For the second year in a row, No. 17 Hofstra saw its four-game winning streak snapped by St. John’s in an 11-10 overtime loss.
With the loss Hofstra drops to 4-3 overall on the season while St. John’s moves to 4-2.
“It leaves a bad taste in our mouth,” Hofstra Head Coach Seth Tierney said about the loss. “I thought we had opportunities to win.”
Hofstra was led in scoring by junior Mike Malave (3 G, 2 A) and Drew Coholan (3 G) and goalie Chris Selva made 12 saves, including two in overtime for Hofstra. However, two players knotting hat-tricks was still not enough to stop the Red Storm’s senior Kieran McArdle who recorded six goals and two assists. With his eight point performance, McArdle became St. John’s all-time career points leader with 222.
Malave sent the Pride into overtime off of a pass from sophomore red-shirt Korey Hendrickson at 3:31 left in regulation to tie the score up at 10. It was St. John’s who would capitalize 2:24 into overtime, as McArdle became the hero scoring on the extra-man opportunity off of a Connor Mullen pass.
“We had plenty of looks at the goal but we need to finish the ball a little bit,” Tierney said. “We missed a few key ground balls and you can’t do that.”
The second quarter saw both teams score five goals each. Coholan scored the lone man-up goal for Hofstra on the day (1-4) to give the Pride a 3-2 lead 30 seconds in. Hofstra later had its largest lead, 6-3 at 9:38 with Coholan’s second goal of the game, and back-to-back goals from Malave. After that, St. John’s went on to score four more with the tying goal by McArdle with 31 seconds left in the half to make it 7-7.
After the half, St. John’s took the lead with two goals but Hofstra sophomore defenseman Finn Sullivan scored his first collegiate goal followed by Coholan’s third of the game to tie the game at 9-9.
Sophomore attackman and leading scorer for the Pride, Sam Llinares (11 G, 12 A) was out with a lower body injury. Coach Tierney said he was missed on the field but it was still no excuse.
“Someone had to step up when the balls not in Sam’s stick,” Tierney said. “You take away your quarterback on any team and you’re going to miss him especially in a one-goal overtime game you would think that Sam would have some points.”
Hofstra lost the ground ball battle 32-30 but outshot the Red Storm, 46-35. Freshman Kris Clarke won 15 of 24 faceoffs for the Pride. St. John’s freshman goalie Joseph Danaher made 14 saves to earn the win. Hofstra struggled on the man-up opportunities converting only one of four while the Red Storm converted three of their five chances.
Hofstra will head back on the road to Philadelphia for its second CAA matchup of the season against Drexel University. Both teams will faceoff for the Heroes Bowl benefitting the HEADStrong Foundation at 4 pm.
