By Jeffrey Werner - STAFF WRITER
Losses just keep coming as men’s lacrosse picked up yet another one against Ohio State.
The Hofstra Pride men’s lacrosse team traveled to Columbus, Ohio on Saturday to face off with the Ohio State Buckeyes, but fell just short, 9-8. The Pride has been in a bit of slump, losing three out of their first four games, their only win coming in a dominating performance against Manhattan College.
Senior attacker Sam Llinares led the way for the Pride in scoring, as he has been doing for much of the season, with 15 on the year. He would score three goals in the game, one of which would tie up the game at five at the end of the second quarter.
Also fueling the Pride’s offensive attack has been midfielder Mike Malave, who, like Llinares, has 15 goals on the season. Malave contributed two goals in their effort against Ohio State. Also scoring in the match was freshman Dylan Alderman, who scored the first goal for Hofstra, senior Korey Hendrickson and senior Ryan Rielly.
Another player worth noting in the effort against the Buckeyes is Kris Clarke, who won12 of the 21 face-offs for Hofstra. To make things more impressive, the sophomore midfielder won those face-offs against a skillful opponent in Christopher May, who has been named Big Ten Specialist of the Week three times this season.
Ultimately, the Achilles’ heel for the Pride has been their defense. The offense has been able to keep the team in their games this season by scoring a lot of goals, but the defense has struggled, surrendering 9-plus goals in four games. No more is this true than in the match against Ohio State, as the defense allowed attacker Jesse King to score four goals and attackers Carter Brown and Colin Chell each to score twice. If they didn’t allow one of those players to score one or two of their goals, the outcome would have been be a lot different.
With this loss, the Pride drops to a 1-4 record as they host the Providence College Friars in the first of three straight games at home. The game will start at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday at Shuart Stadium.
