The Hofstra University men’s lacrosse team improved to 4-1 on Saturday, March 1, with a 15-5 win over Binghamton University.
Trevor Natalie led the attack, scoring a career high four goals in the game to bring his season total to 12. Natalie already surpassed his goal total from 2024, where he scored 10. Natalie becomes the fifth different Hofstra player to lead the team in goals in a single game this season.
In total, eight members of the Pride found the back of the net and Hofstra won by at least 10 goals for the third time this season.
“The great thing about our offense is we don’t run it through just one or two players,” said Hofstra head coach Seth Tierney. “It’s gotta be a wheel and everybody’s a spoke.”
Additionally, Rory Jones and John Madsen both recorded hat tricks while Anthony Mollica and Trey Parkes had a trio of assists each. Madsen sits just one point shy of 100 for his career. In net, Shea Kennedy made a career high 12 saves on just 17 shots.
Natalie broke the scoreless start just over a minute into the game with a shot from distance. Hofstra continued to turn up the heat going up by three in under five minutes until Liam Ferris got the Bearcats on the board.
The Binghamton defense held strong on several possessions and did not allow the Pride to set specific plays in the shooting arc. It didn’t matter to the Pride because Madsen, Jones and Natalie combined for five goals from 10 or more yards out from the net in the first quarter alone.
Hofstra scored seven goals on 10 shots in the opening frame which chased Binghamton starting goaltender Connor Winters. Hofstra outscored the Bearcats 3-1 in the second half and took an eight goal lead into the intermission.
When the second half rolled around, the play really started to open up, which favored Binghamton. After turning the ball over just five times in the first half, Hofstra struggled with clears and passing.
“It’s great we won every quarter,” Tierney said. “But faceoffs, turnovers and clears were something that stuck out to me all game long. As a coach you always look at the glass half empty. Wonderful we won by 10. Let’s figure out how to do it better next time.”
What Hofstra couldn’t get done on offense in the second half, they continued to do on defense. Noah Burdick, Blake Cooling and Matt Vilas all intercepted Binghamton passes resulting in turnovers in the fourth. When a shot did get through, Kennedy was equal to the task.
The frustration boiled over for the Bearcats, resulting in some real physical play and a lot of fouls. Binghamton got seven fouls compared to only two for Hofstra, three of which resulted in player up goals for Hofstra.
“We’ve made an effort to be smart physically,” Tierney said. “We thought this game could get scrappy. I asked them to be ‘designated drivers.’ When there’s a scrap, grab something that looks like your jersey and pull it out instead of causing it to be in there.”
As time wore on and Hofstra maintained control of the game, the Pride expanded their bench. Hofstra ended the game with a goal from senior Gerard Kane off the bench which made the Hofstra sideline explode with cheers.
Up next is a road contest with No. 4 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Saturday, March 8 at 11 a.m. UNC-Chapel Hill defeated Hofstra 21-9 at the James M. Shuart Stadium last year.
