Hempstead, NY - With heavy hearts for their fallen teammate who was laid to rest last Friday, the Hofstra Men's Lacrosse team began their 2015 preseason practice camp in the Hofstra Indoor Practice Facility Monday afternoon.

While Hofstra Head Men's Lacrosse Coach Seth Tierney was not expecting to see his 41 student-athletes until today, tragedy brought the Pride team back to campus early last week. Sophomore Joe Ferriso, a walk-on from Copiague, New York who made the team after the fall season, passed away on January 3 due to injuries sustained in a car accident two days earlier. Tierney and the Pride have dedicated the 2015 season in Ferriso's memory, stating, "Joe was the definition of teammate and if we cannot play with him, then we will play for him."

Tierney, who is 73-46 in his eight seasons at Hofstra, will have 26 returnees including five starters, back on the field from the 2014 team that recorded an 11-5 record, captured the Colonial Athletic Association regular season title and advanced to the CAA Championship game. Unfortunately, the Pride dropped a heart-breaking 11-10 triple overtime decision at home to Drexel in the conference title game.

While an 11-5 season is a major success by most standards, the Pride has endured a long nine months since that title game loss thinking about the two missed goals - the conference title and a NCAA Championship bid - that were within reach last May. Monday started the new season with the same goals as 2014. Hofstra will have 33 days and four scrimmages before the 2015 regular season opener on Saturday, February 14 at Shuart Stadium against Marquette University.

Offensively, Hofstra returns five of their top eight scorers from 2014 led by USILA Division I All-America Honorable Mention, junior Sam Llinares (Hauppauge, NY. The All-CAA first team selection led the Pride in points and was first in the conference and 10th in the nation in assists. Llinares finished with 21 goals and 32 assists for 53 points to become the Pride's first 50-point scorer since 2010. Senior midfielder Mike Malave (Wading River, NY) also had a career-best season in 2014, recording 26 goals and seven assists for 33 points while starting all 16 games. Junior midfielder Korey Hendrickson (Farmingdale, NY) also had the best season of his career with 17 goals and nine assists in 2014. Sophomore Brier Davis tallied six goals and one assist while playing in 11 games on attack as a freshman last season. Despite losing 75 of the 153 goals that they scored last year to graduation, including 32 by Torin Varn and 18 by Lance Yapor on attack and 22 by Drew Coholan at midfield, Tierney believes he has a number of players who will step up and replace that lost offense.
 
The Pride lost two starters on the back line but return All-CAA first team selections, junior defender Finn Sullivan (West Roxbury, MA) and senior long-stick midfielder Ryan Rielly (East Northport, NY). Sullivan picked up 30 ground balls and was second on the team with 14 caused turnovers last year. Rielly, who received the 2015 Nicholas Colleluori Memorial Award, led the team with 23 caused turnovers and was second with 49 ground balls. Senior goalie Chris Selva (Parkland, FL) is Hofstra's final line of defense and earned All-CAA second team honors by leading the conference with an 8.29 goals against average, which ranked sixth in the county, and posting all 11 victories.
 
The Pride defense is also bolstered by the return of three experienced and talented defensive midfielders. In addition to Rielly, Hofstra returns short-stick seniors Steve Romano (Massapequa, NY) and John Reicherter (Wantagh, NY). Romano played in all 16 games in 2014 and recorded 32 ground balls and 10 caused turnovers. Reicherter got off to a great start to the season but missed nine games due to injury.
 
Hofstra will travel to upstate New York to face the Dolphins of  Le Moyne College and the Orange of Syracuse University in closed scrimmage on Saturday, January 24 at 10 a.m. Hofstra will also host Rutgers University and Hobart College for scrimmages at Shuart Stadium on Saturday, January 31 beginning at 10 a.m.