A University of Delaware fourth-quarter comeback stifled the Hofstra Pride 14-13 in overtime at the James M. Shuart Stadium on Saturday, April 17.
Early in the first quarter, after a penalty to Blue Hen Owen Grant, James Philbin broke the ice with his 10th goal of the season. A little over a minute later he chipped in his second goal of the game, giving the Pride a two-goal advantage. On the following possession, Riley Forte earned the third Hofstra goal with 11:22 remaining in the period.
Tye Kurtz got the Blue Hens on the board with his first goal of the afternoon. On the next possession, Charlie Kitchen scored, bringing Delaware to within a goal.
Philbin answered with his third goal of the afternoon, bringing the Pride back to a two-goal advantage but he was answered when Mike Robinson brought the Blue Hens back to within a goal with 1:50 remaining.
Colton Rudd opened the second quarter with his first goal of the afternoon. He was followed by Ryan Sheridan chipping in with his first goal of the season several minutes later.
Despite Kurtz cutting the Blue Hens’ deficit to two goals, Keegan Santos scored his first goal of his season for the Pride giving Hofstra a three-goal lead once again.
After Dalton Seesz caused a turnover against Delaware and a timeout was called by Hofstra Head Coach Seth Tierney, Philbin added his fourth goal of the game, giving the Pride an 8-4 lead heading into halftime.
Coming out of the half, the Hens had momentum as Kitchen found the back of the net, bringing Delaware to within three goals. Minutes later Cam Acchionne added his first goal of the game, chipping Hofstra’s lead down to two goals.
Sheridan responded with his second goal of the afternoon with 1:20 remaining in the period. He was followed up by Justin Lynskey contributing his first goal of the afternoon as Hofstra led 10-6 heading into the fourth period.
The Blue Hens opened the period on a seven-goal run giving themselves a 13-10 lead with 8:07 remaining.
With 49 seconds remaining, Lynskey scored his second goal of the game bringing the Pride to within two. After Brian Herber won the following faceoff and Hofstra had possession, Matt Elder added his first goal of the season bringing the Pride back to within a goal.
On the following faceoff after Herber won it, Coach Tierney called timeout with 15 seconds remaining. Coming out of the timeout, Ryan Tierney tied the game with 7 seconds remaining, forcing overtime.
After a faceoff violation on Hofstra, the Blue Hens had a chance to win the game on a shot from Kurtz which was saved by Bobby Casey. The Pride cleared the ball and called timeout to draw up a play with 3:12 remaining.
Coming out of the timeout, Justin Sykes’ shot was saved by Blue Hens’ Matt Kilkeary. Delaware cleared the ball and called timeout to draw up a final play.
On the final possession, Kitchen found Kurtz for the overtime game winner.
Bobby Casey took the loss for the Pride despite making 13 saves. Brian Herber won 17 of his 27 faceoff attempts while also scooping up 10 ground balls. Tom Ford led the defense with two caused turnovers. James Philbin scored a personal-best four goals on the afternoon. Teammate Justin Sykes led the assist column with three.
Ryan Tierney is now first all-time in career points at Hofstra University as he passed Jerry Simandl. With a goal in Saturday’s contest, Tierney is three goals away from tying the Colonial Athletic Association record.
“We just couldn’t close the book on them at the end”, said Head Coach Seth Tierney. They knocked us back on our heels and we needed to have some super-human strength to come back because momentum was certainly in their favor.”
The Pride looks to Saturday, April 24 when they will be on the road at Drexel University. Faceoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Photo Courtesy of Evan Bernstein/The Hofstra Chronicle
