By Ryan McCord
The No. 4 Pride men’s lacrosse team took the stage Tuesday night seeking revenge against visiting No. 20 Army and to extend their winning-streak to six before heading into conference play.
Thanks to a monster first half on offense, the Pride was able to do just that. Led by senior co-captain Chris Unterstein’s (two goals, three assists) second-straight game of leading the team in points and freshman Tommy Dooley’s second career hat-trick, Hofstra was able to exercise its fourth win in revenge of a 2005 loss, defeating Army, 11-6.
“I didn’t have to do anything spectacular tonight, it just came to me,” said Unterstein, who leads the Pride with 15 assists. “Putting up points is just part of my position. Today just happened to be my day.”
The Black Knights of West Point came into James M. Shuart Stadium with a great deal of momentum, riding a three-game winning-streak and recently cracking the top 20 after a sluggish start.
However, Army could not match the speed Hofstra used to dictate the flow of the game, as the Pride raced out to a 7-2 halftime advantage.
“What it really came down to was Hofstra’s play between the lines,” said Army’s fi rst year head coach Joe Alberici, whose team is now 0-4 on the road. “They were very quick to the ball tonight and very aggressive defensively, limiting our time of possession. They did a great job, they are well coached and certainly the better team this evening.”
Hofstra hardly looked like a team coming off its shortest rest of the season, as Rob Bonaguro (2 g) led an early onslaught of aggressive and efficient play on offense by netting the first goal of the game in the opening minute.
“Everyone was just bing, bang, boom. The ball was moving around, and everyone was shooting and playing smart,” said Pride junior attackman Athan Iannucci, who was recently added to the Tewaaraton Trophy watch list for national player of the year. “They played hard, came out with a lot of emotion. We just did our thing and took off with it.”
Pride senior face-off specialist Joe Mascaretti continued his torrid pace, winning 14 of his 17 attempts, helping the offense stay in control while continuing to move up the national charts in win percentage (62).
“It’s more than just me, it’s Kevin (Unterstein) and John (Keysor) on the wings-they do a lot of the work,” Mascaretti said. “I just go out there, pull the ball out and they go and get it for me.”
Defensively, All-American Brett Moyer and company held up their end of the bargain, combining were the offense to play keep away from Army and allowing goalie Matthew Southard to defend only five shots on goal through three periods.
Head coach John Danowski was also quick to merit the efforts of Mascaretti and sophomore middy Kevin Unterstein, who continues to play at a high-level as well, leading the team with eight ground balls in each of the last two games.
Danowski was pleased with his teams effort in all phases of the game, and like many of the players, looks forward to focusing on division rival Towson and the rest of what the CAA has to offer.
“The first seven games, we go 6-1 and the kids have met just about every challenge in front of them. They did it the right way and I think we are going to continue to improve as the year goes on. A good preseason,” said Danowski, who coached the Pride to a 3-2 mark in the CAA last season. “The conference is going to come fast and furious, because we are going to play fi ve conference games in two and a half weeks…I like where we’re at.”