The Hofstra University men’s lacrosse team got back in the win column with an 11-10 victory over the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Senior Anthony Mollica put on a star-studded performance with six goals, ending the Prides four game losing streak.
“I’m trying to be happy about the win, I really am,” said Hofstra head coach Seth Tierney. “We faced a very similar team record-wise, but I didn’t think we played as smart as we can play or have the poise to play this game the right way.”
Gus Langtry added a goal, and Trevor Natalie had two in a strong offensive first half for the Pride.
Natalie broke the seal under a minute into the game for his 14th of the season. Defender Blake Cooling rifled a shot home from long distance doubling the Pride’s lead. The goal was Cooling’s first of the year.
Cooling, Will Delaney and Austin Clarke had a strong game, picking up a combined 14 ground balls.
“The defense did a good job of getting their sticks in lanes,” Tierney said. “On the flip side, we were very poor at clearing the ball, so everything we won earned from those turnovers we probably gave back about 75% of that on failed clears.”
UMBC entered the game with the 17th least turnovers per game in Division I lacrosse; however, they suffered a season high 25 turnovers compared to Hofstra’s 18.
The Pride caused 12 turnovers but struggled to materialize on those plays by going 19-27 on clears.
The Pride built a four-goal lead going into the half with Mollica scoring the final marker with less than two minutes left in the second quarter. The goal was Mollica’s 50th career goal as a member of the Hofstra Pride.
“I’m proud of [Mollica] because he took advantage of his opportunities,” Tierney said. “He also took advantage of other players’ hard work, and he put himself in a good spot to succeed. At least of these two goals, he picked up a groundball in front of the goalie and scored.”
The Pride were 1-0 on the season when taking a lead into halftime this season.
The Pride’s four goal cushion was necessary because UMBC started the second half winning 10 of 11 faceoffs.
“They had a two headed monster at the faceoff X,” Tierney said. “It got in our heads, and we needed to adjust. Towards the end we tried to just tie them up. We need to figure out our faceoff game.”
UMBC made the game close in the second half, holding the Pride scoreless over the final 11 minutes. With under two minutes left, Jake Kucinski brought the deficit to one goal, but the Retrievers never got another chance.
The Pride held on to win their first game since Feb. 2 and improved to 2-4 ahead of their conference opener against Stony Brook University on Friday, March 13.
“Ahead of conference play, I’ve learned we have to be more disciplined, there is no getting around it,” Tierney said. “As crazy [as it is], I thought we played better against Rutgers [University] last week and lost, then what we did today and won. The way we play needs to be different. We’re gonna a learn a lot about Stony Brook and come ready to play in our first conference game.”
