Jack Concannon, Josh Byrne help Hofstra lacrosse to ninth win in row
Hofstra goalkeeper Jack Concannon protects the net against St. John's in an NCAA men's lacrosse game at James M. Shuart Stadium on Saturday, March 25, 2017, in Hempstead. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
With each victory comes another piece of history for the Hofstra men’s lacrosse team.
The Pride rode its usual leading men, goaltender Jack Concannon and attack Josh Byrne, plus the stifling defense of Brett Osman, to defeat host Fairfield, 10-6, Saturday night in the CAA opener for both teams.
Hofstra, ranked as high as sixth nationally in one poll, improved to 9-0, once again adding to the best start in school history, which entering this season had been 7-0. Concannon, ranked eighth in the country in saves per game at 12.7, made 16, including three big ones in the fourth quarter when the Stags cut an 8-2 deficit to 8-5 with plenty of time remaining. “He made a couple of huge saves, in tight,” Hofstra coach Seth Tierney said. “The CAA is a different animal. It’s almost a different game. You know these guys will keep coming.”
Byrne scored two goals with three assists and now has 25 and 20 for the season and ranks among the nation’s top 10 scorers. Osman was the primary defender on Fairfield’s Colin Burke, who entered the game with 18 goals and exited with the same number.
“Colin is a guy I know a lot about. I watched him grow up and even coached him a little [in youth leagues],” Tierney said about Burke, last season’s CAA freshman of the year out of Cold Spring Harbor. “For Brett to learn about him, learn his tendencies and step up to hold Colin scoreless was huge. But it wasn’t just Brett. When you’re covering Colin Burke, you’ve got to share.”
Hofstra shared the ball in building its 8-2 lead, with Alex Moeser (two goals), Brendan Kavanagh (one goal, two assists) and Ryan Tierney (one goal, two assists) contributing. Tierney was especially proud of his son, Ryan, for producing despite being, in the coach’s words, “Sick as a dog. He didn’t travel with the team. He came up [Saturday] to get an extra night in his own bed, take medicines and hydrate. He pushed the pile today.”
Concannon’s timely saves in the third quarter allowed Hofstra to build a 7-2 lead, which it expanded to 8-2 early in the fourth on a goal by Jimmy Yanes off a Kavangah feed. But Fairfield, which dominated on faceoffs most of the night, scored three consecutive goals, the last coming on a shot by former Wantagh star Dylan Beckwith (two goals, one assist) with 7:41 left.
That’s when Tierney made his most meaningful contribution. The freshman’s skip pass to Moeser in front led to an extra-man goal and a more comfortable four-goal cushion. “Ryan manned up but those other guys on offense picked him up,” Seth Tierney said.
