Rudd records first hat-trick in win over St. John's
Queen, NY - QUEENS, NY - Freshman attacker Colton Rudd helped Hofstra bounce back on in a dominating 19-9 win over the St. John’s University’s Red Storm on Tuesday, March 10. The win put the Pride back on track after a narrow loss at Ohio State University just three days prior. Rudd, who had seen virtually no time on the field this season, recorded a hat-trick on six shots and an assist in his first start.
The momentum was on the Pride’s side in the first period as Rudd scored his first career goal four minutes into the game. It did not take long for leading scorer, Ryan Tierney, to get on the scoreboard with a goal just one minute later. Hofstra continued to flow offensively as Justin Sykes and Sterlyn Ardrey added goals off Whit Stopak’s assists. One more goal from Tierney brought the Pride’s lead to 5-0. St. John’s ended the period with a bang, with two goals in a span of 17 seconds thanks to the attacking duo of Joe Madsen and Jonathan Huber.
Madsen started the second period with his 17th goal of the season for the Red Storm to cut the Pride lead to two. From there, it was all Hofstra to end the half, going on an 8-0 run featuring a hat-trick from Stopak and Tierney’s 20th goal of the season.
The Pride took a comfortable 13-3 lead into the second half, but St. John’s got some help from their seniors to start the third as Ryan Schaeffer and Matt Oehl cut the deficit to eight. After almost four minutes of scoreless action from the Pride, Stopak registered his fourth goal of the game, which was quickly followed by Rudd’s second. The scoring continued to go back and forth in the third when the Red Storm’s point leader, Mike Madsen, finally found the back of the net. Tierney helped his squad close out the quarter by assisting Sykes for his second goal and Rudd for his third, putting an exclamation on his career day.
Not to be overshadowed by the rookie, Tierney scored two minutes into the fourth period to secure a hat-trick of his own for the sixth time in seven games. Despite being down by double-digits, the Red Storm capped off the game by scraping together a few goals, starting with Dylan Willis’s seventh of the season. The Madsen brothers ended the game with one goal apiece as Mike registered his 25th goal of the season. It was an active day for Hofstra goalkeeper Bobby Casey, as he notched 13 saves, just two fewer than his season high. The highlight of the game, however, was Rudd’s breakout performance in an offense already filled with prolific scorers in the form of Tierney and Stopak.
With the win, Hofstra moved to 4-3 for the season.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
