By Steve Panzarella

So far it’s been two consecutive tough games for the Hofstra Pride Men’s Lacrosse team; two come from behind victories against two strong opponents. Leading the team is the tandem of Jay Card and Michael Colleluori. Card is the teams leading scorer with seven goals while Colleluori leads the team in assists and is number two on the team with four goals. CAA Player of the Week Colleluori had strong words about the teams start, but believes this is just the beginning, “It feels great so far and it’s only a matter of time before we click.”

Michael believes the pride must take this season just one game at time, when asked of his expectations Colleluori was quick to reply “One game at a time, the ultimate goal is the final four but we need to take it one game at a time.”

So far the Pride have knocked off UMASS and Brown, both of whom are top 25 ranked teams and both wins occurred by late game comebacks led by Colleluori and Card. The double overtime win over Brown last week led the senior Colleluori to career highs in both goals and assists in a game.

After the big win at Brown the Pride jumped into the top ten for the first time since 2006. Coach Seth Tierney said the win at Brown was “exciting, exciting good and exciting bad,” the coach of course talking about the consistencies and inconsistencies of the team.

Tierney went on to talk about being up in the USILA polls this week saying “I’m not sure there’s a No. 1 team in the country or a No. 56 team in the country or anybody in-between, it’s too early to settle in on any spots.”

With a few big games coming up, one is just as important as the previous games, but Colleluori put it in perspective, “We don’t look at any team differently, all the games are the same we just want to go one game at a time.”

This team seems to be on the ball of late, and they have incredible leadership driving them forward.

The fact that they have a senior, who can say that he and his teammates are taking this season on a game to game basis just as they jump into the top 10, puts that at a perfect spot for a match at Johns Hopkins. Hopkins, who the Pride upset at Hofstra last season, is coming off of a 14-11 win over UMBC, a 14-8 loss to Princeton, and an 11-3 win over Siena.

After Hopkins, the Pride will have another top 10 showdown with 5th ranked Princeton, and considering how well the Tigers have played so far, it should be quite a showdown.