Hofstra Lacrosse Blog

The Game

(DeNapoli was a 'jack of all trades' in the win)

In a thrilling contest between the #12 ranked Hofstra Pride and the #3 ranked Princeton Tigers, the Pride won a hard fought game against an excellent Tigers team 9-7 Saturday at James M. Shuart Stadium. Anthony Muscarella paced Hofstra with three goals and Ryan Carter added two of his own to go along with one assist. Andrew “Baby” Gvozden was solid in between the pipes notching nine saves for his first collegiate win. “Mr. Jack of All Trades” Steven DeNapoli was all over the field as he scored one goal, picked up four groundballs, and held Princeton All-American midfielder Mark Kovler to zero points. Steve Prifte, Adam Swarsen, and Mike Skudin once again played exceptional defense and Tom Dooley quarterbacked the offense to another fine day on the scoreboard. Up next for the Dutchmen is an away contest at Sacred Heart University in the first of three games over the span of seven days. It is an exciting time to be a Flying Dutchmen and this season is shaping up to be one to remember.

What Pumps up the Hofstra Lacrosse Team?
Every athlete at every level, from football players to lacrosse players to bowlers to bobsledders to curlers to table tennis players to competitive food eaters, has a different method of getting themselves excited for their respective game. Some athletes like to throw on headphones and listen to a little music, others like to pace back and forth to get the blood flowing a bit, while some like to just chill out in the locker room until warm-ups. But what does the Hofstra lacrosse team do to get ready for the big game? The 2009 Dutchmen have a bit of a unique method of getting ready for the game that I can safely say no other lacrosse team in the country does. About 10 minutes before game time, right before we take the field, the entire team gathers in the middle of the locker room for a little bottle dancing. For those readers unfamiliar with bottle dancing, it involves a bottle, a circle of people around the bottle, and one person dancing around that same bottle. For those curious as what song is playing during this pregame ritual, Team DJ Keith Prifte settled on Wild Out by the L.O.X.

Rock n Bowl

In what has become a 2009 season tradition, Friday Nights have taken on a life of their own as a few Dutchmen hit the local lanes to put on a show to rival that of a Roy Munson-Ernie McCracken match. Some of the past participants have included Nick Gunn, Dan Stein, Pat Watson, Tom Dooley, Ryan Smith(recently forced to retire due to an ACL injury, though some, and by some, I mean all, participants believed he should’ve retired anyways due to a lack of talent), Sean Lucas, Adam Mojica, and Brian Schneider. This past Friday even featured a few special guests in Jim “Chops” Gunn and Cory “Cor Cor” Smith. In a hotly contested fracas that saw Sean Lucas fall by the wayside early in the battle, and with Dan Stein unable to find his grove, it came to down to Mr. Tom Dooley and yours truly. With Dooley holding a one point lead entering the tenth frame, and the crowd on the edge of its seat holding its breath in anticipation of each bowlers last spin, Tom, with one foot in the frying pan and one in the pressure cooker, stepped up and delivered the final knockout punch as he took home this past week’s honors with a high score of 144. Mr. Dooley may have bragging rights this week, but no one has come close to my season high of 184. So until next time, enjoy your victory Tom, because as we all know, sometimes a bowler just has to face the music.

Interview with Steve Prifte

1)What is your most memorable non-lacrosse experience?
December 3, 2004-Winning a New Jersey football state championship and going 12-0 is a great memory.
2)What are your favorite books?
Lone Survivor- Marcus Luttrell
At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA- George Tenet
Kill Bin Laden- Dalton Fury
3)If you could have dinner with any thee people dead or alive, who would it be and why?
Lawrence Taylor, because he was an animal on and off the field. Gust Avrakotos (CIA agent in Charlie Wilson’s War), watch the movie and you’ll understand. Chris Farley, no explanation needed there.
4)Who has been the biggest influence in your life and why?
Chris Prifte. He played lacrosse and football at Hofstra and coached my brother Keith and me in every sport from kindergarten to 10th grade.
5)What is the most meaningful gift you’ve ever received?
Keith got me a Pat Tillman Arizona State jersey this past Christmas and that pretty much takes the cake.
6)Who is your favorite U.S. president of all-time?
Ronald Reagan was pretty tough.
7)What is the best sporting event you’ve ever been to?
It’s pretty close between the Giants winning an NFC Championship against the Vikings, a Phillies vs. Blue Jays 1993 World Series game, a Sixers vs. Lakers 2001 NBA Finals game, or seeing Stone Cold take the heavyweight title against the Rock at Wrestlemania 15. But I’d have to say watching the lacrosse final four during Memorial Day weekend is my favorite sporting event.
8)What are your post-graduation plans this summer?
Road trip to Dallas with some teammates. The plan is to head south down the coast, make a right after a while, swing by New Orleans, and end up at Tommy Shuey’s house.
9)What is your favorite summer activity?
Badminton tournaments in the backyard. All challengers are welcome to take a shot at the champ.
10)Favorite Music?
Motown usually gets me going.

Victory Song

In what has become a social tradition for the Pride, a few decided to make this song a victory tradition as well. Keith Prifte, Steven DeNapoli, and Ryan Carter began listening to Maxine Nightingale’s Right Back Where We Started From back in the fall after team lifts and needless to say, they became hooked. They started playing this song at various social events, garnering throngs of fans among the Dutchmen players. As Mr. DeNapoli once said, “It puts us in a good mood”. So when it came to picking a game winning song, Right Back Where We Started From was a runaway winner. Because it’s alright and it’s comin’ ‘long, we got to get right back to where we started from.

Hofstra Coach Celebrity Lookalikes

Coach Matt Rewkowski-Woody Harrelson

(But where's Sydney Dean?!?)

Coach Beach (Hofstra Weightlifting Coach) - The Thing from Fantastic Four

(If you remember the question Jason Lee asks Stan Lee re: Thing in Mallrats, you know why we can't say the joke here)

If anyone has any requests or want to know anything in particular about the 2009 Hofstra Pride on or off the field, feel free to shoot me an email at this address

Till next week, keep your head to the grindstone and God Bless America!

as seen on InsideLacrosse. com

(http://blogs.insidelacrosse.com/2009/03/18/ncaa-lacrosse-player-blogs-hofstra-tops-princeton-talks-books-and-has-a-coach-named-billy-hoyle-not-really/)