By David Gibb

As regulation time wound down in Saturday’s Colonial Athletic Association lacrosse title game, the score was tied 9-9. About two minutes earlier, the Drexel Dragons had a 9-7 lead over head coach Seth Tierney’s Hofstra Pride, and the game looked all but over. Then, junior midfielder Anthony Muscarella kicked off a clutch series of heroic deeds for Hofstra.

Muscarella managed to sneak a ball past Bruce Bickford, Drexel’s goalie and the CAA Player of the Year, to bring the Pride within one. On the next play, sophomore Dan Stein turned a clutch loose ball recovery into a game-tying goal with less than a minute to play. Hofstra’s season, which had seemed over only a few minutes earlier, would be decided in overtime.

Overtime wound up lasting only 11 seconds, as freshman face-off specialist Joseph Montemurro became the next Hofstra hero, winning the face-off to open the extra period. The Pride tossed the ball around the horn before junior attackman Tom Dooley flipped the ball past Bickford and into the net for the win.

Hofstra’s overtime win was fueled by several thrilling performances, highlighted by Muscarella’s four-goal game and Michael Unterstein’s hat trick. Freshman Jay Card also contributed, leading the team with three assists in a game in which every goal was precious. Goalie Danny Orlando helped contain one of the country’s best teams in Drexel, making twelve saves and playing all of the overtime game.

The ample heroics of the game highlighted the Pride’s most important win of the year. The defeat of number eleven-ranked Drexel not only avenges the Pride’s previous loss to the Dragons in double-overtime on March 29, it gives the team a tremendous morale and momentum boost heading into the NCAA tournament.

The first round of the tournament will be no cookie for the Pride, who will play on Sunday at Johns Hopkins. The Blue Jays are the defending champions of the tournament, but were upset by the Pride early this year on March 8th.