Fairfield, CT – Junior Brian von Bargen scored two goals for the Pride but the Stags made five first quarter goals stand up as Fairfield ended Hofstra's season with a 5-4 Colonial Athletic Association victory at Rafferty Stadium Friday night.
 
The loss eliminated the Pride from CAA Championship contention in the must-win situation. Hofstra finishes with a 5-9 overall mark and a 2-3 slate in the CAA. Fairfield, which is now 9-5 overall and 4-1 in the CAA, will enter the CAA Championship as the number one or two seed depending upon the result of Saturday's Towson at Drexel contest.

Von Bargen scored twice in the second quarter to help cut a five-goal Hofstra deficit to two at halftime. Junior Sam Llinares and sophomore Zachary Franco also scored for the Pride. Senior Chris Selva made three saves in the Pride cage. Hofstra outshot Fairfield, 39-21 including 26-7 in the second half, and couldn't take advantage of 10 Fairfield turnovers in the final 30 minutes.

Five different players scored for Fairfield with senior Tristan Sperry recording one goal and one assist. Sophomore Tyler Behring made 11 saves, including eight in the second half, to record his sixth win of the year
 
The Stags jumped out to a 5-0 lead after one quarter as the Pride came out flat from the start. Tristan Sperry opened the scoring with a bullet just two minutes into the contest. Jake Knostman made it 2-0 off a pass from Drew Federico just 3:13 later. A little over a minute later, Joe Rodrigues scored off a pass from Sperry for a 3-0 lead without the Pride taking a shot which came with 7:03 to play in the period.

The Pride settled down but Fairfield boosted the lead with 4:48 to play in the first as T.J. Neubauer took a pass from Colin McLinden and fired a bullet from 13 yards for a 4-0 lead, The Stags ended their five-goal barrage with just 43 seconds to play in the first as Dave Fleming bounced a shot past Selva for a 5-0 advantage.

But the Pride came roaring back with three goals in the second quarter to cut the deficit to two by halftime thanks in large part to Brian von Bargen. Just 1:55 into the second period, von Bargen scored his sixth goal of the season off a pass from behind the by Zachary Franco. Von Bargen struck again with 8:42 to play to play in the half on a low bullet from the right side off a pass from Steve Romano.

Hofstra kept the momentum going with 3:09 to play in the second as Llinares scored off a pass from senior Mike Malave. It was Llinares' 33rd goal of the season. The Pride could have cut the deficit to one at the break but Behring came up with a big kick save on a Malave bullet as time expired in the half.

Despite Hofstra outshooting Fairfield, 14-4 in the third, neither team was able to dent the twine. But there were several excellent saves by Behring to keep the Pride at bay. The netminder made two big stops just inside the 9:00 mark, stopping a missile from Malave and then stuffing Dylan Alderman at the crease on the rebound. Behring later would stop a bullet from Llinares to keep the quarter scoreless. Behring had five saves in the quarter.

The final quarter was much like the third for Hofstra as the Pride had several scoring opportunities, including several by Llinares and Malave, only to shoot high or get stuffed. But Zach Franco made sure the final 2:39 would be pressure-packed when he scored on a jump shot off a pass from Malave to cut the Pride deficit to 5-4.

Hofstra would possess the ball most of the remaining time and got a break with 1:06 to play when Fairfield's Tom Lukacovic was sent off for a one-minute slashing penalty. The Pride would get a shot with 20 seconds from Llinares that sailed wide and Malave, who hit the crossbar earlier in the quarter, whistled a shot over the goal inside of 10 seconds as the Stags took over possession and closed out the game.