Hofstra men's soccer is ranked No. 16 in the nation. What can the Pride accomplish this season?

The incongruity of the moment was unmistakable.

It was exactly 9:02 p.m. on Saturday and the block party began. The Hofstra men’s soccer team had just completed a 1-0 win over Drexel, and the contingent of family, friends, classmates, and fans at Captains Field celebrated with the Pride as Jay-Z and Alica Keys’ "Empire State of Mind" rumbled over loudspeakers.

Standing a few yards away, senior goaltender Milo Risenhoover was not jubilant. Instead he was almost dispassionate to the scene unfolding around him.

Because of the bigger picture that occupied his thoughts.

“We,” Risenhoover told Newsday after recording his second shutout of the season, “want to win the national championship.”

Before the Pride can find themselves at First Horizon Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina on Dec. 14 competing for the College Cup, though, the standard of play needs be established over the course of the regular season

Heretofore the early results have been promising, even as midfielder Henri Poll emphasized, this iteration of the Pride is not a finished product.

“It’s been a great start but … there’s still a lot of things to improve,” Poll said of Hofstra, which is ranked No. 16 in the nation and has compiled an overall record of 4-0-1 and, following the win over Drexel, is 1-0-1 in the Coastal Athletic Association play. “The standard has [to be] to go as far as possible in the tournament to win a championship and I think there’s still a lot of room. If we do that, then the sky’s the limit.”

So, then, what aspects of the Pride require refinement? To hear first-year head coach Stephen Roche, generating offense can be a growth area.

Hofstra has scored eight goals on 53 shots on goal through the first five games of the season. That works out to averages of 1.6 goals and 10.6 shots per game.

“We’ve got to attack more,” said Roche, who became the 10th head coach in the program’s history on New Year’s Day, replacing Richard Nuttall.

In the win over the Dragons, Poll’s header six minutes and 18 seconds into the second half was the game-winner, and Hofstra finished with seven shots on goal. But five of the Pride’s seven shots on goal occurred in the final 45 minutes, which did not go unnoticed by Roche.

“The first half, it was slow, boring. Lacked intensity,” he said. “We came out [in the second half] with more intensity, higher pressure, and more willingness to get the ball forward and play.”

Thus sustaining an aggressive offensive attack is a priority. Still, though, there are aspects about the Pride that Roche and his team are satisfied with.

Beginning with their defending.

Hofstra’s plus-five goal differential is tied for 34th in the nation, and its three goals allowed this season is tied for ninth-fewest nationally.

“It’s a great foundation,” Roche said. “Definitely a great foundation.”

Against Drexel, the Pride clogged the box to eliminate both passing and shooting lanes for the Dragons (2-2-0). As a result, Risenhoover only had to make one save.

“It’s great,” Risenhoover said. “It’s what you want to see. Obviously, I want to be there to make the plays that I need to [make], but if I don’t have to do a lot that means everyone is doing their job.”

Which dovetails into other elements of the Pride that are both tangible and intangible: Their character. Their closeness.

Benefitting a global game, Hofstra has constructed a roster that has players from Spain, Australia, Sweden, Ireland, Italy, France, Germany, and England. Another five players came to Hofstra from states outside of New York, including Risenhoover, who hailed from Portland, Oregon. Six more are local products.

Sometimes, too many disparate elements on a team can cause it to be less than the sum of its parts. But to hear Anthony Grodzki, a sophomore defender from Bethpage, that has not been the case with this group.

“There’s not really any small groups on our team. We’re all together," Grodzki said. "All of us are really one unit. We don’t really have a bad egg at all on our team. We all get along very well.”

And according to Aidan GaNun, a sophomore goalkeeper from Garden City, in doing so are carrying on a tradition that began under Nuttall.

“The reason we have such a good team now and the reason we have so many top European players, local players [and players] from anywhere is because of those teams that have done so well in the past. We’re kind of built on their shoulders,” GaNun said. “Who wouldn’t want to go to a team that’s ranked No. 16 in the country? Consistently top 25 and has gone to the national tournament the last five years? So it really does help, of course.”