Hempstead, NY – Senior Josh Byrne tallied three goals and three assists and junior Brendan Kavanagh and freshman Ryan Tierney also tallied hat-tricks as the Hofstra Pride opened their 2017 season with an 11-9 non-conference victory over the Hawks of Monmouth at James M. Shuart Stadium Saturday afternoon.

Hofstra, which won its season opener for the 44th time in 69 openers, is 1-0 while Monmouth, which was coming off a 12-10 victory over Villanova last Saturday, is 1-1 on the year. Both teams received votes in the most recent USILA/Nike Coaches Poll.

Byrne, who led the Pride in scoring last season with 30 goals and 15 assists, picked up where he left off with his six-point performance Saturday. He scored twice in the second quarter and once in the third and added one assist in the first and two in the third quarters. Kavanagh recorded a career-best three goals including two in the first quarter. Tierney, the son of Pride Head Lacrosse Coach Seth Tierney, scored on his first shot of the game and added goals in the second and third quarters as well. He also assisted on one of Byrne's goals for a four-point day.

Hofstra junior goalie Jack Concannon made 11 saves including a big stop with 18 seconds to play that would have cut the lead to one. Monmouth outshot Hofstra, 41-26, picked up 31 ground balls to the Pride's 21, and won 15 of 21 face-offs. Hofstra played without two-time All-CAA face-off specialist honoree, senior Kris Clarke due to injury.

Monmouth was led by sophomore Eamon Campbell with two goals and one assist while senior Eric Berger added a goal and two assists. Freshman Justin Schwenk won 15 of 21 face-offs for the Hawks and also picked up eight ground balls.

Hofstra jumped on Monmouth quickly, building a 4-1 lead after one quarter and an 8-3 lead by halftime. Tierney opened the scoring just 2:48 into the contest off a pass from Jimmy Yanes. After Campbell tied the game with a man-up score for Monmouth, the Pride scored the next three goals as Kavanagh, scored twice around a goal by junior defender Tanner Griffin. It was Griffin's first career goal.

The Pride outscored the Hawks, 4-2 in the second quarter. Junior Chandler Vanderbeek cut the deficit to 4-2 with a goal 2:02 into the period. But Hofstra junior Alex Moeser and Byrne tallied unassisted goals to knock the lead up to 6-2 with 6:05 to play in the half. Campbell notched another man-up goal less than two minutes later for the Hawks before Byrnes and Tierney added goals in the last 3:43 to boost the lead to 8-3.

Byrne's third goal of the contest 5:49 into the third quarter gave the Pride the first of two six-goal leads, this time at 9-3. But Tyler Keen and Dylan Schulte scored back-to-back goals for Monmouth before Kavanagh and Tierney did the same thing, with man-up goals, to take an 11-5 advantage into the fourth quarter.

The Hawks threw a little scare into Hofstra in the fourth quarter, scoring four goals, including two in a six-second span, by Griffin Figel and Zach Schleicher, in the final minute of the contest to close to 11-9 with 44 seconds to play. But that was all Monmouth could get as Concannon came up with a big save on a point-black shot on Figel with 0:18 remaining.

Hofstra returns to action next Saturday, February 25 when they travel into New Jersey to face the Princeton Tigers at 1 p.m.