“Missing the [Coastal Athletic Association (CAA)] tournament by a tiebreak makes for a long summer,” said Hofstra men’s lacrosse head coach Seth Tierney.
In 2024, the Pride went 6-9 and failed to make the conference tournament for the third year in a row. In conference play, Hofstra went 3-4. The Pride missed the conference tournament on a tiebreaker with Drexel University as a result of the Dragon’s 13-12 head-to-head win on April 13, 2024.
“[We] ended last season with a good win against Stony Brook [University],” Tierney said. “We didn’t have a lot to play for outside of pride, but the game that we put together was really good.”
Hofstra looks to carry that momentum into the start of the 2025 season where the Pride will tackle a tough out-of-conference schedule including three ranked teams. The Pride will spend the month of February playing some of the toughest competition in New York including Binghamton University, St. John’s University and Iona University in their opener.
After the New York state gauntlet, the Pride will rematch two power conference schools they lost to in 2024, No. 17 University of North Carolina and No. 8 Yale University.
“We’re looking forward to these tough out-of-conference games,” Tierney said. “We had a spirited battle with Yale last year, it went down to the last couple minutes. I loved how hard our guys played there.”
After the out-of-conference schedule, CAA play does not get any easier. Hofstra hosts four conference games and will play three on the road. The Pride will welcome Stony Brook, University of Delaware, Drexel and, preseason favorites, No. 11 Towson University at the James M. Shuart Stadium, and they will travel to Monmouth University, Fairfield University and Hampton University.
“In the CAA you need to circle every game on your calendar,” Tierney said. “Every game is a playoff game, and I don’t think anybody knows that better than us after being on the outside of the bubble the past few years. It’s a kudos to our conference for how tough the road is.”
On the field, the Pride excelled offensively. scoring the most goals as a program since 2006. The team returns John Madsen for his senior year, who led the Pride in goals last season with 42 and ranked top five in the conference.
“It’s great to have [Madsen] back. His compete level is very high and he knows how to put the ball in the goal,” Tierney said.
Also returning in the midfield is Rory Jones. Jones, an undersized native of Maryland, is the team’s offensive captain and wears the prestigious number “27” in memoriam of the late Nick Colleluori. Jones made his mark last season with 21 goals of his own, including a seven-goal performance against Wagner College in the season opener.
Despite retaining two top talents, the Pride lost several contributing attackers in Colton Rudd, Sam Lutfi and Justin Sykes to graduation. The Pride also lost Griffin Turner to The Ohio State University and Vincent McDermott to Adelphi University in the transfer portal.
“Transferring is the way of the world in college athletics. We take pride in developing players when we make a commitment to them,” Tierney said. “[Turner] thought there might’ve been a better opportunity at Ohio State and we won’t know if this was the right move for him until [the] year’s over.”
Turner spent three seasons with the Pride, putting up 34 goals, 42 assists for 76 points after transferring from Texas Christian University in 2021. Turner reached career highs as a junior leading the team in assists with 28 and finishing second in points with 44. He now goes to Ohio State with one year of eligibility remaining.
“[McDermott’s] a guy from Massapequa. We would’ve considered him in one of those contributing midfield spots, but he decided to transfer for more consistent playing time at Adelphi,” Tierney said.
McDermott scored six goals including a two-goal performance against Rutgers University while playing on the second midfield unit last season.
Tierney and offensive coordinator Michael Gongas believe that the offense can score at the same clip as last year thanks to their depth at the position behind Madsen and Jones.
“We’ve got probably six or seven midfielders that are all fighting for three jobs. That’s a good problem to have,” Tierney said. “I had a conversation with Coach Gongas and we came to the consensus that we could use a midfield 2A and 2B because I don’t see a drop off between the second and third midfield except maybe their age.”
Tierney and Gongas have plenty of options, from returners like Trevor Natalie and Trey Parkes to freshmen they believe have earned a shot, such as Drew Bogardus, David Treadwell and Nick Dalton, who might get a chance with a third unit. Tierney believes splitting the midfield into three units might provide more depth scoring and allow the Pride to play more situational offensive lacrosse.
“We have a lot of guys where I feel like they can be an O and not really a midfielder or an attack,” Tierney said. “That’s called positionless lacrosse. You’re hearing it more and more and for good reason. We’re comfortable having a midfielder in an attack spot or vice versa.”
On defense last season the Pride’s youth and inexperience hindered them, and they were often unable to stop big runs from their opponents. Hofstra allowed 186 goals, the most for the program since 1991. Henry Troy, Will Delaney and Blake Cooling all return with more experience this season including Troy, who came off an All-CAA rookie team selection in 2024 where he notched 12 ground balls and eight caused turnovers.
“We have a lot of guys pushing for jobs on defense too,” Tierney said. “We don’t know who will be the starters on day one but I feel more comfortable having experienced guys back there.
Hofstra also returns some of their top short-stick defensive midfielders including Chris Barry and Matt Vilas.
In the net, junior Sean Henderson returns but might face competition. In 15 games as the starter, Henderson posted a .451 save percentage and made 144 saves.
Henderson’s competition includes freshman backups Shea Kennedy and Daniel Dorszewski and graduate transfer Jon Singer from Ursinus College.
“In goal, you have to give a guy a little rope,” Tierney said. “When the team gives up a lot of goals you have to see if it’s on the goalie or if the defense left him out to dry. We have a lot of guys who can do the job, and we just have to ride the hot hand.”
The final loss for Hofstra is Chase Patterson at the face-off (FOGO) position. Patterson spent five seasons with Hofstra and took over 90% of the team’s draws last season. Patterson’s 64% win rate ranked him inside the top ten FOGOs in the country last season.
“He was everything. He was the captain, he was our [number] 27. He was a balanced voice for the team,” Tierney said. “Patterson left behind a great work ethic for the guys behind him. Owen Bosak, [Benjamin] Niesman and Cole Myers have all done a wonderful job this summer to be a net positive on the draw.”
While the Hofstra Pride men’s lacrosse team looks different this year after graduations and new additions, the ambitious goal to bring a conference championship to Hempstead for the first time since 2008 remains the same.
