By Gio Annatelli – STAFF WRITER
Six different players for the Pride scored two goals en route to Hofstra’s 13-7 victory over the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens Saturday at James M. Shuart Stadium. Hofstra improves their overall record to 7-4 and move to an even 1-1 in CAA. Delaware drops to 4-8 and 1-1 in conference play.
Josh Byrne tallied six points or more for third time this season. He did the feat against NJIT and North Carolina. Brendan Kavanagh also had a career day, tying his career high with two goals and two assists for a personal-best four points.
Other two-goal scorers were Korey Hendrickson, Sam Llinares, Brian von Bargen, and Zachary Franco. Trevor Kupecky also added a goal and two helpers.
Andrew Romagnoli and Dean DiSimone led the Fightin’ Blue Hens with two goals a piece.
Collecting the win in net for Hofstra was Jack Concannon, recording seven saves for his seventh win of the season. For Delaware, Parker Ferrigan tallied 11 saves en route to the loss.
After about 11 minutes of both teams being scoreless, the Pride jumped out to a 4-0 lead to close out the first quarter and to open up the second frame. Kupecky, von Bargen, and Hendrickson twice each found the back of the net.
Following a goal from Delaware to cut into Hofstra’s lead, the Pride went on another four goal run. Kavanagh scored the first man-up goal on the day, followed by Byrne’s first goal since St. John’s. The captain Llinares then scored his 22nd and 23rd to put the Pride up seven. Romagnoli scored for the Fightin’ Blue Hens to end the half at 8-2.
In the third frame, the Pride extended their lead thanks to goals from Franco on the man-up and von Bargen 23rd of the season. It was Franco’s first time scoring since having a hat trick against NJIT. Delaware closed out the quarter on another high note, finding the back of the net twice to cut the lead to six.
In the final quarter, six goals were score, three from the Pride and three from Delaware, to end the game at 13-7. Byrne scored his team-leading 24th goal of the season. Franco and Kavanagh hit the pylon on two separate extra-man opportunities. In total, Hofstra converted on four of seven extra-man opportunities.
From the faceoff, Kris Clarke went 14-for-24, including winning nine straight to start out the game. The Pride also won the shooting battle, 44-25, and the groundball battle, 33-26.
“[CAA games] are a battle, everyone, there’s nothing that’s easy,” head coach Seth Tierney spoke on the conference slate.
Hofstra begins a two-game conference road swing, starting at Drexel next Saturday with game time set for 4 o’clock. They follow that up with heading to UMass on April 23.
