By Mark Walters

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

Under a fog-soaked sky at James Shuart Stadium against unranked Stony Brook Tuesday night, the ninth-ranked Hofstra men’s lacrosse team had just given up five unanswered goals to the Seawolves, and head coach Seth Tierney was not happy.

His team was beginning to sink into what he described as quicksand in between the first two periods, and somebody needed to stop the bleeding.

“Please don’t ask me what happened at halftime,” Tierney told his audience at the post-game press conference. “We needed to be motivated tonight and we learned a valuable lesson tonight, again.”

Whatever Tierney told his team, which was down 8-4 at the half, is irrelevant because his team beat Stony Brook 12-11, improving to 10-2 overall. But the Pride didn’t exactly come roaring out of the locker room to start the third quarter, only outscoring Stony Brook 2-1; baby steps compared to the 6-3 tattoo the Seawolves put on the Pride in the second.

“We knew there was gonna be a heck of a fight on our hands in the second half,” Stony Brook head coach Rick Sowell said.

It wasn’t until the fourth period when attackman Tom Dooley notched the game-winning goal, only his 13th this season. Tierney was proud of his senior, who scored three Tuesday night, two coming in the final quarter.

“I’m thrilled for the guy to my right,” Tierney said of Dooley, who also had two assists. “He’s had a tough year and to see him have three goals, it warms my heart. He bleeds blue and gold.” While Tierney’s praise of his team was limited, he was equally proud of midfielder Steve DeNapoli, who scooped up a game-high nine ground balls and had two assists to help weather the storm in beating Stony Brook.

“DeNapoli isn’t down here very often,” Tierney said of his sophomore who plays a “thankless” position. “It would be an understatement to tell you he was a large part of why we won tonight. Steven deserves to be spoken about in the newspapers. He needs to be discussed a little bit.”

Stony Brook led by as many as five goals two different timesó8-3 late in the second quarter and 9-4 early in the third, but Hofstra unleashed a six-goal assault in the fourth quarter, part of its 8-3 scoring advantage in the second half.

Redshirt freshman Kevin Ford scored five goals, four in the second half, one of which tied the game at 10-10 with 5:46 left to play.

“He’s a good player, excellent player,” Sowell said of Ford. “We kinda shot ourselves in the foot. We knew obviously they had a track record for coming back.”

Sophomore attackman Jay Card put the Pride up 11-10 roughly three minutes after Ford tied the game, but Jordan McBride scored his fourth goal of the night for Stony Brook to tie the game at 11. Then with 1:38 remaining on the clock Dooley scored his third off a Ryan Carter assist to put his team on top 12-11 and for good.

“When they scored a bunch of those goals in a row,” Ford began, “it’s annoying knowing that they just scored so quickly but then in the back of your head we definitely know we can come back in the fourth quarter. It just sucks that we put ourselves in that position so many times.”

“It just stunk,” Tierney added.

Coming back has been thematic this season for the Pride, having won all six of its one-goal affairs.

“You’re just waiting for your chance,” said Dooley, noting his late-game patience. “I just kept waiting for my chance and once I was able to get a little bit more of an opportunity they started falling for me.”

The Pride only led for a total of 3:58, but it had the lead when the time read 0:00.

Almost Perfect at Home

While the Pride wanted to be undefeated at home this year, Tierney’s squad surrendered that privilege last Saturday against No. 10 North Carolina. The Tar Heels stunned Hofstra 13-8 at Shuart Stadium, handing the Pride its first, and currently only, home loss with one regular season game remaining at Shuart Stadium.

Tierney was proud of his team Saturday night despite the loss.

“They got into the ring tonight,” Tierney said of his Pride. “They got underneath of us, face-offs, ground balls.î

North Carolina picked up 12 more ground balls than Hofstra and won nine more face-offs. The Pride missed twice as many clears as UNC, and Tar Heel goalie James Petracca outsaved Andrew Gvozden 12-9.

Sophomore Billy Bitter was sensational for the Tar Heels, scoring four unassisted goals. Card scored four for the Pride, one of which gave his team its first and only lead of the gameó6-5 right before halftime.

“The ball didn’t bounce our way at times,” Tierney said. “The first eight minutes of the third quarter.”

North Carolina scored four unassisted goals in that time span, taking a 9-6 lead. Kevin Ford got the Pride within two early in the fourth, but Bitter scored within the next three minutes, cementing the game in front of many of his friends and family.

Bitter, from Manhasset, has dedicated this season to his grandmother, who passed away during UNC’s 11-10 loss to Virginia in the Big City Classic at Giant’s Stadium. He was too emotional to speak with the media after that, but his play has not taken a hit. He is a finalist for the Tewaaraton Trophy — college lacrosse’s version of the Heisman — along with Pride sophomore Jay Card and several others.

Final CAA Opponent

Hofstra will host Villanova this Saturday at 7p.m. in the Pride’s final regular season home game before the CAA Tournament.

“It’s a huge rivalry within the CAA,” Dooley said.

Villanova has locked up its conference championship spot, but can earn the No. 2 seed in the four-team tournament with a win at Shuart Stadium this weekend. A Villanova loss would make Towson the second seed and Villanova third, unless Drexel beats Delaware.

“We have our work cut out for us because we have a very talented Villanova team coming in,” Tierney said. “We just talked about what it’s gonna mean to them, but more importantly what is this game gonna mean to us because that’s what’s more important.”

Drexel will play Delaware Saturday afternoon to decide the fourth CAA Championships qualifier. Delaware can only claim the No. 4 spot, but a Drexel win and a Hofstra win would make the Dragons the third seed, demoting Villanova to fourth.

The No. 1 and 2 seeds will host their first round games, with the higher seed also hosting the championship game May 2 after Wednesday’s semifinals. The winner receives an automatic bid to the 16-team NCAA Tournament.