The Hofstra men’s lacrosse team dominated Sacred Heart University 21-9 in a matinee matchup on Saturday, Feb. 12, at James M. Shuart Stadium. Sophomore transfer Gerard Kane scored a game-high four goals in the first multi-goal game of his collegiate career while senior Dylan McIntosh and sophomore Griffin Turner added a hat-trick apiece.
“I’m proud of the way we handled things,” said Hofstra head coach Seth Tierney. “We have, maybe not a young team by birth certificate, but sometimes we have an inexperienced team by minutes, games played and for the guys to step up and take care of business really in the first quarter, answer back after a couple minutes in the third quarter and put the game away.”
The Pride’s (2-0) offense came quick out of the gates, scoring on their first three shots. McIntosh, Kane and Justin Sykes got the tallies, all assisted by Matt Elder. Elder assisted on two of the next three Hofstra goals as well and finished with five assists in the afternoon.
“Our team just had the scout on them,” Elder said. “We knew that they were going to slide early and if the players got in the right spot, people would be wide open.”
Sterlyn Ardrey scored in the final minute of the first quarter to open up an 8-1 lead for the Pride, but Jake Garb beat the buzzer to give Sacred Heart (0-1) life heading into the second.
The second quarter was more evenly played, and the Pioneers outshot the Pride 9-8 after being outshot 16-6 in the first. Senior defender Tom Ford extended Hofstra’s lead to 9-2 three-and-a-half minutes in on a shot from midfield that deflected off Sacred Heart’s Thomas Houlihan and fooled goalkeeper Alex Pazienza who had come out of his crease to play the ball. Pazienza replaced starter Nicky LaBanca after the Pride’s fourth goal.
Sacred Heart scored a couple of goals to try and get back in the game, but Turner and John Madsen’s first-career tallies got the lead back to seven for Hofstra, 11-4.
The Pride returned to its dominant form in the third quarter. After trading to start, Hofstra rattled off seven-straight goals with six different scorers to end the third and begin the fourth, making it 15-9.
“After it got a little bit jumpy, to win that [third] quarter 7-1, those guys made a statement upstairs that we’re coming around and we want to win and we know we have to play desperate and I thought we did that,” Tierney said.
Sacred Heart outscored the Pride 4-3 in the final frame, but it was too little too late and Hofstra left the field with a 2-0 opening weekend at home.
With the win, the Pride maintains its perfect 14-0 record against the Pioneers in the teams’ first matchup in nearly 20 years. Mac Gates picked up the victory with six saves on 14 shots in over 56 minutes of work.
The Pride hosts the U.S. Naval Academy on Friday, Feb. 18, at James M. Shuart Stadium. Game time is set for 6 p.m.
“[Navy] played really well after an opening week loss to Mount St. Mary’s, they came back and gave it to Mercer pretty good today,” Tierney said. “Coach Amplo, he’s a Hofstra guy. [Assistant Coach] John Orsen, he’s a Hofstra guy. They’ve got a couple guys on their team that are Long Island guys. Navy hasn’t been up here in a while; their juice is going to be flowing and we can’t get outplayed.”
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
