This weekend, the women’s lacrosse team will travel to Hempstead, N.Y., to take on Hofstra University, looking to push its record over .500 for the first time this season.

After narrowly edging out Bryant, 14–13, on Wednesday, the Bulldogs will face a tough challenge in the Pride (4–1, 0–0 Colonial) on Saturday. Hofstra’s only loss this season came in its last game against No. 1 Maryland, which featured a strong second half comeback by the Pride that barely fell short against the top team in the nation.

Key for the Bulldogs (2–2, 0–1 Ivy) will be offensive production. The team has scored over 10 goals in every game thus far, with its largest output coming in its 19–12 win against Quinnipiac on Feb. 27. Team captain Devon Rhodes ’13 leads the team in scoring with 14 goals and 18 points. Attackers Jen DeVito ’14 and Kerri Fleishhacker ’15 have also been key offensive contributors this season, with 15 and 11 points, respectively. But Hofstra is another offensively sound team, averaging over 11 goals in five games this season.

However, improvement is needed on the defensive end if the Bulldogs hope to come out with a win on Saturday. Fouls, turnovers, groundballs and yellow cards have been issues for the team, and the Elis will need to do better in each of these categories if they hope to go far this season.

“I think our focus on the defensive end is picking up 50-50 balls,” goalie Erin McMullan ’14 said. “Our opponents have been able to take advantage of these ground balls and maintain possession. Picking up ground balls will be huge for us on Saturday.”

Attackers Brittain Altomare (11–11–22) and Julia Reimer (9–2–11) lead the Pride in points going into their matchup with Yale. The Pride have been a high-scoring and high-shooting team, through their first five games. The team has registered 147 shots; however, a relatively low 72.8 percent of these have been on net. Additionally, Hofstra has been more efficient than its opponents in clears, and the Pride committed fewer fouls and turnovers than their opponents in the season thus far.

“We will look to carry over the intensity and scrappiness we displayed in our Bryant game today, especially towards the end of the second half” McMullan said. “Hofstra is a very talented team. We will look to correct some of our mistakes we made today and head into Saturday with a lot of energy.”

The Elis game will begin Saturday at 1 p.m.