Hempstead, NY – The quest for their third Colonial Athletic Association Championship and their 19^th NCAA Division I Championship berth begins for the Hofstra Men's Lacrosse team on Thursday, May 4 when the second-seed Pride (11-2, 3-2) take on the third-seed Minutemen of Massachusetts (6-7, 3-2) in the second semifinal of the 2017 CAA Championships at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson Maryland. Game time is 7:30 p.m. The top-seed Towson Tigers (8-4, 4-1) will square off against the fourth-seed Drexel Dragons (6-7, 3-2) in the first semifinal contest at 5 p.m.
 
The Lax Sports Network will broadcast both semifinal games of the CAA Championship at Towson. LSN will be the only outlet video streaming this contest and there is a charge. Pride Productions will audio stream the Hofstra-UMass contest on GoHofstra.com. Links for the live statistics and the audio stream can be found on this page as well as on the Hofstra Men's Lacrosse schedule page on GoHofstra.com.

The 2017 CAA Tournament is Hofstra's 13th conference tournament and the 11^th in the CAA. All other conference championships were decided by round-robin play. Hofstra has won league titles in: 1988 and 1989 in the East Coast Conference; five championships in the North Atlantic Conference-America East in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2000; and two in the CAA in 2006 and 2008.

In 2000, the Pride captured the America East Tournament Championship with wins over Towson (18-10) and Delaware (14-4) at Shuart Stadium. In 2001, the Pride hosted and defeated Delaware (11-8) in the America East semifinals before losing at Towson (13-11) in the title game.

Hofstra joined the CAA in 2002 and the CAA Championship Tournament was instituted in 2003. Hofstra downed Villanova in the CAA semifinals before losing at Towson in the title game in 2003. In 2004, the Pride lost to Towson in the CAA semifinals 6-5. In 2005, Hofstra lost to Delaware in the semifinals, 8-5. In 2006, Hofstra downed Villanova, 14-7, in the semifinals, and Delaware, 12-6, in the CAA title game. Both contests were played at Hofstra. In 2007, the Pride dropped an 11-5 decision at Towson in the CAA semifinals.
 
In 2008, Hofstra defeated Delaware, 9-7, at Shuart Stadium in the semifinals before downing Drexel, 10-9 in overtime, in the title game in Philadelphia. In 2009, Hofstra, the top seed, dropped a 9-7 decision to Villanova in the CAA semifinals. In 2011, Delaware upset the top-seeded Pride, 10-9 at Shuart Stadium in the CAA semifinals. In 2014, Hofstra defeated Delaware, 8-6 in the semifinals before dropping an 11-10 triple-overtime heartbreaker to Drexel in the title game at Shuart Stadium. In 2016, Hofstra fell to Fairfield, 11-8 in the semis at Towson. The Pride did not qualify for the CAA Championship Tournament in 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2015.

Hofstra, fell out of the Top 10 in all three weekly Division I polls for the first time in six weeks, is ranked 12^th in the Nike/US Lacrosse Poll and 14^th in both the USILA/Nike Coaches Poll and the Maverik/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll following their 10-8 CAA loss at Towson last Saturday. The Pride is ranked 13th in this week's NCAA RPI.

Last Saturday against the Tigers, in what turned out to be for the CAA regular season title, Towson went on a five-goal spurt at the end of the second and through the third quarter to open up an 8-4 lead and then staved off Hofstra comeback attempts on the way to a 10-8 victory. The Pride got as close at two down at 8-6, 9-7 and 10-8 but could not get any closer. Junior Dylan Alderman recorded three goals and one assist and freshman Ryan Tierney added one goal and one assist to pace the Pride. Junior goalie Jack Concannon made eight saves in the loss.
 
This season, Hofstra has wins over Monmouth (11-9), Princeton (10-8), NJIT (20-4), Georgetown (11-9), North Carolina (11-9), Providence (11-10), Stony Brook (11-9), St. John's (9-6), Fairfield (10-6), Delaware (11-9) and UMass (15-8). Their losses have come against Drexel (13-12) and Towson (10-8). The Pride average 11.54 goals per game, which is 18th in Division I, and allow 8.46 goals per game, which ranks 12th in the country. Hofstra also ranks third in the nation in fewest turnovers per game with a 10.62 average.

On the season, Byrne now has career-highs of 36 goals, 24 assists and 60 points in 13 games this season. He has tallied 105 career points (66-39-105) since his arrival at Hofstra for the 2016 season. Tierney has added 27 goals and 16 assists while junior Dylan Alderman has career-highs of 18 goals, 17 assists and 35 points. Classmate Brendan Kavanagh has scored career-highs of 21 goals and 25 points, sophomore Jimmy Yanes has added 20 goals and five assists while junior Alex Moeser has contributed career-highs of 16 goals, eight assists and 24 points. Junior goalie Jack Concannon now has an 8.47 goals against average with 150 saves and a .581 save percentage.

UMass and the Pride will be meeting for the 43rd time with the Minutemen holding a 22-20 series advantage. Hofstra has won three of the last four encounters including a 15-8 victory in Hempstead on April 22. The Pride also defeated UMass, 10-9 in overtime in Amherst on April 23, 2016. Brendan Kavanagh scored the game-winner for the Pride with 14 seconds remaining in the first overtime. UMass' last victory in the series came in 2015 in Hempstead, 9-7.

Two weeks ago at Shuart Stadium, Hofstra jumped out to a big 10-3 halftime lead and never looked back on the way to a 15-8 win over the Minutemen. Byrne led the Pride with five goals and three assists while Alderman added a career-high four goals and dished out an assist. Kavanagh added three goals and Tierney contributed a goal and two assists. Concannon made 13 saves in the Pride net, posting double-digit saves for the eighth time this season.
 
The Minutemen of Massachusetts enter Thursday's contest with a 6-7 overall record and a 3-2 CAA regular season. UMass helped their own cause as well as Hofstra's chance at a regular season title with their 14-8 win over Drexel last Friday. UMass, which opened the season with four consecutive losses, has wins over Yale (11-9), UMass Lowell (10-8), Hartford (12-10), Delaware (9-6), Fairfield (12-8) and Drexel (14-8). Their losses have come against Army West Point (9-2), Ohio State (8-7), Harvard (11-7), Albany (17-8), Brown (10-9 in OT) and Towson (11-8) and Hofstra (15-8). The Minutemen average 9.00 goals per game and allow 10.00 per outing.

UMass is led in scoring by senior Dan Muller with 17 goals and a team-high 13 assists while sophomore Tyler Bogart has added a team-high 24 goals and three assists. Junior Buddy Carr has added 12 goals and eight assists, freshman Jeff Trainor has tallied nine goals and 11 assists and senior Grant Consoletti has contributed eight goals and 11 assists. Senior goalie D.J. Smith has played in 13 games and has posted a 10.23 goals against average with 140 saves and a .534 save percentage.

The two CAA semifinal winners will meet for the conference championship and the automatic bid to the NCAA Championship on Saturday, May 6 at Towson. Game time for the ASN-televised title game is 1 p.m. The 18-team, NCAA Championship field will be announced on Sunday, May 7 at 9 p.m. on ESPNU.