The Hofstra University men’s lacrosse team snapped a three-game losing streak and earned its first Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) win of the season with a 13-6 victory over Fairfield University on Saturday, April 4. With this win, Hofstra improved to 3-7 overall.
Before the game, Hofstra Athletics retired the No. 13 jersey, which belonged to former men’s lacrosse star Ryan Tierney. He is not only the son of Hofstra head coach Seth Tierney but also the program’s all-time leading scorer with 252 career points.
“I’m so proud of this team,” said Seth Tierney. “People can look at our record and say what they want to say, but these guys show up every game. They do whatever they are asked to do; we’ve just had to face adversity.”
The Pride played their most complete game of the season. Hofstra’s main faceoff taker, Nico Ghicas, was unavailable for the contest. Cole Meyers, who entered the game just 15-51 on faceoffs this year, won 14-20 draws. Hofstra is a bottom-ten team in the country in faceoff percentage, but Meyer’s wins at the X helped turn the tide for a game in which Hofstra couldn’t score until the second quarter.
“ Meyers stepped up like a man today,” Seth Tierney said. “It was unfortunate news to find out Ghicas wasn’t available to faceoff for us today and we handled that change well.”
Hofstra senior defender Blake Cooling had the best game of his career. He logged two caused turnovers, a goal and a career-high 10 ground balls in the rivalry match. Ten ground balls are the most by a Hofstra player since Chase Patterson recorded 19 in 2024.
Cooling’s goal came at a crucial time in the second quarter. Trailing 2-1, Hofstra outshot Fairfield 14-6 in the first quarter, but they could not solve the Stags’ goalie, Landon Whitney, who had seven saves in the opening frame.
While playing a 10-man ride, Whitney left his crease to mark an opposing Hofstra attacker. Cooling had the ball looking to clear it and saw that the Fairfield net was empty. Cooling launched the ball from beyond midfield, and it bounced in, tying the game for the Pride.
“[Hofstra assistant coach Michael] Gongas does a great job with the ‘D guys,’” said Cooling. “[Seth] Tierney preached that all week – that they would do the 10-man ride, so we practiced that shot a few times this week.”
Seth Tierney said that the pole goal “felt like it was worth two goals” due to the way in which it shifted the momentum in Hofstra’s favor.
The goal was the seventh of Cooling’s career. After tying the game back up at two, the Pride added four more consecutive goals. Joey DeYoung led the team in goals with three. It was the second hat trick in his college career. Anthony Mollica led with five points on two goals and three assists.
In a game where the Pride doubled up their opponents, Shea Kennedy was spectacular in the cage. He made 15 saves and allowed just six goals.
“[Kennedy] was certainly disappointed about the last game against Sacred Heart [University],” Seth Tierney said. “I think he felt like he could’ve had a few more. He’s pretty hard on himself. I don’t know where this performance is gonna bring us because we’re treating every game like a playoff game, and we have an unbelievable opponent in Drexel [University] next.”
With the win, the Pride moved into fifth place in the CAA and will need to move into the top four to make the conference tournament starting on Thursday, April 30.
