Hempstead, NY - The 10th-ranked Hofstra Pride will be looking for their first CAA victory of the season Saturday when they help open the New Meadowlands Stadium against the University of Delaware in the first game of the Konica-Minolta Big City Classic. The first college game to be played at the new 82,500-seat stadium begins at 1 p.m. The Konica-Minolta Big City Classic tripleheader schedule has #10 Pride against the Blue Hens at 1 p.m., #1 Virginia and #2 North Carolina at 4 p.m. and #3 Syracuse and #5 Princeton at 6:30 p.m. More than 22,000 fans attended the inaugural 2009 Big City Classic at Giants Stadium.

The Pride enter Saturday's crucial CAA contest with a 6-3 overall record and a 0-2 mark in the CAA. Hofstra, which has won six of their last eight games, is coming off an 18-2 victory over the Jaspers of Manhattan College at James M. Shuart Stadium last Tuesday. The victory was the second consecutive Tuesday night game in which the Pride scored 17 goals or more and held their opponent to just two goals. Hofstra defeated Army on Tuesday, March 30.

But it hasn't been the Tuesday games that have concerned Hofstra Head Lacrosse Coach Seth Tierney but rather the last two Saturday contests that have resulted in conference road losses at new CAA-member Massachusetts (11-9) on March 27 and at Drexel (13-11) on April 3. UMass is ranked seventh this week while Drexel is eighth. The Pride is 0-2 in conference play for the first time since 2007 when Hofstra started 0-2, then won three of the next four games before losing in the first round of the CAA Tournament to Towson. Saturday's game is the 33rd meeting between Hofstra and Delaware with the Pride holding a 22-10 series advantage.

Hofstra comes into the Konica-Minolta Big City Classic with a full head of steam following its dominating victory over Manhattan last Tuesday. Eleven different players scored goals for the Pride as many of the starters were pulled out of the game by halftime. Junior Jamie Lincoln (St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada), who continues to lead the country in points per game, tallied a game-high four goals and two assists in just two quarters of work. After posting his seventh "hat-trick" of the season, Lincoln now has 28 goals and 19 assists. Classmate and fellow Canadian Jay Card (Caledon, Ontario, Canada), the 2009 CAA Player of the Year, added two goals and three assists in the first half against Manhattan to boost his season totals to 19 goals and 16 assists. He has tallied at least one point in 23 consecutive games as well as 36 straight regular season contests. Junior Stephen Bentz (Massapequa, NY), who rounds out the high-powered attack, has tallied a career-high 20 goals and nine assists for the Pride, who rank fifth in the nation in scoring offense (13.89 gpg).

While the offense gets the headlines, the Hofstra defense ranks 13th in the country in scoring defense allowing 8.11 goals per game following the Manhattan contest. Since allowing 17 goals in the season opener at Princeton, the Pride has allowed an average of seven goals per game in the last eight outings. Last Tuesday against the Jaspers, sophomore Andrew Gvozden made his first start since the Princeton contest, stopping 10 shots and allowing just one goal in three quarters of work. The second-year player from Millersville, Maryland posted a 9-4 record, an 8.38 goals against average, and a .557 save percentage in 2009 for the Pride. In 116 minutes of action in five games this season, he has a 6.16 goals against average and a .692 save percentage.

The Blue Hens of Delaware come into the Big City Classic with a 5-5 overall record and a 0-1 mark in CAA play. UD is coming off a 9-7 loss at conference rival Towson last Saturday. The Blue Hens have defeated St. Joseph's (15-5), UMBC (11-10), Hartford (11-9), Albany (16-9) and Vermont (14-6). In addition to their loss at Towson, Delaware has dropped decisions to Johns Hopkins (15-7), Stony Brook (16-12), Georgetown (13-11) and Villanova (11-8). Delaware is led by senior attackman Curtis Dickson, who has tallied 38 goals and 11 assists. Senior midfielder Martin Cahill has added 25 goals and one assist while sophomore attackman Grant Kalleikau leads the team with 14 assists and has tallied eight goals. Junior Noah Fossner has recorded a 10.07 goals against average and a .500 save percentage in 10 games this season.

-30-