The Hofstra University men’s lacrosse team lost their game to Drexel University 14-6 on Saturday, April 12. Both the Pride and Dragons move to 3-2 in Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) games. Hofstra now occupies the final spot in the CAA tournament with two conference games left to go.
“[I’m] disappointed in how we performed,” said Hofstra head coach Seth Tierney. “It was obviously an important game in our journey to the CAA conference tournament. It’s just disappointing we couldn’t execute – hats off to Drexel.”
Max Semple led the Dragons with a five-goal outburst, one shy of his season-high against Mercer University on March 1. Semple also scored two goals in the Dragon’s 13-12 victory over Hofstra last season. Drexel attackers Witt Crawford, Jack Joyner, Gavin Kelly and Connor Hooley also had three-point performances.
Trevor Natalie was the only member of the Pride to record multiple points, with two goals and an assist.
Drexel had the jump from the opening faceoff where they won and took 45 seconds to get on the board with Crawford’s 20th goal of the season. Drexel’s face-off specialist Aidan Shortley went 16-24 in the game and 11-14 in the first half.
“We were down six today at the half, then they came out and got the first [goal] of the second half,” Tierney said. “That’s a difficult situation to be in when you’re struggling at the faceoff X. You’re in need of possession but you can’t win enough of them.”
Despite the Pride’s futility in the face-off X early on, Hofstra was able to contend on the minimal possessions they did have. After falling behind 2-0, the Pride worked the ball around and to Drew Bogardus, who bounced a shot just high off the crossbar. Later that possession Rory Jones hit a post. Later in the game, Jones took a shot that hit the post and bounced off Drexel goaltender Brendan Donnelly and laid on the goal line.
The Pride outshot Drexel 42-34 in the game, but Drexel led in shots on goal 24-19.
“I think we took some deep [shots] and some bad angle ones,” Tierney said. “Some were at the end of the shot clock and some we just thought we could make. Regardless, those bad shots ended possessions whether we missed the net, or their goalie made a save.”
Donnelly turned in another fantastic performance in net for the Dragons, making 13 saves, reaching double-digit saves for the fourth time in five games.
Drexel continued to score on offense and make stops on defense to cruise to a 14-6 victory over Hofstra.
The Pride and Dragons have met every year since 1985 with Hofstra leading the series 25-14. Drexel is starting to turn the tide of the series winning in three of the last four.
Last season the Pride missed the CAA tournament with a 3-4 conference record because of a tie-breaker Drexel held over Hofstra. The Pride have three games remaining with two of them being in the CAA.
Hofstra took to the field on Tuesday, April 15, for midweek action against Yale University. The first draw from New Haven, Connecticut, was set for 7 p.m.
