The Hofstra Men’s Lacrosse team heads to Ohio for their third road game of the season this Saturday, March 7 when they face the Buckeyes of Ohio State at Ohio Stadium. Game time is 1 p.m.
Pride Productions will have live audio beginning with the pregame show at 11:45 a.m. Anthony Santaniello and Matt Durant will have the call for the radio broadcast on WGCH (1490 AM). Live stats can be accessed by going to Gametracker on OhioStateBuckeyes.com as well as on GoHofstra.com.
Hofstra is coming off a 1-1 week last week that included an 18-0 shutout of the Jaspers of Manhattan College at James M. Shuart Stadium on February 24, and a 13-11 loss at Georgetown on Saturday, February 28. The Pride whitewash of Manhattan was the Pride’s first shutout in 45 years, since a 27-0 victory over CCNY in 1970. The shutout was also the 10th shutout in Hofstra history and the first in Division I since Johns Hopkins blanked Manhattan, 11-0 on March 6, 2012.
Junior attackman Sam Llinares tallied career-highs of six goals and eight points to lead the Pride over Manhattan. His six goals topped his previous best of four against Sacred Heart in 2013 while the eight points bested his previous mark of seven set at Princeton last Saturday. Included in his eight points against the Jaspers was the 100th point of his Hofstra career. He now has 50 goals and 54 assists in 32 games.
Senior Mike Malave and junior Brian von Bargen each added two goals while junior Korey Hendrickson and sophomore Kris Clarke each posted a goal and an assist for the Pride. Hofstra had 11 players score goals and 14 players record points against Manhattan.
Last Saturday in Washington, D.C., Pride senior Mike Malave tied his career-high with five goals but the Hoyas 5-1 run in the second half was too much to overcome as Hofstra fell to Georgetown, 13-11 in a non-conference game at Multi-Sport Field. Malave, who recorded a career-high with seven points in the game, equaled his five-goal performance at Massachusetts last season to lead the Pride. Junior Sam Llinares added two goals and three assists and sophomore Brier Davis tallied his second hat-trick of the year with three goals. Senior goalie Chris Selva recorded a season-high 15 saves including nine in the second half. Georgetown outshot Hofstra, 46-37 and picked up 43 ground balls to the Pride’s 32.
Hofstra has now received 12 goals and 12 assists from Llinares in the first four games of the 2015 season. He tallied 21 goals and 32 assists last season. Malave has 13 goals and two assists while junior Korey Hendrickson has four goals and two assists. Sophomore Brier Davis has added six goals. Senior co-captain and goalie Chris Selva, who played just three quarters against Manhattan, lowered his goals against average last week to 10.13 and boosted his save percentage to .500.
The Buckeyes of Ohio State are 4-2 on the season following their 10-9 loss to the Marquette Golden Eagles last Sunday. The Buckeyes have wins over Robert Morris (10-6), Delaware (10-3), Dartmouth (15-5) and Bellarmine (8-7). Ohio State has losses to Detroit (9-8) in the season opener and Marquette last weekend.
Ohio State took a 9-5 lead into the fourth quarter last Sunday against the Golden Eagles only to see Marquette score five unanswered goals to remain undefeated on the season. Carter Brown led OSU with three goals while Jesse King added one goal and three assists.
The Buckeyes are the current national leaders in face-off winning percentage (.752) and man-down defense percentage (1.000). Senior Christopher May has won 81 of 108 face-offs (.750) to lead Division I in that category. Ohio State is led in scoring by senior Jesse King with 15 goals and 10 assists in six games. Junior Carter Brown has added eight goals and nine assists while senior David Planning has chipped in with six goals and seven assists. Junior Ryan Hunter has contributed nine goals and two assists. Sophomore goalie Tom Carey has recorded a 6.77 goals against average with 51 saves and a .560 save percentage in six games (354 minutes).
Saturday’s game is the fourth meeting between Hofstra and Ohio State in a series that began in 1955. The Pride lead the series, 3-0. The two teams met last on March 8, 2014 in Hempstead with the Pride recording a 7-5 victory over the Buckeyes.
