Pride junior Sam Llinares recorded his second hat-trick of the season but senior Jesse King tallied four goals, including two in the fourth quarter, to give the Buckeyes of Ohio State a 9-8 victory over Hofstra at Ohio Stadium Saturday afternoon.
The Buckeyes improved to 5-2 on the season while the Pride, which dropped their second consecutive contest, slips to 1-4 in 2015.
In addition to Llinares’ three goals, senior Mike Malave added two goals for the Pride. Senior goalie Chris Selva recorded 13 saves in the Hofstra cage. In addition to King’s four goals, the Buckeyes received two goals each from freshman Colin Chell and junior Carter Brown. Sophomore goalie Tom Carey also made 13 saves, including six in the final quarter, in the Ohio State goal
In a first half that featured three tied scores, the Buckeyes struck first as senior David Planning scored his seventh of the year from 12-yards out, off a pass from John Kelly, just 52 seconds into the game. Pride freshman Dylan Alderman tied the contest almost six minutes later with his third of the season from eight yards. Chell got the lead back for OSU with his fifth of the season with 5:40 to play in the first quarter. But once again, the Pride tied the game as junior Korey Hendrickson notched his fifth of the year on a bullet at the 3:39 mark to close out the scoring in the period.
The Buckeyes built a 4-2 lead midway through the second quarter as King, the OSU leading scorer, tallied his 16th of the season from six yards at the 8:48 mark and Brown posted his ninth of the year just 91 seconds later.
Llinares extended his scoring streak to 34 games with his 13th goal of the season, off a rebound, with 3:35 to play in the half. King scored his second of the game, on the run, less than a minute later to boost the OSU lead to 5-3.
But Hofstra tied the contest with two goals in the final 2:40 as senior Ryan Rielly scored his fourth of the year right off the face-off, off a pass from sophomore Kris Clarke, and Llinares notched his second of the game 1:02 later to tie the game at 5-5 at halftime. The Buckeyes outshot the Pride, 18-13 with Selva making eight saves in the first 30 minutes for Hofstra.
The Pride took a 6-5 lead just 2:38 into the third on Malave’s low bullet. But the Buckeyes responded with goals from Chell, on the man-up, and Brown to regain the lead at 7-6 with 7:54 to play in the third. Malave tied the game at 7-all for the Pride off a pass from freshman Brendan Kavanagh with just 11 seconds to play in the third.
Ohio State tallied the first two goals of the fourth quarter as King completed the hat-trick just 2:09 into the period and then posted his fourth of the game off a key Hofstra turnover with 7:27 to play for a 9-7 lead. Llinares got his third of the game just 1:04 later to close to within one at 9-8. It is Llinares’ second hat-trick of the season.
The Pride had the ball twice in the final minute with a chance to tie it. But the first possession ended in a pass that dribbled out of bounds with 53 seconds. After getting the ball back on a full field ride, Llinares’ wrap-around in the final seconds was stopped by Carey.
Hofstra returns home to James M. Shuart Stadium for their next contest on Saturday, March 14 against the Friars of Providence College. Game time is 12 p.m.
