AMHERST, Massachusetts ?“ Kevin Leveille scored two of his game-high three goals during a key third quarter spurt to lead the Massachusetts Minutemen to a 9-6 victory over Hofstra in a NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Tournament first round game at Richard F. Garber Field Sunday. The Pride end their season with an 11-6 mark while the Minutemen, now 13-2 on the season, advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals against Maryland next Saturday (May 17) at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse.

In addition to Leveille, Jeff Zywicki added two goals and one assist, Neil Lundberg had two goals and Chris Fiore added two assists for the Minutemen. Hofstra was led by Ryan Vilar with two goals and John Keysor with a goal and an assist.

The Pride, who lost to UMass 14-7 on March 23^rd in Hempstead, played the experienced Minutemen much better the second time around this season, matching their scoring in three of the four quarters. But it was in that one quarter-the third period-that the contest was decided. After playing to a 3-3 tie after one quarter, and a 4-4 score at halftime, UMass erupted for the first three goals of the third quarter, and four in the period, to take an 8-5 lead at the end of three quarters.

Hofstra opened the scoring in the game on its first shot of the contest as freshman John Keysor beat UMass goalie Bill Schell from the right side 54 seconds into the contest. But Neil Lundberg scored the first of his two goals in the period and on the day at the 4:12 mark to tie the game at 1-1. Sophomore Ryan Vilar scored his seventh of the season 1:16 later to give the Pride a 2-1 lead. Jeff Zywicki, UMass' leading scorer, notched his 40^th goal of the season off a pass from Sean Morris to tie the game at 2-2 less than a minute later. Vilar broke the tie again with his eighth of the year with 4:32 to play in the quarter before Lundberg tied the game with his 17^th goal of the year, off a pass from Chris Fiore, with just 10 seconds remaining in the period.

UMass took their first lead of the contest as Chris Doyle scored an unassisted goal, his 16^th tally of the year, 2:32 into the second quarter. But on a two-man advantage, Hofstra freshman Ryan Lucas took a pass from sophomore Mike Morrison and beat Schell with 9:40 to play before halftime. Both teams had chances to take the lead but a shot by Leveille beat Hofstra freshman goalie Matt Southard but hit the post, and a point-blank shot by Hofstra freshman John Orsen, in the waning seconds of the quarter, was stopped by Schell.

The first five minutes of the third quarter were scoreless but UMass got an unfortunate break 3:52 into the period when Pride junior defender Brian Zuchelli, Hofstra's most experienced defenseman, had to leave the game with a knee injury after a collision with a Minuteman. Just 1:16 later, Gene Tundo fed Leveille who scored his 32^nd of the season. Less than two minutes later, Zywicki notched his 41^st of the season on a falling down shot from the right side of Southard. Zuchelli returned to the game but Kevin Glenz scored his eighth goal of the season, picking up a loose ball in front of Southard, with 5:33 to play in the third for a 7-4 lead. Hofstra senior Joe Kostolansky, who led the team in scoring in 2003, notched his 29^th goal of the year and the 50^th point of his season off a pass from Keysor with 2:41 to play in the third to cut the deficit to 7-5. But Zywicki fed Leveille with 1:06 to play in the quarter to boost the lead to 8-5.

The Pride, who were 1-6 in 2003 when trailing after three quarters, wouldn't quit and showed some life after freshman Chris Unterstein fed senior Jim Femminella for his team-leading 35^th goal of the year that cut the UMass lead to 8-6. But the wind seemed to come out of Hofstra's sails when Zuchelli had to leave the game for good after his knee gave out making a simple turn just 16 seconds after the goal. Leveille would score his third of the game and 34^th of the season, from Fiore, three minutes later to give the Minutemen a 9-6 lead and close out the scoring.

Southard posted 11 saves in the Hofstra cage while Schell tallied nine in the UMass goal as the Minutemen outshot Hofstra 35-32 but picked up 43 ground balls to the Pride's 24.

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