Hempstead, NY – The Hofstra Women's Lacrosse team closed the regular season in dramatic fashion as the Pride rallied from a three-goal deficit with under three minutes left to stun Drexel, 9-8, on Saturday afternoon at James M. Shuart Stadium. 

Senior attacker Brittain Altomare would waste no time in establishing a new school record for career points as she scored her first goal of the game at the 27:23 mark of the first half to break the tie with Kathleen Mikowski, who had 240 points from 2000-03. Altomare, who had a game-high four goals in the contest today, heads into the postseason with 244 career points, the top mark in program history.
 

The win moves Hofstra's record to 11-5 overall and a perfect 6-0 in Colonial Athletic Association play. Drexel ends its season at 4-12 overall and 1-5 in league action. It was Hofstra's 22nd straight victory over the Dragons dating back to the 1993 season and the Pride won for the sixth time in its last seven games in 2015. 

Prior to the game the program honored its six seniors as Altomare, senior defender April Iannetta, senior attacker Sam Lenox, senior defender Abby Wilson, senior attacker Kaitlin Ayres and senior goalie Kelsey Gregerson were all honored in a pregame ceremony. 

Hofstra trailed 8-5 with 10:41 to play in regulation after an unassisted goal from Nadia Pelham-Lacey of Drexel put the Dragons ahead by three goals. 

At that point, Hofstra began its stunning comeback as the Pride scored the game's last four goals in the final 2:17 of the second stanza to earn the 9-8 victory. The game-winner came off the stick of junior defender Lindsey Alfano with 32 seconds left and Alfano started the game-ending run with a free-position goal at the 2:17 mark. 

Altomare would lead a first half comeback for Hofstra as she helped the Pride recover from an early 4-1 deficit to make it a 5-4 game in favor of the Dragons at the half. 

After Hofstra scored the game's first goal, via Altomare, Drexel scored four straight goals to lead 4-1 with 14:58 left before intermission. 

A goal from freshman midfielder Carolyn Carrera, her first career point, would make it 4-2 at the 14:12 mark before Drexel pushed it back to 5-2 as Alissa Watts scored for the Dragons. Altomare would then score two goals in the final four-plus minutes of the stanza to make it a one-goal game at the break. 

Hofstra would notch the first goal of the second half, courtesy of sophomore attacker Morgan Knox, to even the score at five with 24:39 left to play. It marked the first tie score since it was 1-1 just 3:36 into the contest. It also concluded a 3-0 scoring run for the Pride spanning the two halves. 

A game of runs would continue, though, as Drexel responded with a 3-0 spurt of their own over the next nearly 15 minutes to lead 8-5 heading into the final minutes of the regular season finale. 

At that point, Alfano got the run started for the Pride and she would be joined by Lenox and Altomare, as the Pride escaped with the one-goal victory. 

It marks Hofstra's first-ever perfect season in CAA play and the program's first perfect season in conference action since going 6-0 in 2001 as a member of the America East Conference. 

Lenox had a strong day in her final game at Shuart Stadium as she tallied a goal and two assists to help the Pride's efforts. Altomare added a game-high eight draw controls, while redshirt freshman midfielder Audrey Byrd had a game-best four ground balls. 

Gregerson finished with six saves for Hofstra, while Teresha Bradley had nine saves for the Dragons.

Pelham-Lacey had four points for the Dragons on three goals and an assists, while Lacey Aghazarian added two goals and an assist. Milan White had four draw controls, two ground balls and a caused turnover for Drexel. 

Hofstra won the draw control and ground ball battles in the game, earning an 11-7 advantage in ground balls and an 11-8 advantage in draw controls. Both totals were won with strong second halves as the Pride picked up eight of the 11 ground balls after intermission and won six of the nine draw controls in the final 30 minutes. 

Hofstra will now set its sights on the CAA Championship as the Pride is next in action on Friday, May 1 at 4 p.m. when it takes on Towson in the semifinals of the conference tournament. The CAA Championship will be hosted by Delaware on May 1 and 3. James Madison and Delaware will meet in the other semifinal.