Rory Jones never backs down, never gives up
Rory Jones is the epitome of Hofstra University men’s lacrosse: hardworking, determined and tough. Any team would want him on their squad.
“He gets knocked around a little bit, but he’s never going to back down from a challenge,” said Hofstra head coach Seth Tierney. “He is mentally and physically tough, pound for pound.”
Jones is on a tear early into his redshirt junior season, having already scored 14 goals and collecting 21 points this season as opposed to 26 points and 18 goals for 2023.
“I would credit all of it to my coaches and my teammates,” Jones said. “Coach [Michael] Gongas has done a good job of just putting me in positions for me to be successful.”
Growing up in Maryland, a state that is known as a hotbed for lacrosse prospects, his environment helped him develop to where he is now. It challenged him to continue becoming better and better.
“I think that everyone wanted to be great, so I was around people that pushed me and helped light a fire in me,” Jones said. “Once again, that’s the culture: it’s lacrosse. I really latched onto it at a young age. A lot of practicing in the backyard. I’d watch a game, and then, I’d go out and practice the stuff that I saw.”
He accepted another challenge, going from one notable lacrosse setting to another in coming to Long Island. It’s been quite an adventure for the Abingdon native.
Despite eventually ending up in Hempstead, Hofstra was not initially where he was supposed to go, as a change in the recruiting process caused his prior commitment to the University of Michigan to fall through.
When this happened, Tierney was determined to bring Jones’s lacrosse talents to Hofstra. He did whatever it took to add Jones because it was clear he was a major team player.
“Late in my junior year [of high school], I spoke to [Tierney],” Jones said. “I came up here, I saw everything, and I loved him. I still wasn’t sure about what I wanted to do, but he was persistent, calling me every single day, trying to get me here. I wanted to be somewhere I was wanted.”
“When we found out [Jones] was available, we called him immediately,” Tierney said. “We loved what [Jones] was about. He was a blue-collar player. He plays hard, his compete level is very high, his work ethic and his desire to be great is there and we knew we could work with those ingredients.”
It was a rough start to his college career; to start with, he lost his senior season in high school due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, the summer before his freshman year, something wasn’t quite right.
“I noticed back pain, and then I got here, and fall my freshman year, the back pain was just terrible,” Jones said. “[I had a] tough time breathing. We went and looked at my back. And then, after all the X-rays and MRIs came back negative on my back, our doctors came in and twisted me around a little bit and said, ‘We’ve got to look at his hip.’”
It wasn’t a back injury, and it was worse than they’d originally thought. He had torn the labrum in both of his hips and his right one was broken on top of it. He had to have two hip operations, which forced him to sit out the 2021 season.
“It was difficult, I had never really had a long-term injury like that before,” Jones said. “I had bumps and bruises, but never something that sidelined me or held me out. I just think that having to watch in the moment was really tough, but looking back, in the long run, it was probably the best thing for me.”
“He fought through it like a champ,” Tierney said.
Because of the injury, Jones decided to redshirt to avoid losing eligibility. It hasn’t hindered his lacrosse-playing abilities, however, as he has been in the top five on the team in scoring for the last two seasons and is currently second for the Pride this year.
He scored eight of this year’s 14 goals in the season opener against Wagner College on Feb. 3. That performance put him in a five-way tie for second-most goals in a game by a player in program history.
“We worked all fall on putting in a new offense with coach Gongas which puts me in really good positions,” Jones said. “And then my teammates knew that I was feeling it early in the game, so they just continued to give me the ball and I was open a decent amount. I had my hands free and my feet free, and I just kind of trusted my shot, and they just happened to be falling that day.”
“His feet had time and room and he shuffled into it, and he didn’t miss the goal because he shot to score and not for ESPN’S Top 10,” Tierney said.
Always looking to score, 26 of his 57 shots have been on goal, which makes 46%.
Jones has been putting pressure on himself to help lead this team with the departure of last year’s leading scorer, Matt Elder, and an injury suffered by the second-leading scorer, Gerard Kane.
“I think that when things are going well, I always tend to deflect,” Jones said. “It’s always a credit to my teammates and coaches, but if we lose a game, I always feel like I look in the mirror and blame myself.”
With Jones standing at 5 feet 7 inches tall he is one of the two smallest guys on the team, along with fellow midfielder Trevor Natalie.
“Being on the smaller end most of my life has made me play just a little bit harder,” Jones said. “I’m not scared whether I see a defenseman that’s 6 [foot] 5 [inches] or 5 [foot] 9 [inches]; I don’t look at anyone any differently. I’m going to play the way that I play.”
To complete the package, Jones’ nature is caring and selfless. His propensity for caring about others off the field has led to Tierney calling Jones the ultimate teammate.
“If [Jones] was in a restaurant, and one of his teammates needed help, he would be there,” Tierney noted. “If he was able to help a teammate with family matters, social matters, working out, he has gotten up early in the morning to be there for his teammates. I have gotten phone calls from him about teammates that were struggling, and he cared to make that phone call. That’s a pure teammate.”
“I care a lot about the people in my life,” Jones said. “Whether that’s here, back home [or] my family. If you’re a family member or friend, I’ll do anything for you. If you need me in the middle of the night – I’ll be there.”
And be there he has for the team on and off the field. And it’s on the field where he’s needed the most. The Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) section of the schedule is coming up, and Tierney hopes Jones can play a big part against CAA opponents.
“He needs to stay focused,” Tierney said. “He doesn’t need to let the lows be too low or the highs be too high. And he needs his work ethic and compete level to become contagious and to have that spread throughout the team.”
“We have a Big Ten opponent and an [Atlantic Coast Conference] opponent before we get into CAAs,” Jones said. “I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing and the team’s going to keep doing what they’re doing. [Tierney] has done a great job putting in a game plan. My teammates have done a great job executing. I’m just going to keep playing team ball.”
But the goal remains the same for Jones, Tierney and Hofstra alike: stand on top of the CAA podium one more time. This is something they haven’t done since 2007.
“I don’t really care if I’m the one that scores or if it’s one of my teammates,” Jones said. “I’m just happy to be out there. It’s a team game. If you see me after one of my teammates scores, I’m usually hands in the air, running right over to them.”
Jones is the ultimate team player, and it’s his selfless personality on the field that rounds his personality out. So far, he has taken his game to new heights, and he plans to take the team with him on their quest for a CAA title.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics/Vincent Carchietta
