Hempstead, NY – Brian von Bargen and Josh Byrne each scored twice for the Pride but Towson junior Mike Lynch broke a 7-7 tie with his 16th goal of the season with 4:31 to play in the fourth quarter to give the Tigers an 8-7 Colonial Athletic Association victory over Hofstra at James M. Shuart Stadium in the regular season finale for both teams.

The victory gives Towson (12-2, 4-1) a share of the conference regular season title with Fairfield (8-7, 4-1) and the right to host the four-team, 2016 CAA Championship Tournament on Thursday and Saturday, May 5 and 7, based on their 18-11 win over the Stags last week.

Hofstra, which saw its three-game winning streak end, slips to 9-5 overall and 3-2 in the CAA. The Pride will face the number two seed, Fairfield, at 7 p.m. on Thursday while Towson will face the number four-seed Drexel (6-8, 2-3) at 4 p.m. at Johnny Unitas Stadium.

Von Bargen, a senior, continued his career-best season with two goals and one assist to extend his consecutive game point streak to 13 games. Byrne, a junior, added two goals to give him a team-high 30 on the season. Senior Korey Hendrickson tallied a goal and an assist and sophomore goalie Jack Concannon made 13 saves, including nine in the first half, for the Pride.

Towson was led by junior Joe Seider with three goals, senior Ben McCarty with two goals and classmate Spencer Parks with a goal and two assists. Freshman Jon Mazza also added two assists while senior goalie Tyler White made nine saves in the Tiger cage.

The first half was highlighted by solid defense as the Pride got on the board first just 3:37 when Hendrickson tallied his 27th of the season for a 1-0 lead. Towson tied the game with a man-up goal by Seider with 6:18 to play in the first quarter.

Hofstra took the lead 4:34 into the second quarter when Byrne buried his 29th of the season off a pass from von Bargen. But, once again, the Tigers answered with a Parks goal off a pass from Mazza with 5:42 to play in the half, which is how the first 30 minutes ended.

In contrast, the third quarter featured nine goals, including six in the first half of the period. Towson's Ryan Drenner notched his 25th goal of the season just 1:14 into the third quarter for a 3-2 lead. Byrne tied it for Hofstra just 11 seconds later to tie the game at 3-3. Seider got his second of the game and 27th of the season less than two minutes later before von Bargen tied the contest with a laser 2:10 after the Towson tally to knot the game at 4-4.

Seider and McCarty tallied unanswered goals 31 seconds apart as the Tigers posted its biggest lead of the contest at 6-4.

Hofstra responded with three consecutive goals, by junior Zachary Franco, von Bargen and sophomore Dylan Alderman to take a 7-6 lead after three quarters.

But McCarty tied the game at 7-7 with his 17th goal of the season, an unassisted tally, for the Tigers with 7:32 to play. Almost three minutes later, Towson took the lead when Parks fed Lynch, who fired a bullet past Concannon for the 8-7 advantage.

Hofstra had several chances to tie the game in the final four minutes but White came up big, making four of his nine saves in the final 15 minutes. The Pride also had the final possession of the contest but the Tiger defense clamped down and wouldn't allow a shot through to White for the victory.

Towson outshot the Pride, 34-23 and picked up 24 ground balls to Hofstra's 20. Pride junior Kris Clarke won 12 of 19 face-offs to give Hofstra a win in that category,