The Hofstra men’s lacrosse team is now 2-0 on the season after winning a high-scoring shootout over the University of Utah 14-10 on Saturday, Feb.16, at James M. Shuart Stadium.
With key performances from players like Ryan Tierney with four goals, Dylan McIntosh with three goals and Robert Casey with 11 saves, the Pride was able to once again get a win to start off the young season.
The Pride’s home opening win left a good feeling for the players in front of their home crowd. “It feels awesome. It feels great. It’s always good coming out with your first win at home,” McIntosh said.
The Pride’s dominance came in the second half after going into the break ahead by one goal at 7-6.
“Yeah I think they motivated themselves” said Hofstra head coach Seth Tierney. “They’re a young team but they are very coachable.”
With the game in the balance in the first half, Utah attacker Josh Stout was having an impressive outing with five goals in the first half alone, giving the Pride a hard time containing him and disrupting his rhythm for the first 30 minutes of the game.
“The defense as a whole, including myself was a little shaky to start the game,” Casey said. “We didn’t execute our game plan the correct way.”
After falling behind temporarily in the first half, Hofstra managed to score two goals in the final 20 seconds right before the intermission to grab the lead and never look back for the rest of the game.
The last goal with nearly five seconds remaining came off a diving throw by Mark Ellis which was crucial for the Pride to go into the break with the lead.
In the second half Stout was blanketed and the Pride’s halftime adjustments were working on both offense and defense.
Hofstra star Ryan Tierney had himself a great showing once again with one assist and four goals in the game, three of which came in the first half.
On his last goal coming in the third quarter, Ryan Tierney was able to eclipse the 100-point mark for his career and now has a grand total of 101 points. He also recorded his 12th career hat trick in the game which he was able to accomplish after just the first half of play.
“Our offense scores the goals. No one scores the goals, no one gets the assists; our offense together as a unit does all that together. Everyone’s role is very, very important,” Ryan Tierney said after his performance.
While Ryan Tierney stood out, nine different Pride players scored a goal in this game which was important for their offensive attack to remain balanced and dispersed among several players.
“At any point in time we have to be unscoutable,” Seth Tierney said.
Hofstra hopes to keep their undefeated opening season streak alive next Saturday, Feb. 23, as they travel to play Villanova University at 12 p.m.
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
