Hempstead, NY – The Hofstra Men's Lacrosse team will begin their 2015 Colonial Athletic Association regular season schedule this Saturday, March 21 when the Pride host the Minutemen of the University of Massachusetts at James M. Shuart Stadium. Game time is noon.
The Hofstra-UMass contest is the start of a big doubleheader at Shuart Stadium as the fifth-ranked Pioneers of Denver square off against the Nittany Lions of Penn State at 2:30 p.m. For ticket information, call (516) HOF-TIXX or visit HofstraTickets.com.
Pride Productions will have live video and audio beginning with the pregame show at 11:30 p.m. Anthony Santaniello and Dan Savarino will have the call for the radio broadcast on WGCH (1490 AM). Live stats can be accessed by going to Hofstrastats.com or on GoHofstra.com.
Hofstra, which has won its last two games to improve to 3-4 on the season, is coming off a 10-7 victory over local rival St. John's at Shuart Stadium Tuesday night. After trailing 6-5 after three quarters, the Pride erupted for five goals in the fourth quarter, including two by junior
Sam Llinares and two by sophomore
Brier Davis in the spurt, for the victory. Llinares recorded his fourth hat-trick of the season with three goals and two assists while Davis recorded his third hat-trick of the year with three goals. Freshman
Dylan Alderman added a goal and three assists while senior
Mike Malave chipped in with two goals for the Pride. Sophomore
Kris Clarke continued his outstanding play on face-offs, winning 14 of 21 against the Red Storm. Senior goalie
Chris Selva made seven saves to record his third win of the season.
Hofstra continues to be led in scoring in 2015 by Llinares with 22 goals and 18 assists in seven games for the Pride. Malave is second with 19 goals and three assists while Alderman now has five goals and eight assists. Davis has 11 goals and junior Kory Hendrickson has added eight goals and two assists. Clarke now has a .646 face-off winning percentage as he has captured 104 of 161 face-offs. Selva has an 8.59 goals against average with 66 saves and a .532 save percentage.
Hofstra will be facing the Minutemen of Massachusetts for the 40th time in school history. UMass holds a 21-18 series advantage. The two teams have split the last four encounters with the Pride winning last year in Amherst, 11-6. Malave tallied five goals and Llinares added two goals and three assists to lead Hofstra in last season's contest. The two teams have also split the last eight meetings in the series with the Pride going 3-1 at home and 1-3 on the road against the Minutemen.
The Minutemen of Massachusetts enter Saturday's game with a 2-5 overall mark in 2015 following their 12-8 victory over Penn State in Amherst, MA last Saturday.
In addition to Penn State, the Minutemen have a win over Quinnipiac (18-5) and losses to Army (12-7), North Carolina (20-8), Harvard (14-13), Brown (18-12) and Albany (10-9).
In UMass' last game against Penn State, sophomore Nick Mariano posted three goals and two assists, freshman Peter Lindley added two goals and one assist and senior Andrew Sokol also scored twice to pace the Minutemen. Junior goalie Zach Oliveri stopped nine shots in the UMass cage for the victory.
The Minutemen are led in scoring by Mariano with 15 goals and 11 assists in seven games. Lindley has contributed 14 goals and six assists while sophomore Gianni Bianchin has added six goals and seven assists. Sokol has eight goals and two assists and sophomore Dan Muller has contributed seven goals and five assists. Oliveri has an 11.93 goals against average with 69 saves and a .489 save percentage in seven contests.
