By Mike Rudin – SPORTS EDITOR
Hofstra men’s lacrosse battled tooth and nail but succumbed to the Fairfield Stags on Saturday by a final score of 9-8 at James M. Shuart Stadium.
The Pride and Stags were tied at 6-6 going into the fourth quarter but four penalties by Hofstra turned into ample scoring opportunities for Fairfield and resulted in two goals to ultimately determine the game.
“We need some more guys to step up,” Hofstra head coach Seth Tierney said after loss to the CAA rival. “The more guys that step up and the number eight [goals] go up and maybe it’s a different game.”
The game was a tug-of-war battle as neither team pulled ahead by more than two goals. The first half featured an opening scoreless streak of nearly 12 minutes.
It wasn’t until Korey Hendrickson broke the ice and gave the Pride a 1-0 lead at the 3:12 mark in the first.
Hendrickson took the main stage as the offensive catalyst. He kept Hofstra in contention with three unassisted goals in the first half alone to put the Pride up 3-2 in the second quarter.
Yet, the Stags offense battled back with three straight goals afterwards to retake the lead. Hofstra’s Brian von Bargen scored with 32 seconds to spare, shrinking the deficit to 5-4 just before halftime.
“To come out this year, we prepared well and everything was great but just fell off again by one,” Hendrickson said referring to Hofstra’s most recent loss last year against Fairfield.
The 2015 season ended with the Stags winning by one goal to knock the Pride out of contention for the CAA Championship to end Hofstra’s season at 5-9 overall.
This was a team Hofstra was determined not to lose again and the third quarter looked bright for the Pride.
Hofstra controlled the ground ball game well after the break by a 7-3 difference while the Stags had the advantage in the first half, 12-9.
The ground ball advantage granted Hendrickson to score twice in the third quarter, tying the game up 6-6.
“I think everyone was moving the ball pretty well. There were some great looks made from B.B. [von Bargen and Brendan] Kavanagh,” Hendrickson said.
The opening minutes of the fourth quarter looked great for the Pride once Hendrickson scored his sixth goal of the night and put Hofstra out in front, 7-6, with 13:47 left in the game.
Yet, the Stags turned things around from the third quarter, winning the ground ball battle (12-8) in the last 15 minutes plus having the advantage with the extra-man opportunities.
No opportunities came across in the first half and both teams went 0-for-5 altogether in the third.
Fairfield attacked back with three straight goals in the midst of the fourth. The first one occurred prior to a Stags timeout but the last two resulted from Fairfield utilizing the extra-man opportunities.
The game-tying goal by Fairfield came off a penalty by Hofstra’s Tommy Voelkel who was called for holding and the ultimate game-winner came off a pushing penalty by Hofstra’s Brenden Lynch. Fairfield went up 9-7 with 4:15 left on the clock.
Hofstra pushed for one last attempt at a comeback as Sam Llinares cut the deficit in half with 30 seconds left. Yet, the Stags won a crucial faceoff afterwards to kill the clock and secure the win.
Hendrickson’s career-high half dozen goals and goalie Jack Concannon’s 16 saves weren’t enough against Fairfield.
Llinares (4), von Bargen (11) and Josh Bryne (2) compiled 17 missed shots and the Pride committed six penalties while Fairfield committed four.
Hofstra’s next matchup is next Saturday, April 10, against University of Delaware at 1 p.m. back at Shuart Stadium.
