By Kyle Kandetzki
Staff writer
A second half collapse challenged the Hofstra lacrosse defense once again, but an overtime period provided the team with an opportunity to right their wrongs.
Hofstra men’s lacrosse faced off against the Big East’s Georgetown Hoyas Saturday at James M. Shuart Stadium. The Pride went into overtime to win their third straight game 9-8, thanks to a deep Torin Varn goal.
“A lot has changed in our team since the beginning of the year,” said head coach Seth Tierney. “We’ve been able to bring more energy and passion to our game, and now we’re just looking to bring our IQ up a little bit higher.”
The opening score went in favor of the Hoyas five minutes into the game, but control of the first half never left Hofstra’s hands from there. Unassisted scores from Drew Coholan and leading scorer Sam Llinares gave the Pride the lead at the end of the first quarter.
The team’s ability to go on scoring streaks is becoming a prevalent theme throughout this year’s season. The first and second quarter featured an offensive show from the Pride, who scored six times in a row unanswered.
Four of those six goals were made in the second quarter, and all of them came within four minutes of each other. Korey Hendrickson opened up the quarter with a one-up score just 14 seconds in. Brier Davis took it from there, scoring his fourth, fifth, and sixth goals of 2014 in just two minutes.
“I’ve been just doing what the coaches have been telling us in practice and working hard,” said the freshman Davis, when asked on his key to success thus far. “I’ve had people like Torin who have helped me as they’ve played my position in the past.”
But Hofstra would not be allowed to go into halftime with too much momentum, answered by Georgetown’s two goals before halftime that brought the score to 6-3. With an intermission period to talk things over, the Hoyas would come out and start a scoring barrage of their own.
Georgetown would score five of the second half’s seven goals and suddenly put Hofstra in a position to brace a loss. The Pride would only score once the entire second half, until the offense reignited temporarily in the closing minute of the game.
Three consecutive scores in the final quarter by Georgetown suddenly placed them in an 8-7 lead with seven minutes left in the game. For the next six minutes, there was a lull in scoring, and it seemed as though Hofstra would accept a loss after once leading 6-1.
“It’s a part of momentum, it happens in every game,” said Tierney. “For them, when you go down 6-1 like that, you start fighting like a caged animal.”
But with 1:14 remaining, Mike Malave was able to bounce one into the net to tie the score 8-8 and send the back-and-forth contest into overtime.
The game went through another period that lacked scoring, and it seemed as though the first period of overtime would end in a tie. However, as time ticked away, Varn struck. Varn has already established a reputation for taking (and scoring) outside shots, and this game’s winning score came from several yards out to break the tie.
“We kept fighting in this game, even when they came back from that deficit,” said Varn. “This shows the character in our team, and that last goal is a testament to our defense in getting the ball back for the score.”
Hofstra will remain at home this Saturday to take on 19-ranked Ohio State, who has struggled for a 1-3 record thus far.
