The Hofstra Men’s Lacrosse team returns home to James M. Shuart Stadium this Saturday, March 14 when the Pride host the Friars of Providence College in a non-conference tilt at noon.
Pride Productions will have the live video and audio beginning with the pregame show at 11:30 a.m. Julian Coltre and Anthony Santaniello will have the call for the radio broadcast on WGCH (1490 AM). Live stats can be accessed by going to HofstraStats.com. The game will also be televised, on a tape delay, on Verizon FiOS. Check your local listing for the time of airing.
Hofstra is coming off a 9-8 loss to Ohio State at the ‘Shoe in Columbus last Saturday. After tied scores at the end of each of the first three quarters, the Buckeyes opened the fourth with two goals by Jesse King, his third and fourth of the contest, to give OSU a lead they would not relinquish. Sam Llinares would score his third of the game with 6:23 to play to bring Hofstra back to within one at 9-8. But despite getting several opportunities, Hofstra was unable to get the equalizer.
In addition to Llinares’ second hat-trick of the season, senior Mike Malave added two goals for the Pride. Sophomore Kris Clarke, going up against the number one face-off specialist in the country, won 12 of 21 face-offs to help the Pride effort. Senior Chris Selva made 13 saves in the Hofstra goal.
Hofstra has now received 15 goals and 12 assists from Llinares in the first five games of the 2015 season. He tallied 21 goals and 32 assists last season. Malave has 15 goals and two assists while junior Korey Hendrickson has five goals and two assists. Sophomore Brier Davis has added six goals. Senior co-captain and goalie Chris Selva lowered his goals against average to 9.89 and boosted his save percentage to .520.
The Friars of Providence College come to Long Island with a 4-2 record on the season. The Friars have wins over Vermont (12-9), Boston University (7-4), Sacred Heart (11-8) and UMass-Lowell (11-6) and losses to Fairfield (10-6) and Duke (20-8).
Providence is coming off the 11-6 victory at UMass-Lowell on Tuesday. Junior Will Mazzone led the Friars with two goals and three assists while senior Greg FitzMaurice and freshman Joshua Keller each added two goals. Senior Peter Badgley recorded eight saves and allowed three goals in 45 minutes of work in the goal for Providence.
Coming into the week, the Friars, behind Badgley, were ranked second in the nation in saves per game (17.2). The senior netminder ranks third in the country in saves per game (16.20) and sixth in save percentage (.623).
The Friars are led in scoring by Mazzone with 10 goals and eight assists in six games. Senior Buck McClure has tallied 15 points on eight goals and seven assists while FitzMaurice leads the team with 11 goals and has added one assist. Badgley has posted a 9.45 goals against average and a .631 save percentage with 89 saves in 330 minutes of action this season.
Saturday’s game is the fifth meeting between Hofstra and Providence in a series that began in 1993. The Pride lead the series, 4-0. The two teams met last on May 14, 2006 in Hempstead in the NCAA Championship first round with the Pride recording a 14-8 victory over the Friars.
