The final regular season games have been completed and all six Long Island DI teams will be playing in conference semi-final games this upcoming week.
HOFSTRA:
The Hofstra men got their wish granted on Saturday. In order for them to make the playoffs, they needed two things. 1) A win against Fairfield. 2) A Drexel win against Towson. Both those came true, when the Pride defeated the Stags in a come-from-behind 18-14 win in Hempstead and a Drexel fourth quarter surge that saw 6 goals from the Dragons, the final goal being the game winner with 11 seconds left. The game was a back-and-forth affair for the first 23 minutes seeing a 6-6 tie game until Fairfield surged ahead with four unanswered going into the half up 10-6. The Pride would not allow the Stag’s largest lead to increase pass four goals, and eventually went on a five-goal run itself before a Brian Reda goal tied the game at 14. The Pride got the momentum back and scored the final four goals of the game in the last 9:30. Hofstra was led by Dylan McIntosh’s four goals, along with a 3 goal, 3 assist day by Tewaaraton Award Nominee Ryan Tierney. Fairfield had eight different goal scorers led by Kyle Borda, Dylan Beckwith and Travis Ford, all of whom had hat tricks. Fairfield’s Colin Consoli made 13 saves in the loss while Bobby Casey made 17 wins in the win. Fairfield finished their season 2-9 and winless in all eight conference games. Hofstra (7-5, 4-4 CAA) will play Delaware in the CAA semis on their home turf of James M. Shuart Stadium on Thursday May 6 at 4pm, with UMass taking on Drexel after the first game at 7pm. The two semi-final winners will face each other on Saturday May 8 in Hempstead, with a start time yet to be determined.
The Hofstra women survived yet another close game against 25th ranked Towson and claimed a 15-14 victory Saturday afternoon in Hempstead to close out the regular season. Just a week earlier Hofstra defeated the then 20 ranked Tigers 10-9. The game was a back-and-forth match that saw a change in momentum between the two teams and there was never more than a three-goal difference between the two CAA rivals. Hofstra took the lead at 9-8 with 18:12 left in the second half and kept the lead until a pair of goals from Blair Pearre, her 49th of the season, and Nikki Sliwak, 27, scored within 90 seconds of each other to tie the game 14-14. The Pride’s freshman middie Kerry Walser scored her second career goal with 40 seconds remaining to lead her team to the win. Pearre led the Tigers with six goals while Alyssa Parrella’s five goals and Alexa Mattera’s four led Hofstra. All three leading goal scorers had six point games. Both Towson’s Carly Merlo and Hofstra’s Jess Smith made nine saves. Towson, who finished the regular season 8-7, 0-4 in conference play, earned the 5 seed in the CAA tournament and will face number 4 Elon in a play-in-game on Wednesday May 5 at 4pm, with the winner facing number 1 Drexel on Friday May 7 at 4 in the first semi-final game. The winner of that game will face the winner of the second semi-final game which will feature number 2 James Madison and number 3 Hofstra, that game is scheduled for 7 on Friday. The CAA tournament will be played in Harrisburg, Virginia, on the campus of James Madison University.
STONY BROOK:
The Stony Brook men’s lacrosse team lost to the Vermont Catamounts, 14-13, in a game that is being called a mess up by the officiating crew. In a game that saw Vermont over power the 19th ranked Seawolves for the majority of the game, the Catamounts found luck in a 13-13 tied game with 8.5 seconds remaining when Vermont worked its way down the field and scored, but it appeared the game clock did not start on time and went past zero and the referees allowed play to go on which led to the Liam Limoges game winning buzzer beater goal. Why was this important? The winner of this game was guaranteed at least a share of the America East regular season trophy. If UMBC lost its game against NJIT, which they didn’t, the Stony Brook-Vermont winner would have hosted the America East tournament. Now UMBC will be hosting the tournament beginning next Thursday, with Vermont earning the number two seed and will face off against the three seeded Stony Brook Seawolves. Vermont scored the first three goals of the game, but Stony Brook copied and tied it up before Vermont got two more to end the first quarter. Vermont held the lead going into half up 8-7. Stony Brook came out of the locker room swinging limiting Vermont to one goal and adding four themselves to take the lead and ended the third up 11-9. The fourth, saw Vermont score three in a row to go up 13-12 before Chris Pickel jr. scored with 8 seconds left before the Limoges goal sent the Vermont team into a frenzy. Stony Brook, who finished the regular season 8-5, 6-3 in the conference, had nine players find the net, led by freshman standout Dylan Pallonetti’s fifth hat trick on the season. David Closterman had a nine point game, including six goals, with one of his assists being from the Limoges goal. Anthony Palma made 15 saves in the loss with Ryan Cornell making only seven. The rematch is scheduled for 4pm on Thursday in Baltimore.
The number six Seawolves women honored their seniors on Saturday and were led by four of the honorees, in route to a 18-7 beatdown against the UMBC Retrievers. Taryn Ohlmiller led the Seawolves with eight goals, one shy of the school record and two behind the most of any player this season. UMBC scored a quick goal 30 seconds into the game but that was one of the only positives for a UMBC team that is wishing for the Seawolves women’s lacrosse team to switch to a different conference. Stony Brook went into the half up 11-3, and then got right back to work scoring three more, all by Ohlmiller within the first four minutes of the second half. Ohlmiller finished the game with nine points and Tewaaraton Award nominee Ally Kennedy had a hat trick of her own. UMBC’s Claire Bockstie also had a hat trick for a UMBC team that ends the regular season 6-5, 5-4 in America East play. The Stony Brook goalies of Kameron Halsall and Hayley Hunt split playing time, with Halsall getting the start and making three saves and Hunt playing the second half making two and giving up four goals. Lexi Roberts played all 60 minutes for UMBC. This was Stony Brook’s 52 consecutive conference win and the Seawolves (12-2, 8-0 AE) had already clinched the regular season title last weekend and will host the America East tournament next week at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium, where number 2 seeded UAlbany faces off against number 3 Vermont in the later semi-final game, set to start at 6:30pm, and being played after the top seeded Seawolves face off, again, against the number 4 UMBC at 3:30pm.
LIU:
The LIU men fell in the regular season finale to Bryant 20-17 on Tuesday, concluding the season at 6-4, 5-3 NEC. LIU started strong going up 5-2 at the end of the first quarter before Bryant surged back and the half ended with the Sharks up 9-8. Three goals pushed Bryant to a 11-9 lead at the beginning of the third quarter and then another three Bulldogs made the score 14-10. LIU had some momentum shift but could not control and Bryant took advantage. Both teams had nine different scorers with Marc O’Rourke leading the Bulldogs with six and Blake Behlen and Nick Grassa both scoring four for the Sharks. Will Mark made an absurd, 30 saves in the loss, a Division 1 record this season, and the most by any LIU goaltender, a mark that Will Mark has set three separate times this season. Luke Caracciolo made nine in the win for Bryant (7-3, 5-2 NEC) who earned the three seed in the NEC tournament and will travel to number two Hobart for the semi-final. The Sharks earned the fourth seed and will travel to number one Saint Joseph’s University in Philly for the other semi-final game. Both semis are scheduled for Wednesday May 5 with the Sharks game starting at 1pm and the Bryant matchup starting at 2pm. The winners will play at the higher seed for the championship game and for a berth to the NCAA tournament.
The LIU women also lost to Bryant, this time 12-11, after the Bulldogs went on a three goal run in the last 5:30 with Kenna Kaut scoring the winning goal with 38 seconds remaining in regulation. The Masullo twins of Amanda and Rachel led the sharks with four and three goals respectively. With Skylar Simmonds scoring four goals for the Bulldogs. Bryant (7-5,7-5 NEC) earned the fourth seed with the win and will travel to number one Mount St. Mary’s for the first semi while LIU (9-4,7-4 NEC) will travel out to Staten Island to face Wagner for the third time this season, after Wagner swept the regular season series. The NEC tournament begins with the semis on Wednesday May 5, with the Bryant-Mount game scheduled for 1pm with the Wagner-LIU game starting at 3pm. The winners will play each other on May 8.
