Hofstra senior Drew Coholan led the Pride with five goals en route to an 11-9 victory over Colonial Athletic Association opponent Drexel University this Saturday in the inaugural HEADstrong Foundation Hero Bowl in Philadelphia.
With the win, Hofstra improved to 5-3 overall, 2-0 in the CAA while Drexel drops to 4-4 overall and 0-1 in the CAA.
“This game had a lot of layers to it,” Hofstra Head Coach Seth Tierney said. “Rivalry game, obviously a huge conference game for both teams. The HEADstrong Foundation now being the HEADstrong cup brings an emotional layer to it but again once the whistle blows it’s a lacrosse game.”
It was a game of runs for both teams. Hofstra started the first quarter on a 3-0 run but at the 2:45 minute mark in the quarter, Drexel’s Jules Raucci scored leading to three straight goals for the Dragons.
In a second quarter that only saw two goals, Coholan gave the Pride the 4-3 lead back with 0:56 left in the first half.
Both Hofstra and Drexel traded goals to start the second half but Hofstra had back-to-back goals from senior Torin Varn and one from Coholan to give the Pride the 8-4 edge.
Drexel woke up with 2:04 to go in the third with a goal from Ryan Belka on the extra-man opportunity. That goal led to four straight from Drexel to tie the score 8-8. Two of those came from 2014 Tewaaraton Award Watch List player Ben McIntosh, with the last being his 22nd of the season.
At 7:31 of the fourth quarter Coholan had a hat trick to secure the Pride the win and score his 14th of the season and fifth of the game. With less than one minute left and Drexel down by two, the Pride was able to hold on and earn the win.
“What we went back to was this one offense where Lance [Yapor] and Sam [Llinares] were dodging behind,” Coach Tierney said about Coholan’s game. “We were setting a pick and they [Drexel] were going to have to come to them [Hofstra] a little bit and right now Drew Coholan was the guy that was open…Drew shot the ball really smart.”
Hofstra goalie Chris Selva earned the win with 13 saves while Drexel’s Will Gabrielsen had nine for the Dragons.
Drexel outshot the Pride 36-32 and won the ground ball battle 25-15. The Dragons won 16-24 of their face-offs while Hofstra freshman Kris Clarke won eight. Drexel was perfect on all three extra-man opportunities while Hofstra capitalized 2-5.
Not only was this a big conference win for the Pride but also like Coach Tierney said, the game had an emotional layer to it being the HEADstrong Foundation Hero Bowl for former Hofstra lacrosse player Nick Colleluori.
“It means everything. I probably knew Nick for four months and he taught me more in four months than I think I could have taught him in three years if he was able to play. The Colleluori family is just an inspiration. What they have done since Nick has left us is incredible.”
The Pride will be back in action next Saturday, March 29 when they host Towson University for another CAA matchup in Hempstead at 7 pm.
