Hofstra snapped Towson’s six-game winning streak with a 9-7 victory in another Colonial Athletic Association matchup.
With the win, Hofstra clinched a spot in the CAA Tournament in April and improves to 6-3 overall, 3-0 in the CAA while Towson drops to 7-3 overall and 1-1 in the CAA.
“To be 3-0 in the conference, I believe it gives us a spot in the CAA tournament,” Head Coach Seth Tierney said. “Something that we haven’t been able to do in the last year or two.”
A big factor for Hofstra getting the victory against Towson was its defense.
“Our defense really locked it down with a couple of real quality possessions, long possessions,” Hofstra Head Coach Seth Tierney said. “To do this without John Riecherter for Anthony Zappone and Chris Howell to make some plays, I’m awfully proud of them.”
Hofstra senior co-captain Anthony Zappone opened scoring for the Pride with his first goal of the season. Towson answered back to tie it up and eventually would then get its first and only lead of the game with Seider’s first goal at 7:01 to make it 2-1.
With back-to-back goals from sophomore Sam Llinares, the Pride managed to tie it up and take the lead at 13:59 of the second quarter. The half would not end in Hofstra’s favor as Towson’s Greg Cuccinello and Seider scored to tie it up 4-4 entering the break.
To start the second half, Towson and Hofstra both exchanged goals to tie the score 5-5. Sophomore red-shirt Korey Hendrickson had his second of the period to give Hofstra the lead for good at 8:14.
Hofstra had its largest lead by three after a goal from senior Lance Yapor, his 13th of the season to start the fourth quarter. Towson scored two more in the quarter but would not be enough as Torin Varn notched his 15th of the season at 4:53.
Despite Towson freshman attacker Joe Seider having a four-goal game, Hofstra was able to outscore the Tigers in the third quarter 3-1 to secure the win.
Hofstra freshman Kris Clarke went 13-19 at the faceoff X and the Pride won the ground ball battle 37-32.sunny
Hofstra outshot Towson 29-24 with 16 shots on goal to the Tigers 10. Towson was successful on 1-2 extra-man-opportunities while Hofstra went 0-3 on the day. Hofstra goalie Chris Selva had three saves for the Pride and Towson’s Tyler White made nine saves in net.
Now that Hofstra has secured a spot in the tournament, they can technically relax a little but Varn knows that they cannot rest and have a long way to go until the tournament.
“We still have goals we need to achieve this season and that’s what we are focused on.” Varn said.
Hofstra will return to action next Saturday when they take on Siena College for a non-conference matchup in Hempstead at 7 pm.
