It's a new season, but the men's lacrosse team was plagued by an old problem. Falling into an early hole, Brown fought back, but was not unable to close out the game in a 7-6 loss at Hofstra. The result leaves both teams at 1-1 on the infant season.
Hofstra dominated the first quarter, just as many of the Bears' opponents did throughout last season. The Pride were up 2-0 after the first frame, and it could have been much worse had goalie Jordan Burke '09 not brought his A game.
"Jordan played really well," said tri-captain Brian Asher '08. "He kept the game close."
Burke was aided by what Head Coach Lars Tiffany '90 called a "bend but don't break" defense, anchored by close defensemen Reed Deluca '08, tri-captain Brian Sharnick '08 and Jake Westermann '10.
Still, Hofstra was able to beat Burke, who had 13 saves, and the Bruno defense twice because of a large possession discrepancy early on.
"We just didn't have the ball enough," Asher said. "We didn't get enough ground balls."
Hofstra scooped up 38 ground balls on the day to Brown's 20. The possession disparity was also partly due to turnovers by the Brown offense in the first quarter.
"Our passes were all pretty low. It took time to get into the game plan," said attackman Thomas Muldoon '10. "We really just couldn't pass and catch."
Tiffany said the offensive struggles were a result of the Bears being on their first road game, against a good opponent that is always difficult to beat at home.
The conditions did play a factor, as tri-captain Jeff Hall '08 mentioned that "it was tough hearing the offensive sets because it was very windy." He also credited the Hofstra defense, which was very aggressive all day.
Though Bruno did not get the bounces in the first quarter, it turned the game around in the second, putting three straight on the board early in the quarter. Midfielder Zach Caldwell '10 opened the scoring 3:55 into the period on a pass from Andrew Feinberg '11, and from there Muldoon took over. With 9:53 left in the half Muldoon scored his third goal of the season. Just 46 seconds later, added another on a pass from attackman Jack Walsh '09.
Though Hofstra tied the score with 5:30 to play in the half, Muldoon sent the Bears into the intermission with a 4-3 lead when he tallied his third goal of the quarter with 59 seconds to play before the break.
"I was put in the right place at the right time," Muldoon said. "It wasn't anything magical. I just let our offense come to me."
After leading Brown in scoring last year as a freshman, Muldoon is clearly the Bears' go-to guy this season on a very young offensive unit that starts two sophomores and junior transfer Reade Seligmann '09 at midfield, as well as two sophomores and a freshman at attack. But Muldoon feels the offense works as a whole, and he just takes the opportunities he is given.
"I don't feel pressure because I have faith in my teammates," he said. "The only pressure is from myself because I am trying to play well for (my teammates) and they are doing the same for me."
Muldoon did spark the Brown offense against Hofstra, though the young unit still struggled and was outshot 37-19 on the day.
"The experience we have on the team is on the defensive end," Tiffany said. "These are the guys we got. They are not going to get a year older in a week, but we are going to tell them they have to."
Muldoon was optimistic about the prospects of the offensive unit as the players gain more experience with each other.
"The more we play together, the better we are going to get. We've got a great rotation," he said.
In the second half, Hofstra swung the momentum that Muldoon had stolen from them back to the Pride's side. Hofstra outshot Brown 12-3 in the third quarter, dominating the time of possession. The Bears also committed 10 penalties to Hofstra's six.
"They played with more composure. They played more consistent. Our offense didn't play with as much poise," Tiffany said.
The Pride put in two goals after the break to take a 5-4 lead, but attackman Andrew Feinberg tied the game at five with 3:42 to play in the third quarter.
But Hofstra kept the pressure on and took the lead for good just 50 seconds into the final quarter to go up 6-5. Hofstra's Kevin Ford, who had a hat trick on the day, added an insurance goal, which proved crucial because Muldoon found the back of the cage for the fourth time with five seconds remaining in the game, making the final score 7-6.
But Bruno cannot get down on the loss because it faces a formidable challenge this weekend. The team will travel to Colorado to face Denver on Saturday and Air Force on Sunday. Tiffany said Denver will be tough because of its aggressive defense that double-teams the ball often. It will require the Brown offense to play with a much more poised style than it did against Hofstra.
Not only will the team have to deal with long-distance travel, but it will also have to battle the infamous Denver altitude. To prepare, the team is planning to drink extra fluids and to focus on extra conditioning in practice this week. One thing the team has going is that it fields a lot of players. Tiffany said he expects to play as many as he normally does, if not more, to combat the thin air.
"We are going to get going tomorrow," Hall said on Sunday. "We are going to practice hard all week and hopefully get two victories."
