By Kyle Kandetzki – SPORTS EDITOR
After a 0-2 start for the second year and a row, the Pride returned home with a sense of urgency and delivered a destruction of their opponent…and then some.
The Hofstra Pride men’s lacrosse team demolished the Manhattan University Jaspers on Tuesday afternoon at James M. Shuart Stadium, 18-0. Preseason CAA player of the year Sam Llinares was the top performer with six goals, while Hofstra put up their first shutout since 1970.
“We needed to correct some things,” said head coach Seth Tierney. “But the moment that bus came home from Princeton, it was about us. It was very business-like.”
It took not even the entire first quarter to see that this game would not be much of a competition. The first score came 1:07 in by Korey Hendrickson, and the following four goals all came within 1:15 (or less) from the last. Most notably, Llinares added his first of the day, just seven second after Alex Moeser scored, thanks to a quick assist from a Kris Clarke faceoff win.
Speaking of Clarke, the sophomore faceoff specialist won 17-of-18 contests, while Hofstra went 20-for-22 overall (reserve senior Connor Horl took four faceoffs). The first Jasper faceoff win didn’t come until the second half, assisting the team’s overall struggle to keep possession.
Hofstra’s first quarter was their most successful, with six goals, but they would still put up four apiece in the remaining periods. Due to the lead already bring at 8-0 20 minutes into the game, Hofstra slowed down their pace, and put their lineup in full rotation, allowing several new faces to get onto the stat sheet.
Brian von Bargen scored his first two of the season in the second and fourth, as did a trio of freshmen, Brendan Kavanagh, Tim Golden, and Cole Considine.
“Just keeping it simple, and getting everybody involved,” said Llinares. “But obviously [we] just played with confidence.”
The offense then topped itself in consistent production when they scored three goals in just fourteen seconds in the third. Mike Malave put in his 8th in three games, while Clarke took one six seconds later directly off the faceoff.
But the star of the day was Llinares, who had his hat trick before halftime, so he was able to complete another in the second. The junior scored three of the six unassisted, while also adding two assists of his own on a big day for the team all-around.
The Pride defense kept Manhattan stuck in the rare times they had possession, and only let them take six shots on goal (compared to 35 by Hofstra). Goalie Chris Selva was rarely pressured, but made a handful of impressive saves to maintain the shutout, while freshman Jack Concannon finished the job in the fourth quarter.
“We tweaked a few things [on defense],” said Tierney. “But it was more of how our leaders handled things. We’ve got some seniors who care so much about winning, it actually hurt them. But tonight we went back to the grassroots of what our defense is about.”
Hofstra now heads back on the road to play the Georgetown Hoyas on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. The Pride will look to even up their record to .500, and also beat Georgetown for the second consecutive year.
