University of Delaware goalie Ben DeLuca tied a career-high 18 saves in a 13-7 Blue Hens victory over Hofstra men’s lacrosse to stay undefeated in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play on Saturday, April 13, at Delaware Stadium. The Blue Hens have now won four in a row and are 3-0 in the CAA (10-2 overall).
Despite six Hofstra players scoring goals and goalie Bobby Casey’s 10 saves, the Pride was unable to come back from an early Blue Hens lead. They also outshot Delaware 39-32 and picked up 35 ground balls compared to 31 by the Blue Hens. Brian Herber also won 20 of 23 face-offs for the Pride.
“Their guys were good today,” said Hofstra head coach Seth Tierney. “When their guys are rolling like that it neutralizes the advantage we had at the face-off X.”
It was the third quarter that sealed the deal for Blue Hens, but they led from the very beginning. Tye Kurtz and Dean DiSimone put the Blue Hens in front in the first 7:34 for a 2-0 lead. Less than a minute later, Jimmy Yanes answered for the Pride as he netted his seventh goal of the season to bring the Pride within one, as the teams began to trade goals.
Kurtz scored again with 1:46 remaining in the first quarter, but Riley Forte scored his eighth goal of the season just over 30 seconds later, making the score 3-2 heading to the second. Forte has recorded points in seven consecutive games.
The Blue Hens once again came out fighting as Charlie Kitchen and Clay Miller put two goals in the net off assists from Bryce Reid, extending their lead 5-2. Similar to the first quarter, the teams began to trade goals as Ryan Tierney notched his 33rd goal of the season and DiSimone answered with his second of the game with over five minutes to play before halftime. Freshman Joey Elarde cut the Pride’s deficit to two as he put one in the net with 2:49 to play, making the score at halftime 6-4 Delaware.
The third quarter was all Delaware as the Blue Hens blew the game open, scoring four goals in the first 13 minutes to build a 10-4 lead over the Pride. Hofstra tallied one goal in the third from Bryce Tolmie with six seconds remaining, but the Pride still trailed 10-5.
That deficit was too large for the Pride to overcome. After two more goals from Delaware’s Kitchen and Kyle Kivinski to open the fourth, Hofstra trailed by seven. Ryan Tierney and Dylan McIntosh added two more goals for Hofstra, but the damage was done and Delaware had the last goal of the afternoon with 3:49 to play.
Kitchen and Kurtz each tallied four goals for Delaware, while Kitchen added five assists. DiSimone also contributed three goals and an assist.
Delaware held Ryan Tierney to only two goals after his six-goal performance against the University of Massachusetts. He did, however, extend his goals and point streak to 12 consecutive games and has tallied his 23rd multi-goal game.
With the loss, Hofstra falls to 4-8 overall and 1-2 in conference play.
“Now we’re down to two games, two must-win games to get into the CAA Tournament,” Seth Tierney said. “It’s just the situation that we’re in right now.”
The Pride will have a week off before returning to action on Saturday, April 20, when they host Drexel University for Senior Day at James M. Shuart Stadium. Opening face-off is set for 2 p.m.
Image Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
