WHERE: @ Princeton
WHEN: Saturday February 22 @ 11:00
Princeton gets to start its season against the Hofstra Pride who are coming off an 11-9 loss to the Marquette Golden Eagles this past weekend. The loss gives the Pride an early record of 0-1 on the season and they will look to stop it from becoming a losing streak as they travel to Princeton to take on the Tigers in their season opener.
Last season, Princeton won a tightly contested game that saw the Tigers come out on top by a score of 10-7. Neither team was in the lead by more than a couple of goals. Will Princeton duplicate last season’s opener against the Pride or will Hofstra provide an early season upset?
Hofstra Offense vs. Princeton Defense
Edge: Princeton
The Tigers bring back a very experienced defense that had its growing pains last season after ranking 29th in the NCAA in scoring defense. Despite playing with one junior, two freshman defenders and a freshman goalie, the defense gave up a hair over 10 goals a game. With more experience this time around and adding the No. 7 ranked recruit in Will Reynolds, this group will be tough to score on.
One last note on the Tigers, goalie Matt O’Connor saved a little over 50 percent of his shots last season and should see that number jump up with a more experienced defense in front of him and being the starter for the second consecutive season.
Hofstra, on the other hand, does bring back a ton of experience on offense. Sophomore Sam Llinares leads the charge and is coming off a season-opening effort of five points against Marquette and will be the focal point of the Princeton defense. The rest of the lineup is littered with juniors and seniors, so they should be able to handle Princeton’s on-ball pressure for a time. The key is whether they will be get tight if the game gets close.
Hofstra Defense vs. Princeton Offense
Edge: Princeton
Let’s make this simple, Hofstra has no one that can contain Tom Schreiber. While other teams are better equipped to slow him down, Hofstra’s defense really doesn’t have anyone to help to do that. Jake Frocarro and Kip Orban are no slouches themselves and will provide great options off the double teams that Schreiber draws. They registered 37 and 34 points respectively last season for the Tigers.
On attack, Ryan MacDonald and Ryan Ambler are a great one-two punch on attack and should test Hofstra’s close defense. MacDonald had 59 points as a sophomore while Ambler registered 28 points last season.
Hofstra’s defense loses all three starters from last season’s defense which ranked as the nation’s No. 3 rated defense in goals per game. The only man to return, and maybe the most important is goalie Chris Selva. Selva ranked third in the nation in save percentage at 60 percent. Unfortunately, due to the loss of the three seniors, he will be seeing a lot of rubber coming his way on Saturday in Princeton. He may be able to keep it close early but Princeton will eventually wear his and the rest of the Pride defense down.
Faceoffs
Edge: Push
Both teams bring in new faceoff men after graduation left them empty at the position. John Antoniades and Bobby Lucas leave from Hofstra and Princeton respectively. Therefore, it will be interesting to see guys such as Princeton’s Justin Murphy and Hofstra’s Giovanni Girardi go at it on Saturday as both are inexperienced.
I know this is a huge DUH statement, but it will likely come down to a big scrap in the middle of the field between these two teams. Lots of 50-50 balls will be up for grabs.
Prediction
Princeton has a huge edge on offense and the key for Hofstra is winning those 50-50 balls in the middle of the field on the faceoffs and keeping the turnovers under six or seven for the whole game for them to be able to pull off the upset. Any carelessness on offense will occur in easy transition goals for the Tigers and a lop sided affair in Princeton.
To put it simply, Princeton will win, and win by a sizeable margin.
Hofstra 5, Princeton 12
