The Hofstra University men’s lacrosse team defeated Long Island rival Stony Brook University 11-9 on Saturday, April 27. The win improved Hofstra to 3-4 in conference play and spoiled Stony Brook’s chance at making the Coastal Athletic Conference (CAA) championships. However, the Pride failed to make the tournament for the third year in a row due to Drexel’s win over Monmouth University on Friday, April 26.
Hofstra and Stony Brook also met in last year’s season finale with both teams vying for the final tournament spot. Stony Brook defeated Hofstra 11-10 at the James M. Shuart Stadium and made the CAA tournament as the fourth seed.
This year, Hofstra played spoiler with an attack led by John Madsen and Anthony Mollica’s hat tricks. Madsen became the first Hofstra player to cross the 40-goal threshold since Ryan Tierney in 2021. Mollica recorded his second hat trick for the Pride. Sean Henderson made 15 saves to keep the Seawolves’ offense in check.
The Pride’s Sam Lutfi broke the seal in the first quarter of what turned out to be his final college game. Madsen got two and Mollica added one more to the total to cap off Hofstra’s four-goal first quarter. Dylan Pallonetti and Christian Lowd got Stony Brook on the board in the first as well. Seawolves goalie Tommy Wilk had a solid performance overall, but he had difficulty in the first quarter, failing to save four consecutive shots to open the game.
Henderson and Wilk stifled shooters through the second quarter. For the Pride, Mollica and Madsen both broke through once while Lowd got the only tally for Stony Brook. To that point, Hofstra had held the CAA’s leading scorer, Nick Dupuis, to one assist.
Stony Brook didn’t go down without a fight. In the second half, Hofstra and Stony Brook traded goals, ending the third quarter with two apiece. Justin Sykes scored his final goal as a member of the Hofstra Pride. Griffin Turner tallied a goal to notch a point in every game this season. Stony Brook responded with two goals of their own as Dupuis contributed a goal and an assist in the period.
The Seawolves entered the fourth quarter down three goals. Trevor Natalie quickly brought the deficit to four before Stony Brook mounted their comeback. Just as the Pride scored four unanswered in the fourth quarter a year ago, Stony Brook went on their own 3-0 run in the span of three minutes to cut the lead to a single goal. Turner found goal number 11 for Hofstra, and the Pride held on to defeat their cross-island rivals.
Hofstra misses the conference tournament for the third consecutive year while Stony Brook misses their first CAA conference tournament since joining in 2022.
No. 15 Towson University, No. 18 University of Delaware, Fairfield University and Drexel University will compete for the CAA conference title on Saturday, May 4, hosted in Towson, Maryland. The winner will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics/Matteo Bracco
