Hofstra loses second straight in men's lacrosse

Hofstra's record says one thing. Hofstra's coach says another.

The Pride lost its second straight, 11-8, to Marist Tuesday night in a non-league men's lacrosse game at Shuart Stadium, but Seth Tierney insists that the team's 4-7 record does not tell the whole story. Nor does it mean there is nothing left to play for this season, which began with the Pride ranked as high as 19th in some polls.

"The frustration level is high but I do see signs," Tierney said, with an eye toward season-ending road games against CAA opponents on April 18 (Towson) and April 24 (Fairfield) that could clinch a postseason playoff berth for Hofstra despite its current struggles.

"It's hard to put it into words when you're 4 and 7," Tierney said, "But we're getting shots. We've got to bury them."

Hofstra outshot MAAC affiliate Marist (8-3) 36-30, including a 23-11 advantage in the second half. But Red Foxes goalie Dave Scarcello made 13 saves.

One player who solved Scarcello was midfielder Steve Romano (Massapequa), who scored three goals after entering the game with only one in his career. His unassisted blast to start the fourth quarter sparked a 3-0 run that got the Pride to within 10-8 with 7:32 left. But Marist's Joseph Radin (Long Beach) scored an extra-man goal with 5:41 left that proved to be the dagger.

"Steve played like a man tonight," Tierney said of Romano.

But several of his teammates tried to man-up, perhaps trying a bit too hard. "Guys tried to be catalysts," Tierney said. "The problem is, we don't need that now. A couple of them tried to make plays but that effort is hurting us."

It didn't help that Hofstra's leading scorer, Sam Llinares (Hauppauge), was hurting. He suffered an undisclosed injury against Drexel on Saturday and played Tuesday night with the flu. "No excuses, but Sam obviously wasn't as explosive," Tierney said.

Llinares was scoreless, ending a 39-game point-scoring streak that was the seventh-best current streak in the country. "He's banged up," Tierney said.

First loss for SBU women

The Stony Brook women's lacrosse team suffered its first loss of the season at Johns Hopkins, 7-5, at Homewood Field. Courtney Murphy scored two goals and became the eighth player in program history with 100 career goals. Dorrien Van Dyke had a goal and an assist for Stony Brook (11-1). Dene DiMartino scored two goals for Johns Hopkins (10-2).