By Doug Bonjour
Men’s lacrosse overcomes rough first quarter to rise to 2-1 in the CAA with 20-3 win over Sacred Heart
For Seth Tierney and the Hofstra men’s lacrosse team, facing tough competition has been anything but a rare occurrence this season. Prior to last Saturday, the Pride had amassed a 3-4 record, with five of those seven games coming against teams that have been nationally ranked at one point this season. In facing several high-profile teams, the Pride had found themselves battling down to the wire, with all seven games having been decided by five goals or less.
However, as Hofstra faced Sacred Heart in Colonial Athletic Conference play last Saturday, they finally found some time to breathe comfortably.
The Pride routed the Pioneers 20-3 at James M. Shuart Stadium, dominating their CAA opponent in every aspect of the game.
The win represented Hofstra’s largest margin of victory since April 12, 2006, when an offensive force led by Athan Iannucci and Chris Unterstein dominated Robert Morris 21-2.
“I’m happy for our guys because they worked so hard. I won’t let them not work hard. They’re working very hard and with the outcome of our previous two games besides today, eventually your hard work has to pay off,” Tierney said.
The game was not without its obstacles, as after a sluggish first 15 minutes, Hofstra found themselves tied 2-2 with Sacred Heart, much to the disappointment of Tierney.
“I didn’t like the way we started the game but we certainly finished it pretty strong,” he said.
After two consecutive one-goal losses, Hofstra came out of the locker room prior to the opening faceoff fired up. But after the lackluster first quarter, Tierney needed to inspire his players.
“Normally you would think after you lost two games after being ahead 5-2 and 7-2 that I would have to hold them back getting out of the locker room to start the game,” Tierney said. “But that wasn’t the case. We had to motivate them after the first quarter and certainly they came to play after that for the next 45 [minutes].”
A goal by Hofstra junior attackman Tommy Dooley just eight seconds into the second quarter broke the tie and started the rout. The Pride would go on to outscore the Pioneers 17-1 the rest of the way. In the second half, Hofstra outscored Sacred Heart 10-0 and outshot them by an astounding 29-5 margin.
For Hofstra, both Dooley and freshman attackman Jay Card continued their solid play, as the two led the team in scoring with five goals apiece.
On the defensive side of the field, the Pride received a solid performance from sophomore goaltender Danny Orlando, who allowed just three goals on seven shots in 45 minutes of action.
“Danny did a decent job,” said Tierney. “We need Danny to be on all the time, and defensively they came together and they were pretty tight-knit.”
The three goals allowed marked the lowest output by a Hofstra opponent since April 20, 2007, when Hofstra defeated Lafayette 9-3. Tierney explained that much of the success was due to constant communication between the defenders and solid goaltending.
“We talked. We talked and we slid and we supported each other and it’s something that we’ve done in spurts throughout the season. Today we did it against these guys for a longer period of time,” explained Tierney. “Don’t get me wrong, we had breakdowns and when we had breakdowns Danny bailed us out.”
For Coach Tierney, the conference win was not only important because it lifted the Pride back to the .500 mark with a 4-4 record, but it also looks to serve as a much confidence boost.
“Today it looked like we put some things together and I’m happy for our guys because we need one of these to understand that they are a good team when they play together,” he said.