Towson, MD – Senior Sam Llinares had a goal and three assists and Korey Hendrickson added two goals and one assist for the Pride but Colonial Athletic Association Co-Player of the Year Colin Burke recorded five goals and two assists to lead the second-seed Fairfield Stags to an 11-8 victory over third-seed Hofstra in the CAA Championship semifinals at Towson University's Johnny Unitas Stadium Thursday night.

The Stags, 8-8 on the year, advance to Saturday's championship game against top-seed Towson, a 10-6 winner over fourth-seed Drexel in the early semifinal Thursday. Hofstra's season ends with a 9-6 overall record.

Llinares ended his Hofstra career as one of the all-time greats in school history. The three-time All-CAA selection finishes his Hofstra career with 101 goals (9th), 80 assists (4th) and 181 points (6th) in 58 games. Hendrickson, who had the best season of his career in 2016, finishes with 60 goals, 26 assists and 86 points in 51 games during his career. Senior Brian von Bargen also tallied two goals for the Pride Thursday night as he concludes his career-best season with 43 goals and 54 points in his career. Sophomore goalie Jack Concannon, who was named to the All-CAA first team Wednesday, made six saves in the Pride cage.

In addition to Burke's heroics, Fairfield received three goals from T.J. Neubauer and three assists from Charlie Schneider. All-CAA first team selection Tyler Behring made 14 saves in the Stags cage for the victory.

The Stags jumped on the Pride early, scoring three unanswered goals in the first 7:14 to open up a 3-0 advantage. Burke, the CAA Co-Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, opened the scoring just 43 seconds into the contest with an unassisted tally for his 42nd goal of the season. Senior T.J. Neubauer made it 2-0 on a bullet from 10 yards for his 29th of the year, with Charlie Schnider assisting, just over five minutes later. Sophomore Charlie Horning made it 3-0 with his 10th of the year, off a pass from Burke, at the 7:46 mark.

Hofstra closed the gap to 3-1 with 3:02 to play in the first quarter when Hendrickson dodged a Fairfield defender in front and beat Stag goalie Tyler Behring for his 28th goal of the season. The Stags boosted their lead to 4-1 just 55 seconds into the second quarter as Neubauer buried his second of the game and 30th of the year, off a pass from Schnider.

But the Pride responded with consecutive goals in a 2:21 span. Von Bargen, who was named to the All-CAA second team Wednesday night, scored his 27th of the year off a pass from fellow second team selection Sam Llinares at the 12:11 mark. Hendrickson then tallied his second of the game and 29th of the year off a pass from behind by junior Josh Byrne to close the deficit to 4-3 with 9:50 to play in the half.

Fairfield answered right off the ensuing face-off as Joe Guidarelli scored his first of the year just nine seconds later for a 5-3 lead. But Pride sophomore Dylan Alderman scored his seventh of the year off a pass from Llinares at the 5:25 to close out the first half scoring with Hofstra trailing, 5-4. The Pride outshot the Stags, 14-3 in the second quarter.

Hofstra tied the game at 5-5 just 33 seconds into the third quarter while on the man-up as Llinares found von Bargen in the middle who fired a laser from 15 yards for his second of the game and 28th of the year.

But the Stags responded with three consecutive goals by Burke, in a span of 2:33, to open up an 8-5 lead. His first of the third was a man-up tally at the 11:49 mark. His second of the period and third of the game came 56 seconds later and his fourth of the contest came at the 9:16 mark. All were unassisted. Hofstra closed the deficit to 8-6 with six seconds to play in the third as Llinares scored on the run for his 28th goal of the season.

The Pride closed to within one with 11:19 to play in the fourth off a turnover as sophomore Tommy Voelkel picked up a ground ball in his defensive end, ran up the field into the Pride box and passed to a trailing Luke Gomez. The sophomore fired a low bullet for the first goal of his career. A little over two minutes, sophomore Brendan Kavanagh received a pass from Hendrickson and came around the left side of Behring and buried his 10th goal of the season to tie the game at 8-8 with 9:02 to play in the fourth quarter.

But Fairfield came right back and scored consecutive goals as Neubauer gave Fairfield a 9-8 advantage with 4:02 to play in regulation on a pass from behind the cage by Burke and then Burke tallied his fifth of the contest 36 seconds later for a 10-8 lead. Jake Knostman added an insurance goal from 13 yards out off a pass from Schneider with 1:57 to play to boost the lead to three.

Hofstra outshot Fairfield, 37-30 and won 13 of 22 face-offs while the ground ball battle was even at 23 each.