(Photo Credit: Hofstra Athletics)
by Nicholas McEntyre
This week in DI college lacrosse saw losses from ranked teams and LIU and Sacred Heart battling it out in Connecticut.
In the annual renewal of the Long Island rivalry, Hofstra came back from being down at half and defeated Stony Brook, 20-17, to reclaim the title of Best of Long Island, the Prides first win in the series since defeating the Seawolves 14-2 back in 2018.
Senior Attack Ryan Tierney led the Pride with a career-high eight goals and added three assists in Saturday’s win. Graduate student, Alex Concannon added four goals and, with Tierney, was one of seven Hofstra players to find the back of the net. Redshirt Sophomore Mac Gates earned his second win of the season, saving 16 of the 33 shots he faced.
The Seawolves, taking a two-goal lead into the half and finding themselves up 14-10 in the third could not stop the Pride from coming back. Redshirt Freshman prodigy, Dylan Pallonetti, led the 16th/17th ranked Seawolves with five goals and three assists with junior Anthony Palma making eight saves in the loss. The Seawolves, 2-1, will head down to Baltimore to start up conference play against UMBC next Saturday, March 6. The Pride, also 2-1, host Wagner this Tuesday, March 2nd for a 2 pm draw.
Women of Long Island:
The Hofstra Pride contest against West Point was cancelled. They will travel up to the state capital to take on UAlbany on March 9th for a 4 pm draw.
The sixth-ranked Stony Brook Seawolves fell to host and second ranked Syracuse, 16-6. The Orange took control early on, scoring twice within the first four minutes and then went on six goal run later on and ended the first half leading 12-3. Syracuse had three players earn four or more goals, led by junior Megan Carney with five goals. Senior Siobhan Rafferty had four goals for the Seawolves who fell to 2-2. Syracuse senior, Asa Goldstock had 11 saves in the win, while Stony Brook redshirt junior Kameron Halsall was pulled 10-minutes into the second half after giving up 14 goals with four assists, she was replaced by Freshman Hayley Hunt, giving up the last two goals and saving one. The Orange got revenge from last year’s matchup, where Stony Brook defeated Syracuse 17-16. Stony Brook is slated to travel down to UMBC on March Friday, March fifth, that game is not yet set. Syracuse, 2-0, plays eleventh ranked Duke on Saturday, March 6.
The LIU women defeated host Sacred Heart University 14-9, in the Shark’s last non-conference matchup but will play SHU again next weekend for the first North East Conference game. Graduate Student Paige Sherlock led the Shark’s with four goals and Sophomore Francesca Vasile-Cozzo had two goals with four assists. SHU was led in scoring by Sophomore Emma Kittredge with three goals. Pioneer’s goalie Bella Beaton, sophomore, made 12 stops in the loss. Junior Hailey Duchnowski made seven in the win.
The LIU men played twice this week. Going 1-1 to start the season. In the Wednesday season opener, the Sharks lost to host Sacred Heart University 12-10 allowing the Pioneers score the final three goals to seal the game. Sophomore Richie LaCalandra and junior Jake Gillis both had hattricks for LIU. Seniors, Logan Liljeberg and Conor Sullivan also had hattricks for the Pioneers. Senior Goalkeeper Colton King made 15 saves in the win for SHU while also making Sportscenter top 10 plays with an acrobatic save late in the game. Sophomore Will Mark made 21 saves in the loss.
The Sharks returned to action this past Saturday, defeating Wagner College 19-8. LaCalandra and sophomore Sean Boll had four goals apiece in the home opener. LIU used three goalies in the game, with Mark making seven saves on five goals allowed in fifty minutes of action. LIU will host Sacred Heart on Saturday, March 6 for the first conference matchup of the season.
