Tierney scores 11 points in season opening loss to St. John's

Turnovers and shot attempts were a major problem as the Hofstra Pride men’s lacrosse team was defeated in overtime by the St. John’s University Red Storm 19-18 on Saturday, Feb. 13, at the James M. Shuart Stadium.

340 days it had been. Yes, 340 days it had been since the men’s lacrosse team played a game. Ironically, the last game the Pride played before Saturday’s was against the St. John’s Red Storm.

The first half was a tight battle between the teams of Long Island and Queens as both traded goals to start the game.

Senior attackman Ryan Tierney accounted for three goals and an assist coming from a buzzer-beating Sam Lutfi goal heading into the half with Hofstra up eight to seven. Alex Concannon, the midfield transfer, added two goals for the Pride in the first half with Lutfi having two of his own.

Although the Pride had a one-goal lead, they led in the turnover category with 15 while the Red Storm had seven. The Pride also led in faceoffs with 12 of them won to the Red Storm’s four.

Sophomore goaltender Mac Gates had seven saves for the Pride heading into the half.

The second half opened up with St. John’s Dylan Willis tying the game at eight apiece and Hofstra’s Riley Forte giving his team a one-goal lead.

The Red Storm answered back with five straight goals giving themselves a four-point lead.

Pride’s Forte and Tierney each added a goal, cutting Hofstra’s deficit to two goals until St. John’s Joe Madsen added another goal for the Red Storm, giving the team a 14-11 lead.

The third quarter ended after Concannon’s third goal of the day brought the Pride back to within two as the fourth quarter loomed.

Graduate transfer Justin Lynskey made his Hofstra debut on Saturday two goals to begin the fourth quarter, tying the game at 14 apiece.

Willis gave the Red Storm a 15-14 lead until Hofstra’s Tierney tied the game with his sixth goal of the game.

It was a nail biter, going down to the wire as both teams were neck and neck for the last 10 minutes of regulation.

Forte gave the Pride a 16-15 lead but not long after, Jonathan Huber brought the Red Storm back to a tied game 16 apiece.

After Tierney turned over the ball for the Pride, Joe Madsen’s goal gave the Storm a 17-16 lead with 2:38 remaining.

On the next faceoff draw, Chase Paterson won possession for the Pride; Tierney buried another goal into the back of the net for his seventh of the day, tying the game at 17 apiece with 1:53 remaining.

After a Pride turnover, Ryan Schaeffer gave the Storm a one-goal lead with 32 seconds remaining.

Paterson won the faceoff for the Pride and the team called a timeout to draw up a play for the offense to tie the game. With the ball in Tierney’s stick, the attackman added onto a stellar offensive performance with his eighth goal of the day as he tied the game at 18 with 16 seconds remaining.

Despite Hofstra winning the faceoff, the game went into overtime.

Paterson helped the Pride with another faceoff to begin sudden death overtime. Once Hofstra had possession, the Pride called an immediate timeout.

A Hofstra turnover gave the Storm possession to which they called a timeout to draw a play. Coming out of the timeout, Mike Madsen’s game-winning goal pushed the Red Storm over the Pride 19-18 in overtime.

St. John’s outdueled Hofstra in the shot category 53-35 while the Pride led in turnovers 29-12.

The Pride also led in the face-off category 28-12. Brian Herber was 14-23 from the faceoff circle while Patterson was 14-17.

“[Paterson] becomes the ignitor and Brian Herber faced off well too,” said Hofstra head coach Seth Tierney. “Chase had [St. John’s] number and he did a good job in getting the ball to our attack and getting us the possessions we needed to get to that point of at least tying it up, going up by one, things like that late in the game.”

Gates allowed 19 goals while making 12 saves for the Hofstra Pride as he got the loss. 

 “I thought Mac [Gates] was decent; I was hoping he could grab a couple more for us but he certainly made some pretty good saves for us,” Seth Tierney said.

Ryan Tierney moved up to second all-time for goals scored in a career at Hofstra with 129. He finished Saturday’s game in a five-way tie with the second-most points scored in a single game in Hofstra history with 11 on the day.

“Ryan’s [Tierney] not happy, I’m not happy, Ryan would be much happier if he had no goals and no leader stuff but certainly if his team won today,” said Seth Tierney.

Besides Tierney’s eight goals and three assists, Forte and Concannon each added three goals of their own with Lynskey and Lutfi each adding two of their own.

Herber and Patterson each scooped up nine ground balls.

Joe Madsen led the Storm with four goals and one assist while his brother Mike added two goals and three assists. Huber and Willis each added four points to St. John’s win.

The Hofstra men’s lacrosse team will play Sacred Heart University Saturday, Feb. 20. Faceoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.

Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics