UMass Topples No. 6 Hofstra in CAA Debut
from press release
AMHERST, Mass. -- The No. 18 UMass men's
lacrosse team knocked off its second Top 15 team in a week as the
Minutemen dumped No. 6 Hofstra, 11-9, at Garber Field on a
beautiful Saturday afternoon. UMass outscored the Pride 4-0 in the
second quarter and led the rest of the way in posting its biggest
win of the season in the CAA opener for both teams. The Minutemen,
who won 11-10 at No. 15 Brown on Tuesday, move to 6-2 overall with
their third win a row. Hofstra sees its four-game winning streak
end as the Pride fall to 4-2.
The win is UMass' first against a Top 10 team since the 2006 NCAA
Semifinals, when the Minutemen downed No. 4 Maryland, 8-5 on May
27, on the way to the 2006 title game. It's the team's first
regular-season over a Top 10 team since beating No. 7 Syracuse on
April 30, 2005 and UMass' high against the highest-ranked team in
the regular-season since knocking off No. 3 Georgetown, also in
2005, 13-12 on April 23.
Sophomore Art Kell led UMass with his fourth hat trick of the
season along with an assist for four points. Freshman Will Manny
had a goal and three assists as he also netted four points. Anthony
Biscardi also scored twice for the Minutemen.
It was an all-around team effort yet again for the Minutemen as
the defense was solid. Sophomore goalie Tim McCormack made 12 saves
including six in the fourth quarter and two in the final minute to
secure the win. The defense nearly shutdown the nation's leading
scorer Jamie Lincoln, who was held to just one goal and one assist.
Lincoln came into the game with 6.0 points per game.
UMass used a rotation of long-poles on the Pride's attack as
senior captain and Tewaaraton Trophy candidate Diogo Godoi
captained the defense. Sophomore Tom Celentani, junior Travis
Tripucka were also top-rate on close defense. Long-stick midfielder
Casey Rahn forced several turnovers and had five groundballs.
Short-sticks Stephen Zorkers and Kevin Wright were tremendous as
well.
The decisive second quarter was keyed by the face-off prowess of
Greg Rushing (12-of-20), who won all five second-quarter draws.
Tied 2-2 after the first quarter, UMass ripped off two goals in 31
seconds as senior Bobby Hayes and Biscardi scored on back-to-back
lasers for a 4-2 edge with 6:04 left in the second quarter. Senior
Christian Hain and freshman Colin Fleming finished the half with
two more goals and a 6-2 bulge. Manny set up three of the four
goals in the second period.
The lead ballooned to 7-2 on Biscardi's second of the game off a
feed from Kell, 1:05 into the second half. Hofstra ended the run
with a back-to-back goals by Stephen Bentz (2 goals) and Kevin Ford
(3 goals) to cut the deficit to 7-4 with 7:56 left in the
third.
Another run of three goals proved to be too much for the Pride to
overcome as Junior Ryan Liebel scored to begin a spurt of a trio of
tallies in 3:10. Kell netted two more for the hat trick and 10-4
lead with 3:22 left in the third.
The Pride scored three quick goals to cut the UMass lead to 10-7
with 1:40 left in the third, but Manny supplied the back-breaker.
The freshman sensation bounced home a ball between goalie Rob
Bellairs (4 saves) legs with one second left in the third and an
11-7 edge heading to the fourth.
Hofstra scored the only goals of the fourth and UMass' defense was
stout and the offense killed the clock. McCormack stopped Tim
Holman and Dan Stein with seconds left to secure the win.
