By Andrew Scharff
Seth Tierney made a deal with his team. If they lose Tuesday night’s game against Army they have wear their suits on the bus ride home, but if they win his team was allowed to wear their practice sweats. There were 38 lacrosse players wearing the same Hofstra sweatshirt.
The first year head coach and the rest of Hofstra’s Men’s Lacrosse team had be cracking smiles after their upset 5-3 win over the 11th ranked Army Black Knights at Michie Stadium.
What made the win even more impressive is that the Pride played without first line midfielder and face-off specialist Bill Peters, and that they played much of the game without freshman starting attackman Dan Stein who was lost just before halftime and did not return. Freshman Sean Lucas took Stein’s place as third attackman.
“Army is a tough team. There is a reason why those players are at that academy. The words ‘give up’ are not in their vocabulary,” said Tierney after the win. “But right now I am so proud of my guys. Coming off four one goal losses they showed great [will] and the effort was there.”
“And playing without Bill Peters and Dan Stein, the got short got shorter. Danny Orlando and the defense played a great game but if I had to give out a game ball it would go to the man down team,” added Tierney.
With Peters and Stein both out of the lineup, meant Hofstra would need more production from players like Ryan Miller, Tom Interlicchio and Kevin Unterstein.
Hofstra lost those four one-goal games in the first quarter. Tuesday night was a different story as they outscored the Black Knights 2-0 in the first quarter.
“The first quarter is very important to us. We have a saying on the team that we want to win the first minute,” said Interlicchio. “We did that. We competed hard in the first minute and that led to the first goal of the game and that is really important.”
Miller scored two goals, while freshman Interlicchio scored the game winner late in the third quarter. Mike Colleluori and Anthony Muscarella also scored for the Pride.
Though the Pride enjoyed early scoring, it didn’t come often. That meant that Danny Orlando and the young Pride defense would have to answer the call, and they did. Orlando, a freshman, looked like a senior in goal stopping everything that came his way. Orlando (10 saves) had a lot of help from the goal post that Army hit six times.
“It was another solid performance from Danny. He’s becoming one of the top goalies in the country,” said Tierney.
Tierney unfortunately was pleased with the effort from his man down unit. The unfortunate part was that his team was man down six times. But Orlando and his defense stood tall and they gained a lot of help from Kevin Unterstein.
Unterstein pushed into face-off duty because of the injury to Peters, won 5 of 11 face-offs and in the late in the game used great footwork to help Hofstra clear the ball and set up their possessions.
“Mike Unterstein is very important to us, but we also need Kevin [Unterstein],” Tierney said. “I have coached a lot of good ones, but in my opinion right now Kevin [Unterstein] is the best short stick in the country and I will say that on the record.”
Miller opened the scoring as he took a fast-break pass from Steve Prifte and beat Army goalie Adam Fullerton (9 saves). Colleluori made it 2-0 as he beat Fullerton with bounce shot from eight yards out. Army tied the game on goals from Jason Payer and Brooks Corvin.
Hofstra would regain the lead as Anthony Muscarella scored his fourth of the season. The lead would be short-lived, however, as Kevin LoRusso tied the game two minutes later. Hofstra would take the lead for good as Interlicchio took a Colleluori pass from the top of the box and blistered a shot that beat Fullerton in the upper left corner of the cage.
“It was a great team goal. My teammates got me the ball. [Mike] Colleluori did a good job of moving the ball along,” Interlicchio said. “I just had an open shot then I took it.”
Miller added an insurance goal midway through the fourth quarter.
This win was one Hofstra (2-4) desparately needed. With conference play restarting Friday night Hofstra has a chance to play themselves into the CAA Tournament and possibly the NCAA Tournament. With an at-large most likely out the picture Hofstra will need more games like Tuesday night to have a shot at the big dance.