The Hofstra University men’s lacrosse team continued their hot streak, defeating the University of Delaware 17-10 on Saturday, March 29. Hofstra improves to 3-0 in Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) play, while the Fightin’ Blue Hens drop to 1-2.
The Pride had contributions from up and down the lineup with twelve players finding the scoresheet. Anthony Mollica led the Pride in scoring for the first time since their opening game against Iona University. Mollica chipped in seven points including a career-high of five assists. Drew Bogardus and John Madsen both netted hat tricks. Hofstra also got a goal from defender Will Delaney and two goals from Chris Barry.
In goal, the reigning CAA rookie of the week, Shea Kennedy, put up another sparkling performance. He made 17 saves which ties his career high from last week.
Opening the game, Hofstra’s face-off specialist (FOGO) Benjamin Neisman battled and won the draw which led to Madsen scoring the Pride’s first goal of the contest.
“The momentum starts from there,” Neisman said. “After that moment, it was like an avalanche.”
Neisman won 10-24 faceoffs in the game.
“Delaware is the number one team at faceoffs in the country, and Cole Meyer and [Ben] Neisman went toe to toe today,” said Hofstra head coach Seth Tierney. “Stats-wise, they got us there, and I’m ok with that. We competed on every faceoff and won the ones we needed to win.”
The Blue Hens entered the game with the best winning percentage in the country at 67.2%. Delaware’s FOGO OJ Morris has a 0.743 draw winning percentage this season but won only five of the Blue Hens’ 19 draws against the Pride.
Despite Delaware’s decided advantage in the draw, Hofstra kept the car in drive and piled on more goals in the first quarter. Trey Parkes, Joey DeYoung and Drew Bogardus all beat graduate goaltender Kevin Ellington. Mollica walked away from the opening frame with two assists.
Hofstra continued their onslaught in the second quarter winning the quarter 2-1. Hofstra’s goals came from Madsen and Rory Jones. The lone Delaware goal came from Brendan Powers five minutes into the quarter. Powers leads the Blue Hens in scoring with over 30 points on the season.
The second half included some back and forth action. After the Pride allowed just one goal in the opening half, Delaware scored nine in the second. Kennedy turned in another quality performance with eight saves in the first half and 10 in the second.
“The defense was lights out. There were no hands-free shots,” Kennedy said. “I was seeing shots that I want to see, that’s something we talk about at practice all the time. The defense did an incredible job.”
The Blue Hens mounted a comeback in a second half that featured 20 total goals but ultimately fell to the Pride for the first time since 2022.
The Pride take on 9-1 No. 12 Fairfield next Saturday, April 5, at noon in Fairfield. The Stags were the last undefeated team left in the country before their loss to Stony Brook University on Saturday, March 29. The Stags have toppled the Pride in each of the last three seasons.
