By Ryan McCord
The “March Madness” buzz is still alive on campus, transferring from hardwood to turf, courtesy of the men’s lacrosse team upset of defending national champion Johns Hopkins on Saturday afternoon.
On what turned out to be a beautiful afternoon in more ways than one, the Pride offense spread the scoring among seven different players, while the defense forced 23 turnovers in collecting an 11-6 victory in front of 6,448 at a balmy James M. Shuart Stadium.
“They’re the Notre Dame or the Yankees of [lacrosse], it’s a game we all shoot for,” Pride head coach John Danowski said in surveying the magnitude of the win. “When you lose to them it’s no crime or sin, but when you beat them it’s a terrific win for the program. It really took a team effort.”
Defensively, the Pride smothered the opposition with aggressive, opportunistic play led by its unyielding line of seniors who exploited the Blue Jays of their youth and inconsistency on offense. The Pride held Hopkins to three goals for a staggering 57- minute stretch to start the game.
Brett Moyer and Ryan Kelaher combined for five ground balls and seven turnovers caused, while John Orsen and Kevin Unterstein contributed to the brick wall of defense in front of senior goalie Matt Southard.
“We played as a team and stuck to the game plan, we have a lot of great athletes. We ran with them, took advantage of some of the mistakes they made and just played lacrosse,” Orsen said.
The Pride offense complemented its own defensive wizardry with constant ball movement as well as a timely, generous shot selection spearheaded by freshman Tom Dooley.
Dooley, a 2005 high-school All-American from Yorktown, N.Y., netted three goals for an offense that made 35 percent of its total shots with eight combined assists.
“We came out with a lot of energy, and it carried out through the whole game. We wanted this win really bad, in front of the all fans and everything,” Dooley said.
Hopkins kept a close eye on Pride leading scorer Athan Iannucci throughout the game, so he countered by spreading the wealth and freed up opportunities for seniors Tim Treubig (2 goals), Chris Unterstein (1 g, 2 assists), John Keysor (1 g, 2 a) and Rob Bonaguro (3 a). However, it was Iannucci who eventually put the game out of reach, scoring the Pride’s final two goals of regulation while ending an impressive Blue Jay streak of 11 straight opponents being held to nine or fewer goals.
“We’re unselfish. They can’t shut off one person, everyone scores, we move the ball around. We just do what we practice everyday,” Iannucci said, reflecting on the Pride’s offensive efficiency. “If we stick to the game plan it doesn’t matter who we play, that’s the way we feel.”
About the only phase of the game that Hopkins grabbed control of was in the face-off category, nabbing 17 out of 21. However, the Pride defense seemed to clear the ball almost as soon as Hopkins attempted to charge in. For most of the game, Hopkins looked confused defensively, and simply out of their comfort zone offensively.
“Nothing caught me off-guard in regards to Hofstra,” a dejected Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala said. “We knew they’d be prepared. I give Hofstra credit, they played a great game.”
Senior Chris Unterstein scored a goal and two assists in the Prides, 11-6, victory over Johns Hopkins.