On Sunday in Hempstead, New York, an overcast kickoff gave way to a sun-soaked second half as the Brown women’s soccer team (5-2-1, 0-0 Ivy League) outpaced Hofstra University (1-5-1, 0-0 Coastal Athletic Association) to a 2-1 victory — the 100th of Head Coach Kia McNeill’s career.
The win was filled with personal achievement. It featured a dominant brace by forward Angelina Vargas ’27 — the first of her Brown career — and midfielder Joy Okonye ’27 recorded her 18th assist as a Bear, moving her into a tie for sixth-most assists in program history.
In a statement to Brown Athletics, McNeill said earning the 100th win was “an honor and incredibly humbling.”
“I’ve had the privilege of coaching some really special teams and players here at Brown,” McNeill added. “This milestone is a reminder of all those who have been along for a part of this 100-win journey.”
The contest’s opening minutes betrayed no hint of the joyous celebration to follow. Just 90 seconds into the match, Hofstra midfielder Amy Meadows broke through the Bears’ defense and put a shot on target that soared past Bruno goalkeeper Addison Etter ’29 and nestled in the back of the net.
But less than seven minutes after Hofstra’s opening goal, Vargas scored her first goal of the afternoon to pull Brown even with the Pride. Okonye made a run up the field’s left side and lobbed a pass to Vargas, who had maneuvered into position within the box. Vargas deftly sent Okonye’s pass hurtling into the net with her left foot.
Okonye wrote in an email to The Herald that “continuous practice and confidence in my ability has helped me be effective for the team, whether I am scoring or assisting.”
In the 19th minute of the game, a deflected Okonye ball earned Brown a corner kick. The pass into the box led to four headers by a mix of Brown and Hofstra players. In the next minute, two more corner kicks were awarded to Brown, but neither led to a score for Bruno. The third and final corner kick culminated in a bullet of a header that looked destined to rocket past the goalie but spun up and above to clatter off the top bar.
While Brown maintained fresh legs through four substitutions over the remainder of the half, the Bears were unable to put up another shot attempt before heading back to the locker room.
But Bruno wasted little time in the second half before changing their luck. Just three minutes after beginning the half’s play, the Bears worked a fast break. Midfielder Brooke Birtwistle ’28 boomed a pass to a streaking Vargas, who received the ball near the box’s top right corner. There, Vargas challenged the Pride goalie, who had made her way to the same spot in an effort to end the chance.
Vargas barreled right through Hofstra’s goalkeeper, knocking her flat on the ground. Vargas then lofted the ball in the general direction of the wide-open net, where it bounced right over the goal line to secure Bruno’s first lead of the game.
Birtwistle “played a great ball in behind, and the goalie was very out of position,” Vargas wrote in an email to the Herald. “I was able to muscle my way through and find the open net.”
As the Bears fought to hold their advantage through the remainder of the game, the most threatening moment came with 22 minutes left. A cross into the box by a Hofstra player led to an on-target header from a leaping Pride attacker just a couple feet away from Etter. But the Brown goalie stood her ground and unflinchingly swatted away the ball.
The Bears almost collected an insurance goal with 15 minutes remaining, when forward Claire Silverman ’27 fired a shot on goal from just outside the box. The ball just barely ran out of steam to reach the net’s top bin, and the Hofstra goalie was able to jump into the ear and redirect the attempt just over the goal’s upper bar.
In the final minutes of the game, Brown continued the steadfast defensive play that had kept the Pride scoreless since the game’s second minute, successfully nursing their lead to the game’s conclusion.
“I was so proud of our team. It was a physical game, but we fought to the end,” Vargas wrote. “Even though we conceded early in the game, we did not let that get in our head at all.”
Okonye added that the victory “boosts our momentum and puts us in a good place going into (the) Providence game as we close off non-conference play.”
The Bears will look to close out non-conference play with a strong performance when they host Providence College (2-0-6, 0-0 Big East Conference) this Thursday on Stevenson-Pincince Field. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.
Sajiv Mehta is a sports editor. He is from Scarsdale, New York and plans on concentrating in English and American Studies. In his free time, he can be found reading an encyclopedic novel or watching the Yankees.
