The Hofstra University men’s lacrosse team was able to end their second two-game losing streak on March 14th by taking a convincing win against the Providence College Friars, 15-4. With this win, the Pride improve to a 2-4 record.
Coach Seth Tierney, however, doesn’t see his team’s record a 2-4.
“I know it says we are 2-4,” Coach Tierney stated, “but we’re 1-0, and that’s how we’re starting it, and that’s how we’re going to continue.”
Hofstra was returning home to Hempstead after taking a close 9-8 loss at Columbus, Ohio against the Ohio State Buckeyes. Despite the loss, there were some bright spots for the Pride with junior attacker Sam Llinares contributing three goals in the effort. Providence College, on the other hand, was coming off a win against UMass-Lowell. Junior Will Mazzone led the way for the Friars with two goals and three assists. Hofstra holds a 4-0 series lead over Providence College, their last meeting occurred nearly nine years ago, when the Pride defeated the Friars 14-8 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The first quarter was a back-and-forth game with neither team gaining the advantage. The Friars got on the board first nearly five minutes into the game. After senior goaltender Peter Badgley made a brilliant save against Llinares’ shot, the Providence College defense would clear the ball to freshmen midfielder Joshua Keller who would score the goal and put his team up by one. The goal would be Keller’s sixth on the season.
Hofstra responded to the goal with their first goal of the game. After drawing a illegal body check penalty, the Pride went on the extra-man opportunity. Senior midfielder Mike Malave would find freshmen attacker Brier Davis, who would put the ball in the back of the net for his seventh on the season and knot the game up at one. Brendan Kavanagh, also a freshmen attacker, would get his chance to get his second goal on the campaign and put the Pride up 2-1 two minutes later. The Friars would have a response for Kavanagh’s goal with Keenan Assaraf scoring his second goal on the season. The first quarter would end in a 2-2 tie.
The second quarter belonged to Hofstra as the offense exploded for four goals. Junior midfielder Korey Hendrickson would put the team up 3-2 with his sixth goal on the season, and freshmen midfielder Dylan Alderman would contribute as well.The real star of the second quarter, however, was Sam Llinares as he scored two consecutive goals for the Pride.
In the third quarter, Providence College hoped to get momentum back on their side by having senior attacker Buck McClure notch his ninth goal on the 2015 campaign and bring the defect to within three, but like the second quarter, the Hofstra offense would exploded, this time for eight goals. Sam Llinares and Mike Malave, who lead the the Pride in scoring, would lead the offensive explosion with two goals each, giving Llinares four goals total in the game and nineteen on the season and Malave two goals for the game and seventeen. Brier Davis and Korey Hendrickson would also score their second goal of the game. Red-shirt freshmen Tim Nowak and senior attacker Tyler Begley would contribute their first goal in the game, the first on the season for Nowak and second for Begley. The lead was too much for the Friars to overcome in the fourth quarter and they pickup their third loss on the season while the Pride get theirs third win. Hofstra also extends its series lead to 5-0 over Providence.
While the Pride offense put on a show, the real improvement that was necessary was the defense. In four of the five previous games prior to Providence, Hofstra’s defense gave up 9+ goals which would lead to the four losses. Allowing a team to score only four goals is something to be proud of, but what caught Coach Tierney’s attention was what the defense didn’t do.
“We did less. Sometimes, less is more, and we just tried to relax a little bit.”
The Pride will be back in action on March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day, at 7 p.m. as they play host to St. John’s before opening CAA-conference play against the University of Massachusetts on Saturday, March 21st at noon at James M. Shuart Stadium.
