Men's lacrosse falls to UMass in battle of ranked teams

Ground balls, turnovers and penalties were issues as the Hofstra men’s lacrosse team was defeated by the University of Massachusetts Minutemen 16-10 on Tuesday, March 30 at James M. Shuart Stadium.

The Minutemen got off to a quick start with a goal from Devin Spencer. 24 seconds later, he was followed by Billy Philpott giving UMass a two-goal lead.

Justin Sykes answered quickly for Hofstra with his first goal of the game, bringing the Pride to within one. On Hofstra’s next possession he found the back of the net again, tying the game at two apiece.

The rest of the first quarter was all Minutemen as Clayton Proctor and Dillon Arrant brought UMass back to a two-goal lead.

Philpott gave the Minutemen a three-goal lead to start the second, but the Pride chipped away at the deficit.

Justin Lynskey and Bryce Tolmie’s goals cut the UMass lead to one goal with 10:12 remaining in the second period.  

The Pride won the following faceoff, but the Minutemen capitalized on a Hofstra error and turned it into Arrant’s second goal of the afternoon. Despite the Pride winning the following faceoff and a second straight turnover, the Minutemen converted on the opportunity which turned into a Gabriel Procyk goal that gave UMass a three-goal advantage.

Kevin Tobin and Procyk each found the back of the net toward the end of the second quarter and the Minutemen had a 9-4 lead.

Coming out of halftime, James Philbin and Colton Rudd each found the back of the net, cutting the Pride’s deficit to three goals. 

Spencer answered with his second goal of the game, stopping the Pride’s two-goal run, but shortly after, Lynskey chipped in with his second goal of the game, bringing Hofstra back to within three.

Despite a Procyk goal for UMass and a Rudd goal for the Pride, the Minutemen closed the quarter with Mike Tobin and Ryan Fitzpatrick finding the back of the net, giving the visitors a five-goal lead heading into the final frame.

Ryan Tierney opened scoring in the fourth with two straight goals as the Pride saw themselves down 13-10 with 8:23 remaining in the period. Unfortunately for Hofstra, they were held scoreless throughout the rest of the game.

Procyk, Arrant and Kevin Tobin chipped in on the Minutemen’s final three goals of the fourth quarter as time wound down.

Bobby Casey took the loss for the Pride despite seven saves in the game.

Brian Herber scooped up a team-high nine ground balls in the game while going 16-29 in the faceoff circle.

After two goals against UMass, Ryan Tierney is 12 goals shy of breaking the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) record. 

Despite the Minutemen leading in the turnover category with 19, they led in the ground ball category with 37 to Hofstra’s 28.

“I don’t think we were great off the ground today, UMass out ground balled us by nine and we did a decent job facing off,” said head coach Seth Tierney.

The team was called for four penalties during the game while going 0-3 in man-up situations. 

The Pride falls to 1-1 in CAA action and 4-2 overall on the season. They look to get back on track on Saturday when they host Towson University. Faceoff is scheduled for 12 p.m.

“Towson’s a very talented team,” Seth Tierney said. “We’ll have our hands full with that one. It’ll be another great opportunity to go out and play against a quality team.”

Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics