Although the format and the game schedule of the 2005 Algonquin Cup Men's Lacrosse Tournament was altered by two days of heavy rain on Long Island, the Blue Devils of Duke University and the Big Red of Cornell University took home bragging rights after each posted 2-0 records at the tournament Sunday at Hofstra University's James M. Shuart Stadium.
The Blue Devils downed Hobart and Stony Brook while Cornell edged the host Pride and downed Hobart. Stony Brook finished third at 1-1 with a win over St. John's, and Hofstra and St. John's were 0-1-1 after the two teams ended their match-up tied at 7-7 in the tournament finale. Hobart was 0-2. Each game consisted of two 35-minute halves of running time.
In Hofstra's first contest against Cornell, who ranked eighth last season, the Pride jumped out to a 3-1 lead after 8:35 of the first half on two goals by senior middie Rob Bonaguro and a third by junior attackman Athan Iannucci, who returned in time for the Algonquin Cup after participating in Canadian National Team tryouts. But Cornell scored three unanswered goals to take a 4-3 lead with 9:47 to play in the first period. Senior attackman Chris Unterstein tied the game with an unassisted goal two minutes later as the teams went into the break knotted at 4-4.
The Big Red jumped on the Pride in the first 11 minutes of the second half, scoring three times as junior attackman David Mitchell scored twice, off assists from Derek Haswell and Drew Webb, and Haswell added an unassisted goal with 24:50 to play to give Cornell a 7-4 lead. Iannucci for Hofstra and Boulukos for Cornell exchanged goals before Bonaguro scored his third of the game for the Pride to close the gap to 8-6 with 17 minutes to play. But Big Red junior attackman Eric Pittard tallied back-to-back unassisted goals to boost the Cornell lead to 10-6 with 9:15 remaining. The Pride pressed Cornell and tallied three straight goals as Iannucci scored his third of the game at the 7:45 mark, senior Ryan Lucas scored off a feed from Chris Unterstein and senior defender John Orsen added an unassisted goal with 19 seconds to play. But the Pride couldn't get a game-tying play set up as Cornell held on for the 10-9 victory.
The Pride faced the Red Storm of St. John's in the Cup's final game of the day. Hofstra Coach John Danowski wanted to use all of his players, including freshmen and lesser-utilized players, in the contest against the young Red Storm. The Pride jumped out to a 3-1 lead on goals by senior Chris Unterstein, freshman Scottt McNeff and sophomore Colin Stabler. After Justin O'Donnell closed the gap to 3-2 with an unassisted goal for St. John's, Hofstra freshman Conor Callaghan scored, off a pass from McNeff, with 35 seconds to play in the first period to give the Pride a 4-2 lead at halftime.
Hofstra boosted the lead to 5-2 just 4:15 into the second half as redshirt-freshman Ed Wansor, who returned after missing the 2005 season with an injury, scored off a pass from senior Peter Kaspar. After Kyle Brant and Tom Michaelson scored back-to-back goals to close the SJU gap to 5-4, Hofstra sophomore attack Max Cohen scored off a pass from senior Rob Bonaguro to boost the lead to 6-4 with 19:10 to play. But St. John's scored three unanswered goals in the next eight minutes to take its first lead of the game at 7-6 with 11:15 to play after a Bobby Fitton goal. Hofstra freshman Steve Prifte tied the game three minutes later off a pass from Ryan Lucas. Neither team could dent the twine in the final eight minutes as the contest ended in a 7-7 tie.
Game 1 - Duke 10, Hobart 1
Game 2 - Cornell 13, Hobart 5
Game 3 - Duke 13, Stony Brook 4
Game 4 - Cornell 10, Hofstra 9
Game 5 - Stony Brook 7, St. John's 5
Game 6 - Hofstra 7, St. John's 7 (tie)
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