By Doug Bonjour
As head coach Seth Tierney walked onto the field at James M. Shuart Stadium before Saturday’s match-up with Colonial Athletic Conference rival Delaware, he was fully aware of the added intensity that conference games tend to bring.
“Anytime you play a team in the CAA or in your conference, it’s going to be a wild one. There’s more meaning to it,” he said.
For 60 minutes Saturday, Tierney’s statement held true as 20th-ranked Hofstra battled to the final horn to defeat Delaware 11-7.
“I’m proud of our guys for fighting for 60 minutues,” said Tierney following the win. “We needed to fight for 67 minutes and 59 seconds in the last game and hopefully they’ve learned a lesson. We are a work in progress, it doesn’t always look pretty, but today we got it done.”
Attackman Jay Card and midfielder Michael Unterstein again led the way for the Pride, who have won three consecutive matches since heartbreaking one-goal losses to both Army and Drexel. Card scored three times and added one assist, while Unterstein matched his career-best single-game point total with three goals and two assists.
With the win, the Pride improved to 6-4 (4-1) and assured themselves of earning one of the top two seeds for the CAA tournament. Yet even though Hofstra has taken steps forward since the 2007 campaign when they sputtered to a 6-8 record, Tierney insists that finishing second is “not good enough.”
“It’s never good enough for me or for our staff or for our school,” he said. “We still have a job to do and we’ll play our last CAA opponent in 2 weeks.”
That opponent will be Robert Morris, who is winless in the CAA this season. Barring a letdown in that game, the Pride are guaranteed to host a CAA semifinal game on April 30.
Hofstra’s match against Delaware lived up to the physical play Tierney was expecting, as the two teams combined for 18 penalties.
However, as both Hofstra and Delaware continued to cement a spot in the penalty box, Hofstra was the one to take advantage of the opponent’s mistakes. The Pride scored on five of seven extra-man opportunities, something which Hofstra “takes a lot of pride in” said Tommy Dooley, attackman.
“We dedicate 10 to 15 minutes to [man-up opportunities] in practice and then some after and it’s always said that man-up can win games. If you’re five for seven and we won by two or three goals, it was man-up that would definitely help contribute to that win,” said Dooley.
Unterstein also spoke about such preparations.
“In practice we were emphasizing a lot of the man-up,” he said. “We worked on it because we knew that it would pretty much decide the game, which it did.”
The man-up opportunities helped the Pride race out to a 7-5 lead toward the end of the third quarter, but just as Hofstra has done multiple times this season, they made the end interesting.
With just 8:48 remaining, Delaware attackman Curtis Dickson scored his 41st goal of the season to draw his team within one at 8-7. But Hofstra was not willing to crumble down the stretch again, as Unterstein answered back just 26 seconds later with a goal of his own.
The goal provided the Pride with some much-needed breathing room.
“It’s always a good feeling when you’re up by two. It gives the defense almost a little cushion,” said Unterstein.
Following Unterstein’s goal, both Dooley and Card helped increase the lead to four with goals of their own. With the Pride up 11-7 with 3:21 left, Delaware’s comeback hopes had been dampened.
For Tierney, holding onto the lead was a pleasant sight, but he still knows his team cannot become complacent.
“I hope it’s a sign of maturity. I do. I’m not going to be fooled by just one time. I think the guys would like me to be fooled by it so I would take my foot off the gas pedal, but that’s not going to happen.
The team’s focus now shifts to this Saturday, when they will embark on their longest trip of the season to take on 7th-ranked North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
“Right now, it’s just Carolina on our minds,” said Coach Tierney.