAA Tournament run ends with loss to Furman on penalty kicks

A week after giving retiring coach Richard Nuttall the indelible memory of taking down the defending national champions in the NCAA Division I men’s soccer tournament, Hofstra gave everything to try to gift another magical moment to its beloved coach.

With the Pride trailing 16th-seeded Furman by two goals late in the second half of their third-round match, Laurie Goddard scored twice in a 1:08 span to force overtime at Stone Soccer Stadium in Greenville, South Carolina, on Sunday.

Overtime couldn’t decide the outcome, sending the match to penalty kicks, in which Furman prevailed, 5-4, to end Hofstra’s playoff run and the sideline career of the winningest coach in school history.

Nuttall, who described the upset win over Vermont a week ago as an “unbelievable” gamut of emotions, ended his career with a record of 364-264-88 across 37 seasons at Hofstra.

He nearly recorded win No. 365 in stirring fashion.

Hofstra opened the scoring in the 17th minute when sophomore defender Thengill Orrason sent a pass into the box that found the head of senior forward Daniel Burko, who redirected the ball past Furman goalkeeper Ivan Horvat.

Luke Hutzell’s goal in the 45th minute sent the teams into halftime tied at 1.

Furman then snared a 3-1 lead on Wilfer Bustamante’s goal in the 77th minute and Diego Hernandez’s goal in the 80th minute.

It took a mere 19 seconds for the Pride to answer. Goddard — who scored the overtime winner against Vermont — slipped one inside the post to draw Hofstra within a goal.

A little more than a minute later, the senior struck again, burying a stunning header into the bottom corner on a cross from Aleksei Armas to knot the score at 3-3, which is how it stood through the remainder of regulation and overtime.

The Pride (14-5-1) scored on four of five penalties, but Furman (15-1-5) went 5-for-5 to punch its ticket to the Elite Eight. The Paladins will face No. 8 seed Portland on Friday.