By Nick Bond

After a fantastic performance this past weekend at the First Annual Charleston Classic – with two wins in three games against Eastern Tennessee and Western Michigan – the Pride look towards the meat of their schedule, and their home opener this Monday against local rival College at Old Westbury with some very clear goals in mind.

“Our goals are the same every year,” said Coach Tom Pecora in a recent interview, “We want to win the regular season championship and put ourselves in the best position to win the postseason tournament.” The Pride looks to do this despite the loss of their best player from the year before – the most prolific scorer in team history, Antoine Aguido. But Coach Pecora does not seemed very worried about that the hole left by one of the great players in the annals of the program.

Although, Pecora is not celebrating the departure of Agudio, he certainly sees positives in its wake. “Antoine was the major piece on the team last year, but we weren’t very balanced,” said Pecora “This year we are much more balanced, we have four players in double figures this season and I think we can make it five.”

Leading the four players in double figures is sophomore captain Charles Jenkins, who had one of the great trio of games in Hofstra history, averaging 23.7 against very serious Division 1 competition, but he is not alone.

Brilliant performances by seniors Dane Johnson and Arminas Urbutis are not only indicative of their hard work but also of the team’s rising maturity level. “These guys came in to the season in great shape,” said Pecora “We have them in the gym two times a week, so it’s our hope that they can maintain that through the season”.

Accelerating the team’s maturation process has been the make up of the team, a conscious recruiting choice by the coaching staff. For the first time in Coach Pecora’s 8-year tenure, there will be no freshmen on the team, instead the Pride will be powered by three junior college transfers: guards Tony Dennison and Cornelius Vines along with Hungarian forward Miklos Szabo . “When you recruit junior college players, you bring in men instead of boys,” Pecora said, “Tony and Cornelius can really score and Miklos may end up being the best big man we have ever had.”

Even with all the potential, certain obstacles still stand in the team’s way if they hope to make it to a major postseason tournament.

“Our conference is a one or two bid conference, and we play an unbalanced schedule,” said Pecora, “It’s hard to predict how we will perform in the tournament, but again, our goal is just to put ourselves in a good position when that time comes.”

A position they hope to start to solidify beginning on Monday the 24th at their home opener against the College at Old Westbury.