By Andrew Scharff

Relentless, an adjective, means without pity; not allowing anything to keep one from what one is doing or trying to do. But to the Hofstra Men’s Lacrosse team, relentless means one thing, and it is Nick Colleluori. Colleluori, 21, passed away in November ending his fight with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“Nick is everything to us. We are dedicating the entire season to him. Every game, every practice, every minute we are around, it is about Nick Colleluori,” said Hofstra head coach Seth Tierney. “He was a wonderful person and we want to keep his spirit alive. We just want to keep alive everything that Nick brought to this program. It’s not about wins or losses, but to make sure that Nick is looking down and smiling on us.”

Tierney returns to Hofstra for a second time. In his first stint in Hempstead, he served as assistant coach for six seasons under former head coach John Danowski, who is now with Duke. And in his first year as head coach of the team, Tierney will have the daunting task of leading the Pride back to the 17-2 mark of last season.

“Coach Danowski is a wonderful man. 21 years of service here, [and] I was fortunate enough to be assistant coach for him for six years,” said Tierney. “But he leaves very large shoes to fill here. And certainly with a young and experienced team, the future is very bright here.”

Those large shoes may be quite a challenge to fill for Tierney, as Hofstra lost nine of its ten starters from a year ago.

“I don’t think that their was a CAA team, or for that matter, a team in the country that lost what we lost,” says Tierney about how many players Hofstra lost to graduation.

Among those that the Pride lost were All-American defenseman Brett Moyer, the nation’s leading goal scorer Athan Iannucci, Tewaaraton Trophy finalist Chris Unterstein, and face-off specialist Joe Mascaretti.

Sophomore attackman Tommy Dooley, the only returning starter from last year’s squad, is the only sure thing in the Pride lineup this season. Tierney, though, has an idea of who will get most of the playing time due to positive team off-season workouts and pre-season scrimmages.

Alongside Dooley, the Pride may feature freshman Danny Stern or senior Ryan Miller. Miller impressed Tierney this season after taking a few years off.

The new midfield for the Pride will feature seniors Bill Peters and Zachary Heyl seeing a majority of the time, with freshmen Tom Interlicchio, Sean Lucas, and Ryan Carter seeing some action as well.

What Tierney likes about his team is the versatility. Tierney has players from last year’s squad who play either at attack or midfield. Mike Unterstein, Anthony Muscarella and Mike Colleluori, (Nick’s brother), will all see time in both positions.

Defensively, the Pride are hurting. The team lost their entire starting defense from last season. Assistant coach Joe Amplo, in charge of the Pride’s defense, is trying to fit the right players in the right places. Tierney and Amplo have no set defensive starters yet, but the two have an idea which players will get most of the playing time. Potential starters include John Gorman, Collin Stabler, Connor Hagans and Jack Vivonetto.

Losing Matt Southard in the off-season allows for a question mark for the Pride in goal. Brian Schneider has been impressive in the scrimmages, with Pat DeBolt and freshman Danny Orlando also competing for the starting spot.

Despite the uncertainty for the Pride, Tierney has been delighted with the effort and intensity his team has showed in practice. The coach believes his team will be ready for their season opener on February 24th with the University of Massachusetts, a staunch rival, the same team that sent the Pride home with both of their losses last year.

Though Tierney recognizes they history between these two teams last year, he knows that whatever happened last season is the past and this year these are two different teams.

“I know the revenge factor is their, certainly for the guys on last year’s team, and the coaches on last year’s staff. I know they want it back. They feel like something was stolen from them,” said Tierney. “However it happened yesterday, it was in yesterday’s paper.”