Hempstead, NY – Hofstra University Head Men's Lacrosse Coach Seth Tierney announced today the Pride's schedule for their eight-day trip to Tokyo, Japan for the 27th International Friendship Games of 2016, hosted by the Japan Lacrosse Association (JLA). This will be the Hofstra Lacrosse program's second trip to Japan after a similar trip in 2012.

Hofstra, which will play five games and conduct a lacrosse clinic during the goodwill tour, will leave for Japan tomorrow morning (June 1), departing from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on Japan Airlines to Tokyo's Narita Airport.

The Pride players, who will stay with host families during their trip, will arrive in Tokyo on Thursday afternoon. After a day of sightseeing and meeting their host families on Friday, Hofstra host a youth clinic at 11 a.m. and will then play two, two-quarter scrimmages against the Japanese National Squad at 2:20 p.m. and the Kansai (Osaka) team at 3:30 p.m. at Edogawa Stadium on Saturday

Sunday (June 5) will present the official opening ceremony for the International Friendship Games at noon before the Pride take on the Japanese National Team at 3 p.m. Monday (June 6) will be an off-day with more sightseeing on tap before Hofstra returns to action on Tuesday, June 7 for games against Tokyo University, Japan's best national university founded in 1877, Waseda University, founded in 1882, Nippon Sport Science University and Keio University, Japan's oldest University founded in 1858, beginning at 2 p.m.

Another sightseeing day is on the schedule for Wednesday, June 8 when the team will head to Kamakura, which with its beach, temples and proximity to Tokyo, makes it a popular tourist destination. The Pride will wrap up the day at QVC Chiba Marine Stadium for a Japanese League baseball game between the Chiba Lotte Marines and the Hanshin Tigers.

The Pride will visit Tokyo Tower on Thursday morning, June 9 before boarding a flight that evening for the trip back to New York.
 
Hofstra's Japan Friendship Games trip was made possible in large part by support from Drs. Arno and Mindy Fried. The JLA invitation was initiated by Yusuke Sasaki, Director of the JLA, who has known Coach Tierney since 1989 when both were teammates at Johns Hopkins University.

Tierney, who completed his 10th season at Hofstra in 2016, is excited to once again help the growth of the game of lacrosse in Japan. "While we look forward to our contests against the National Team of Japan and the Japanese college teams, we are most proud to serve as ambassadors for our game, our University and our country and help grow the game."