Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/6/13
From Press Release and Staff Reports
Torin Varn scored four goals and added an assist and three other Pride players tallied two goals apiece as Hofstra defeated the Hawks of St. Joseph’s, 15-1 in the inaugural HEADstrong Foundation Relentless Cup at Ridley High School’s Phil Marion Field Saturday night.
The Colonial Athletic Association victory improves Hofstra’s record to 7-4 overall and 2-2 in conference play. The Hawks fall to 5-7 on the season and 1-3 in the CAA.
Varn recorded his fifth hat-trick of the season and his third game with four or more goals. Junior Drew Coholan and sophomore local product Tyler Johnston (Ridley, HEADstrong LC) each recorded two goals and one assists. Sophomore Mike Malave also added two goals for the Pride. Senior Adrian Sorichetti and junior Lance Yapor each posted a goal and an assist.
“It’s always fun coming back here to play for HEADstrong,” said Johnston, who has competed with Hofstra twice at the Nick Colleluori Classic. “To have the game experience at night and a great crowd, along with the support from Ridley and the youth (tournament) … it was an awesome experience and I can’t wait until next year.”
Johnston said the win was critical for the Pride, who had lost three of their last four games, all by one goal.
“We’re coming off a couple of tough losses,” Johnston said. “With any Division I team, it’s going to be a tough game.”
Sophomore Michael Dougherty (Malvern Prep) recorded the Hawks lone goal in the first quarter while sophomore Dustin Keen (Doqwningtown West) made 15 saves for the Hawks.
The Pride opened the scoring just 2:30 into the contest as Varn took a short pass from Drew Coholan in the middle of the box and beat Keen for a 1-0 lead. But the Hawks tied the game with 4:17 to play in the quarter as Dougherty scored a man-up goal off a pass from Brian Urban (Central Bucks East).
Hofstra, which is 7-0 when scoring four or more consecutive goals in a game this season, then went on a 14-goal run, including six in the final 15 minutes of the first half, to take a commanding 7-1 lead. Coholan started it just 12 seconds into the second quarter, off a rebound, for his 10th goal of the season. Malave scored the first of two goals a little over three minutes later, off a pass from Tyler Begley from seven yard out on the side. Senior Adrian Sorichetti then notched his 12th of the year on a run across the box with 8:42 to play in the half for a 4-1 lead.
Varn then tallied his second of the game and 25th of the year off a pass from Ridley High School-product Tyler Johnston with 5:01 to play. Just six seconds later, senior John Antoniades won the face-off and went in on Keen for his first goal of the season. Malave scored his second of the quarter and 10th of the season on the run with 3:31 to play in the half to close out the scoring with the Pride holding the 7-1 advantage.
The Pride added two more in the third as Varn completed the hat-trick off a dump down pass from Sorichetti 7:05 into the period. Then Lance Yapor got his sixth of the season on a similar pass from Varn almost three minutes later for the 9-1 lead after three quarters.
“It gets me choked up when we talk about the late Nick Colleluori,” said Hofstra coach Seth Tierney. “It is great to get our university’s name on the 2013 Relentless Cup.
“I am glad that they showed up today. St. Joseph’s defense was the seventh ranked unit in the country, so we did a mix and match and tried to find the right combination. I was pleased to see former Ridley product Tyler Johnson scoring two goals in the fourth quarter on his home turf.”
Hofstra added four more goals in the fourth to complete their run of 14 unanswered goals. Drew Coholan scored his second of the game with 6:26 to play in the game, off a pass from Sam Llinares and Varn posted his fourth of the game, on the man-up, off a pass from Yapor just 30 seconds later. Johnston then made the hometown fans happy with back-to-back goals in the final 2:47 to close out the scoring.
The Pride outshot the Hawks in the contest, 39-25 and picked up 26 ground balls to St. Joe’s, 14. The Hawks won eight of 15 face-offs.
“It was great to be a part of the HEADstrong Foundation event,” said St. Joseph’s coach Taylor Wray. “I wasn’t pleased with the outcome today, but our guys worked hard today. We weren’t sharp.”
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