The Hofstra men’s lacrosse team ended their season on a high note defeating the Fairfield University Stags 11-9 on the road in their season finale on Friday, April 26.
This was a monstrous showing by Hofstra in their last game of the season, especially considering they were not playing for much after having already been eliminated from Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) tournament contention last week with their loss to Drexel University. Hofstra juniors Ryan Tierney and Ryan Kinnard and sophomore Dylan McIntosh put the Pride on their shoulders, all securing hat tricks on the day. Patrick Drake led the way for Fairfield with four goals and Dylan Beckwith added five assists in the loss.
The Stags initially started fast out of the gate netting their first goal just 49 seconds into the contest. Tierney tied the game at 1-1 just 90 seconds later when he dented the twine for his40th goal in the year and his first of three goals of the night. Taylor Strough then came back and gave Fairfield the lead with a goal of his own at the 5:43 mark of the first quarter.
The Pride then got hot and went on a three-goal run in the first 8:52 of the second period behind goals from senior Jimmy Yanes, freshman Daniel Ochs and Kinnard to take a 4-2 lead with 6:08 remaining in the half. Fairfield snapped Hofstra’s momentum with a goal at the 3:57 mark, but Hofstra came right back and netted a goal off the crosse of McIntosh to make the score 5-3 heading into intermission.
The final game of the season began to slip away from the Pride as the Stags went on their own run, scoring four unanswered goals to open the third quarter. Drake scored three of the Stags’ goals during that span to increase Fairfield’s lead to 7-5 with 2:57 left in the third quarter.
The Pride then responded and ran off another three goal run as Tierney scored one late in the third quarter while Mcintosh and Kinnard each scored one within the first 3:25 of the last quarter to take an 8-7 lead.
The back-and-forth continued as Fairfield then made the score 9-8 by netting two goals just 1:24 apart off the hands of Drake and Brendan Dreyer to take what would be their final lead of the game with 5:29 left.
Just over a minute later, Tierney scored his 42nd goal on the season and 100th of his career at the 4:18 mark to tie the game and secure another hat trick on the year. McIntosh then added his third goal at the 3:31 mark to take the lead at 10-9 before Kinnard sealed the deal just a little over a minute later with another goal as both players captured their hat tricks and helped Hofstra walk away with the road victory.
“I couldn’t be more proud of this team with the way they handled adversity, the way they handled setbacks, the way they fought back from a deficit late in the last game of the year that really had no implications on postseason play. For them to dig in and do what they did, I am so proud of this team,” said head coach Seth Tierney. “I want to thank the seniors and thank this year’s team because they set a pretty strong foundation.”
The loss ends the Pride’s season with a 5-9 overall record and a 2-3 record in the CAA. They will look to get back in action and improve on this season next year.
Image Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
