Saturday’s home finale for the Hofstra men’s lacrosse team was one of transition for the team. It was their first time having to respond from a loss in 2017, and it was also their day to begin saying goodbye to their seniors.
Despite the emotions and a new reality for Hofstra, Seth Tierney’s team took care of business, winning 15-8, behind five scores from Josh Byrne, 13 saves from goalie Jack Concannon, and a career-high four goals from Dylan Alderman. Hofstra advanced to 11-1, and 3-1 in the CAA, clinching a spot in the CAA Tournament.
“It’s just been an odd week,” Coach Tierney said. “When you go 10-0 and suffer a loss the way we did, it stays with you all week long. There was focus [in practice], but there was a weight on our shoulders.”
The Pride was able to push away the demons from a deflating 13-12 loss vs. Drexel last week, while also cleaning up the team’s fourth quarter issues. Hofsra outscored an opponent in a final quarter (3-2) for the first time since way back on March 11 vs. North Carolina.
Hofstra’s senior day ceremony honored seven graduating seniors: Brier Davis, Michael Diener, Kris Clarke, Trevor Kupecky, Josh Byrne, Pat Joy, Tommy Voelkel and Zachary Franco. The ceremony was punctuated by a ceremony for Joe Ferriso, the Pride lacrosse player that passed away in a car accident in 2015. The team gathered around Ferriso’s parents in an emotional show of support on what would have been their son’s senior day.
Rainy conditions led to a messy first quarter for both sides – a combined 14 turnovers (seven each), including a period of time with five turnovers in just 40 seconds.
Hofstra broke through for their first goal four minutes in on a Brendan Kavanagh man-up goal. Ryan Tierney followed up with a goal off his back foot at 7:41 before UMass entered the scoring column at 6:16, making it 2-1 Pride.
The final 100 seconds of the first set as a prelude to a dominant second quarter for Hofstra, and a return to form for Byrne. The captain embarrassed defenders on his way to two goals in the closing moments in the first – charging past a defender with ease for the first and muscling through another for the second, bringing the score to 4-1 through one period.
The Pride has established the second quarter as theirs all season long, entering the day with a 39-13 advantage in 2017. This time: a 6-2 showing of power, including five unanswered scores wherein Byrne notched his seventh hat trick of the season, Kavanagh added two for a hat trick of his own and Dylan Alderman began his big day with his first goal at 7:28.
Byrne wasn’t done though, as a beautiful feed from Tierney behind the net left him to only have to flick the ball home on the crease for goal number four. The Minutemen then scored two of the half’s final three goals, sandwiched around a long-distance strike from Jimmy Yanes from just in front of the restraining line. It was 10-3 Hofstra at the half – a familiar advantage from the week before.
The third quarter began with some uneasy feelings from Hofstra players and fans alike: back-to-back goals from UMass’ Ben Spencer, the team’s leading scorer on the day.
Hofstra’s offense didn’t falter, quickly hitting the magic number that they hit so many times this season of 11 goals after Alex Moeser made a beautiful pivot and score off a feed from Alderman. Alderman then fired in of his own unassisted two minutes later to make it 12-5.
Concannon, as he has so many times, stood on his head in the third to keep the Minutemen from making things close. He utilized his stick for a high save on Spencer in the quarter’s latter portion, and even made a sliding kick save minutes before.
Hofstra entered the dreaded fourth quarter up 12-6, but exhibited improvements. Both teams traded blows back-and-forth, but Hofstra’s defense stood tough.
Byrne’s fifth and final goal continued a huge day for the senior, but also brought concern simultaneously. Byrne fired home a close range shot, but immediately dropped to a knee, clearly in pain.
He got back up to celebrate with his teammates, but had to lean on them to keep his balance. Byrne said he “couldn’t move very well” on an undisclosed injury that seemed to come from his midsection.
Where Hofstra faltered was from their four penalties in the quarter, but they only resulted in one man-down goal. Concannon tacked on three late saves, while Alderman scored two more to put things out of reach as Hofstra finally was able to cruise to a victory, 15-8.
Byrne’s huge day didn’t end with just five goals, but three assists as well. His eight points were the most he’s scored since posting nine vs. NJIT.
“I’m so proud of Josh Byrne,” Coach Tierney said in reflection of his short career at Hofstra. “We’ve been through an awful lot. We’ve had some tough times together; we’ve been upset with each other at times. If he were here for four years, he’d be at the top of our points list, no questions asked.”
For freshman Kyle Gallagher, it was a tough day in an up-and-down season, winning on just 8 of 27 chances at the faceoff.
Up next for Hofstra is their regular season finale at #15 Towson, a matchup between the CAA’s two powers that will certainly have implications on the conference tournament’s seeding. The game is set for a noon start on April 29.
