The Hofstra men’s lacrosse team defeated the Long Island University (LIU) Sharks 14-6 on Saturday, Feb. 29, at James M. Shuart Stadium.
The Pride improved to 3-2 on the season and the Sharks remained winless with a 0-4 record.
Coming off a 14-11 loss to the Stony Brook University Seawolves on Tuesday, Feb. 25, Hofstra was looking to get back into the win column in the second unofficial “Battle for Long Island.”
LIU had not faced off against Hofstra since 1990, but this was the 24th meeting between the two teams. Hofstra now leads the series 16-8.
Brian Herber got things started in the first quarter, winning the opening faceoff. He finished the game having won 21 of 24 faceoffs.
Ryan Tierney got the first score of the afternoon to make it 1-0 Hofstra in the opening minutes. Tierney finished the game with his fifth hat trick of the season in as many games, as well as three assists and four ground balls.
“Any team from Long Island wants to beat the other team from Long Island because it’s where the recruits are going to go,” Tierney said. “A lot of Long Island kids go to Long Island schools. It’s bragging rights.”
Tierney’s first goal had a quick answer from LIU as Will Snelders scored his 10th of the season to tie it up at 1-1. Later in the quarter, Sam Lutfi and Corey Kale tacked on goals for the Pride and Tierney scored his second goal. Nick Grassa also scored for the Sharks. By the end of the first quarter, it was 4-2 in favor of Hofstra.
The second quarter saw two goals for the Pride from Justin Sykes, his fifth and sixth of the season. Hofstra drew a 30-second penalty for offsides and caused a man-up goal for LIU’s Doug Chase, giving him his first goal of the season. Hofstra led 6-3 heading into halftime.
LIU only shot the ball six times in the second half and finished with 24 shots and 10 shots on goal, both season lows for Hofstra’s opponents.
“[Assistant] Coach [John] Gorman puts in a great game plan every single week,” said Michael Altmann, a defender for the Pride. “He had a short week this week because of the game on Tuesday night against Stony Brook. He stayed up all night and watched film.”
The third quarter alone saw five goals from the Pride. Tierney got his third, Kale got his second, Whit Stopak and James Philbin each scored their fifth goals of the season and Ryan Sheridan scored his sixth.
Carrying an 11-3 lead into the fourth quarter, the Pride ran into some trouble early, surrendering three goals to the Sharks in the first eight minutes. Snelders and Chase scored their second goals of the game and Richie LaCalandra scored his sixth of the season.
That was the closest the Sharks got to completing a comeback as the Pride put the game to bed with three goals of their own.
Sheridan and Philbin scored their second goals of the game and Kyle Steinbach scored his third of the season.
“I’m proud of our guys and the way they fought for 60 minutes,” said Hofstra head coach Seth Tierney. “I think that we stayed focused and [the] guys held each other accountable. And that was a step up from this past Tuesday night.”
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
