By Andrew Scharff
Richard Nuttall pressed all the right buttons Friday night as the Pride avenged last year’s NCAA tournament first round loss to Providence College as Hofstra prevailed, 2-0, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in front of a sellout crowd of 1,450.
Nuttall couldn’t have managed the game any better. He saw the Pride dominated play in the first half, but came up empty in the scoring column so he decided to make some lineup changes at the break. One of those changes allotted Lewis Irish to play up top with leading scorer Michael Todd.
“Lewis brings a certain amount of calmness to the team and he complements Todd real well,” Nuttall said. “When you get that calmness it allows you get the ball down and just play.”
Irish paid immediate dividends for the Pride. In the 53rd minute, Irish gathered the ball at midfield. He looked up and saw Todd ahead of the play and he was able to get him the ball on the far side. Todd did the rest as he put a beautiful toe poke on the ball into the net.
“I am used to playing with [Lewis],” Todd said. “Lewis played the ball perfectly for me and I just managed to get a toe on it.”
Shortly after the Todd goal, Nuttall again had the right personnel in the game. Hofstra was awarded a corner kick in the 65th minute and Justin Flood, who had just been substituted in for Irish, took the kick. Flood put a perfectly placed ball into the box and landed it right on the foot of freshman midfielder Rory McCrea, who blasted it into vacated side of the net for his first collegiate goal.
“It was a routine we worked on in training this week. So I knew what I was going to do,” McCrea said. “It was a great ball by Justin and I connected on it well.”
What was odd about that goal was Providence goalie Chris Konopka did not come out to challenge, and he paid the price.
“I decided to stay. A goalie has to decide whether to stay or go out. I thought it was too far out of my range,” Konopka said.
Though Hofstra did score two quick goals, it didn’t tell the story of the second half as Providence did come out and put Hofstra’s back to the wall.
“The first goal swung the momentum of the game and caused them to come out a little more,” Nuttall said. “Then we were able to get that second goal.”
Nuttall again made the right personnel move as he put in defensive specialist Charalambos Rossides. Nuttall noticed that Providence midfielder Ryan Maduro was creating havoc in the Pride’s zone and responded with Rossides (who has been called on to mark top players in the CAA such as JMU’s Kurt Morsink and Old Dominion’s Edson Elcock), who frustrated Maduro all over the field.
With Hofstra comfortably leading 2-0, it was up to the Pride to keep up the concentration and focus, something the team has struggled doing this season.
However, the Pride buckled down late in the game. Aside from a free kick outside the box with a minute left, the Pride defense, led by first team all-CAA selection Gary Flood, shut down a dangerous Providence team without giving them a quality scoring chance.
“In the last 10 minutes we won the battles we had to win on defense,” Nuttall said. “I don’t think they had any quality chances and I was pleased with our concentration.”
The Pride (12-5-3) dominated the first half, controlling possession for a majority of the half and out-shooting the Friars 9-2. Todd and Ray Hassett had the best chances of the half as they both missed just wide.
Tom Johansen, who was playing with a groin injury, recorded his fifth shut out on the season as he was required to make two saves in the win.
The party was on after the final horn sounded as the Pride were victorious.