The Hofstra Pride hosted their final home game of the season at Shuart Stadium on Saturday, April 11th. This game also marked the final home game for seniors like Mike Malave, John Reicherter, Steve Romano, and Ryan Rielly, so Hofstra had some motivation to go out and beat tenth-ranked Cornell Big Red. In the end, however, the Big Red offense proved to be too much for the Pride as the Big Red scored 14 goals on their way to a dominating 14-5 win.
Hofstra had a total of eight seniors playing their final home game. Mike Malave stood out from the rest as he scored his 28th goal on the season, his final goal at Shuart Stadium. He also contributed an assist to finish the game with two points.
Before the game even started, there was a shake up in the Pride lineup. Freshmen goalie Jack Concannon got the start over senior Chris Selva, which was a bit of a head scratcher. Considering this was gonna be Selva’s last home game and Selva has started in goal for most of the games this season, it was reasonable to believe that he would’ve been given the start.
Concannon’s inexperience certainly didn’t help ease concern over Tierney’s decision to start him. Prior to Saturday’s game, Concannon only made two appearances this season, against Manhattan and Drexel, totaling 20 minutes and 27 seconds in goal. Cornell took advantage of Concannon’s lack of experience by scoring 14 goals against him with five of those goals coming from Dan Lintner
Despite the loss, Hofstra played well when on a extra-man opportunity. Junior and sophomore attackers Sam Llinares and Brier Davis were able to capitalize on two early EMOs to give the Pride a 2-0 lead. Korey Hendrickson and Mike Malave contributed on two more EMOs later in the game. The Pride went 4 for 7 when on an EMO while the Big Red went 2 for 3.
With this loss, the Pride drop to a 4-8 record, losing the last three games. Hofstra only has two game left, but they can’t expect to win those games easily. Next Saturday, April 18th, the Pride will travel to Towson, Maryland to take on the eighteenth-ranked Towson Tigers. After that game, the Pride will conclude their season on the road in Fairfield, Connecticut as they play against twenty-fifth ranked Fairfield Stags.
