The Hofstra University men’s lacrosse team dropped their fourth game in a row on Saturday, Feb. 28, a hard-fought 11-8 road defeat to No.14/16 Rutgers University. The Pride fell to 1-4 on the season, while the Scarlet Knights improved to 5-1.
Hofstra gave one of the nation’s toughest teams all they could handle. The Pride and Scarlet Knights each shot the ball 37 times, with 20 making their way on goal. Rutgers turned the ball over 16 times, while the Pride had 15 giveaways. Rutgers picked up 29 ground balls to Hofstra’s 26, and the Scarlet Knights won only one more faceoff than the Pride.
Hofstra’s resilience was on full display early in the game; they quickly fell into a 3-1 hole halfway through the first quarter, with a Trevor Natalie goal being their only scoring. Rutgers was looking to set up in the offensive zone again, but Will Delaney broke up a long-range pass, and the Pride brought the ball the other way. Gus Langtry scored the first of his three goals on the day to cut the deficit in half. On the next offensive possession for the Scarlet Knights, Haydn Sommer’s shot beat Pride goalkeeper Shea Kennedy but hit the crossbar. Kaden Major picked up the rebound, and Joey DeYoung tied the game 11 seconds later.
Things stayed deadlocked until two straight Rutgers goals restored the Scarlet Knights’ multi-goal advantage early in the second quarter. Colin Kurdyla slipped behind the Pride defense and took advantage of his clear shot at the cage, and assisted Greyson Vorgang’s goal. Langtry and Vorgang traded goals to put the game at 6-4 with 10 and a half minutes to go in the first half.
Drew Bogardus struck less than a minute later. Natalie’s shot rang off the post, but the sophomore from Sheffield, Massachusetts grabbed the rebound and buried his first goal in two games. Five minutes of stalemate passed before Langtry completed his first-half hat trick, letting his shot go in the air and firing it past Rutgers’ All-American goalie Cardin Stoller.
Just three minutes later, Natalie gave Hofstra their first and only lead of the afternoon. He spun around and fired his shot as he was falling to the ground, putting the Pride up 7-6 with a just over a minute left in the half.
Unfortunately for Hofstra, Rutgers responded with a perfect offensive possession, quick movements, precision passing and a discombobulated Pride defense left Kurdyla open in front of the net to tie the game heading into halftime.
Defense and goaltending took over in the second half, only five goals followed up an opening 30 minutes which saw 14 tallies. Kennedy made five third quarter saves but allowed three goals; Kasey Mongillo found a soft spot in Hofstra’s zone defense in the second minute of play to give Rutgers a lead they didn’t relinquish.
After another Scarlet Knights goal, Natalie completed his hat trick with a long-range shot to get the Pride within a goal, but Sommer went low on Kennedy a minute later to restore the two-goal advantage.
The Pride limited the Scarlet Knights to one shot on goal in the fourth quarter, but it went in the net. Evan Large closed the scoring with his first career goal. Hofstra had three shots on goal and many more offensive chances but were stifled by Stoller and the Rutgers defense at every turn.
Next up for Hofstra is a home tilt against the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Game time is set for noon on Saturday, March 7.
