2008 Men's Lacrosse - Hofstra 8, #1 Johns Hopkins 7 (OT)

Heading into the 2008 season, the Hofstra Men's Lacrosse program had tallied numerous huge wins in its history. It had a long list of top five victims, including No. 2 North Carolina in 1996, No. 2 Johns Hopkins in 1999, and No. 2 Notre Dame in 2001.

But it had never beaten a No. 1, until March 8, 2008.

Defending national champion and top-ranked Johns Hopkins visited James M. Shuart stadium for an early-season contest that most neutral observers expected to go the Blue Jays' way. Out of all the great Hofstra teams to take the field over the years, the 2008 squad was probably not the most likely to beat a No. 1 opponent. Most of the key players were young, and second-year coach Seth Tierney was still building back up after the 2006 team graduated arguably the greatest senior class in school history, following a 17-2 season and a No. 2 national ranking.

The young Pride had lots of talent, though, including freshman Jay Card, an attackman from Canada with a cannon for a shot. Card was only two games into his college career, but the coaching staff thought that he could give Hofstra the top-flight scorer they needed to replace '06 graduates Athan Iannucci and Chris Unterstein. The returning defense, led by defenseman Adam Swarsen and goalie Danny Orlando, was already solid. Even though Hofstra had gone 6-8 the previous season, it had allowed its opponents to score 10 goals only twice in those 14 games.  

Head Coach Seth Tierney was also only two years removed from being an assistant at Johns Hopkins and still knew many of the Blue Jays' players, which certainly helped with the scouting report. It also added to the pre-game intrigue.

"We tried to treat it like any other game, but there was a little bit of added hype in the locker room going into that game, with guys knowing where I came from," said Tierney. "The team did a good job putting all that stuff aside and trying to understand the little details of the game plan."

The game started out with plenty of offensive fireworks. The two teams would combine for nine goals in the opening quarter with Hofstra taking a 6-3 advantage heading into the second stanza courtesy of a 4-0 run to end the quarter. 

Junior midfielder Anthony Muscarella and Card opened the scoring in the contest, with goals at the 10:45 and 8:53 marks, respectively, before three different Johns Hopkins players notched goals to give the Blue Jays a 3-2 lead with 6:15 to play.  Card would have a hat trick before the end of the first quarter as he tallied back-to-back goals with roughly five minutes remaining to put the Pride back ahead, 4-3. 

"I still hadn't scored in my college career to that point," said Card. "I finally had a game where I broke through and I was lucky enough to be able to capitalize on my opportunities. Once you get your first one, you get that monkey off your back and then it becomes easy. You start to make the plays you've been making your whole life."

It wasn't all Card, either, as Muscarella and senior midfielder Mike Unterstein would stretch Hofstra's lead to three with unassisted goals in the final 4:07 of the quarter.

"We executed the game plan perfectly in the early going and putting the ball where we wanted to put it," said Tierney. "When you are playing a team of the caliber of Johns Hopkins, though, you know its going to continue for 60 minutes. You are going to have to weather some storms." 

Indeed, the offensive explosion ground to a halt as the defenses made the necessary adjustments and settled into a rhythm. Neither team scored a goal in the entire second quarter, which worked to Hofstra's advantage as it took a 6-3 lead into the intermission.

The Blue Jays, though, responded just as you would expect as a top-ranked team to do, and came out of halftime on fire.  Stephen Peyser, Austin Walker and Michael Doneger each found the back of the net in the first 11:11 of the third quarter and Johns Hopkins knotted the score 6-6.  Doneger's tally was the Blue Jays' lone man-up goal of the contest, as Hofstra stayed disciplined, but still couldn't find any answers on the offensive end since its early explosion.

Hofstra would finally put an end to a scoring drought of nearly 38 minutes when sophomore attack Dan Stein put the Pride back ahead, 7-6, with a goal at the 9:02 mark.  Peyser would send the game into overtime with an unassisted goal, his second of the game, with 1:15 remaining in the fourth quarter, though, and giving the Blue Jays new life.

"Thinking back on it now, 38 minutes is a long time to go without putting a point on the board," said Tierney. "But you can't dictate everything that happens in a game. You have to stick with it and keep fighting, and try to get the one ground ball or one key play that turns the momentum back to your side."

Hofstra had the ball first early in the overtime, but was unable to break the tie. Johns Hopkins earned possession and attempted to clear and set up in the offensive end for a potential game-winner. However, the Blue Jays suffered a costly turnover near midfield, and in the blink of an eye the game was over. 

Pride junior attack Tom Dooley picked up the loose ball at the midfield stripe and passed to Muscarella. It took only a moment for Muscarella to survey the situation and find Card standing all alone to the right of the cage. Card took the pass and calmly buried the shot from point-blank range, his fourth of the night, and the gold-clad Hofstra bench stormed the field in celebration, knowing they had achieved something that none of the predecessors had accomplished by taking down a No. 1.

"I was the last guy riding, so I saw the whole play developing," said Card. "I saw Hopkins turn it over near the mid line, and I just played low. I had a 2-on-1 with Muscarella on the back side, and I was lucky enough just to get a pass right on my stick and I was 1-on-1 with the goalie. Most of the time you are going to make that shot."

"It was one of those plays where things seem to go in slow motion," said Tierney. "Everyone was just kind of waiting for the net to move. He already had a hat trick, so even though he was only a freshman, if I could have picked one guy to be in that situation to win the game, it would have been Jay Card."

The Pride had 31 ground balls in the contest, led by freshman midfielder Joe Montemurro's five, while both Unterstein brothers, senior midfielders Mike and Kevin, had four apiece.  Montemurro won 10 of 18 face-offs in the game, while Muscarella added an assist for a total of three points on the afternoon.

Orlando had a big game with 14 saves for Hofstra to pick up the victory, while Johns Hopkins goalie Michael Gvozden (whose younger brother Andrew is currently a junior goalie for the Pride) stopped 11 shots for the Blue Jays.

The 2008 Pride would make a habit of pulling out close games, as it ended the year with six one-goal victories, including a 10-9 overtime comeback win over Drexel in the CAA championship game later in May, which ranked 19th in the fan vote of Hofstra's Greatest Games. 

That Drexel win would result in the first of three straight NCAA appearances for the program, a streak that the Pride hopes to continue this spring, which would make Jay Card and his classmates the first senior class to play in four NCAA Tournaments. 

For now, though beating No. 1 still has a special place in Card's mind. "To this day, that's probably the biggest game and my biggest memory of Hofstra Lacrosse," he said. "I know it meant a lot to the program, and for years to come it's going to mean a lot. It's definitely something special knocking off the No. 1 team."