Hempstead, NY – A 2019 Colonial Athletic Association Championship Tournament bid will come down to the final two regular season contests for the Hofstra Men's Lacrosse team beginning with the Pride home finale this Saturday, April 20 against the Dragons of Drexel University at James M. Shuart Stadium. Game time for the Senior Day match-up for the HEADstrong Foundation Hero Cup is 2 p.m.

Hofstra Pride Productions will stream the contest live and free of charge on GoHofstra.com. Hofstra will provide live stats through HofstraStats.com. Links for both can be found elsewhere on this page as well as on the Hofstra Men's Lacrosse schedule page on GoHofstra.com.

Tickets can be purchased online at HofstraTickets.com, by telephone by calling (516) HOF-TIXX, in-person by visiting the Hofstra Athletics Box Office in the lobby of the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex during normal business hours, or at the gate at Shuart Stadium on game day.
 
Hofstra will recognize its eight departing seniors and their parents in a pregame ceremony beginning at 1:50 p.m. The eight seniors are attackman Jimmy Yanes, midfielders Griffin Barnathan, James Kitchen, Joe Cuccias, Mark Ellis and Brian Cameron and defenders Brian Philbin and Jonathan Warg. Ellis is a graduate-student.
 
As the CAA schedule winds down to its final two weekends, the Pride as well as Drexel are looking at a must-win situation this week if they want to secure one of the four conference championship tournament spots. Following the Pride's 13-7 loss at Delaware last Saturday, the Blue Hens of UD (10-2, 3-0) have secured a playoff spot with their unblemished conference slate. UMass (8-4, 2-1), which the Pride defeated on April 6, topped Towson last week, and the Tigers of Towson (7-4, 2-1), which the Pride fell to in Maryland, 10-9 on March 30, are tied for second. Hofstra (4-8, 1-2) and Drexel (5-6, 1-2) are tied for fourth while Fairfield (5-7, 0-3) is almost eliminated from contention with their winless conference record.
 
Hofstra has wins over Lehigh (4-3), Utah (14-10), St. John's (9-7), and UMass (10-9 in OT). The Pride has dropped games to nationally-ranked Villanova (10-9 in OT), Georgetown (14-6), Ohio State (14-8) and Towson (10-9), as well as Stony Brook (11-10), Providence (11-10), Rutgers (10-7) and Delaware (13-7).
 
In the Pride's last outing at Delaware, who climbed into the top 20 in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll this week, Hofstra trailed 6-4 at halftime before the Blue Hens opened the second half with four unanswered goals in the first 12:14 of the third quarter to open up a 10-4 lead. After Hofstra's Bryce Tolmie closed the gap to 10-5 with a goal just six seconds before the end of the period, Delaware added two more goals in the first 3:16 of the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach. Junior Ryan Tierney led the Pride with two goals while sophomore Bobby Casey recorded 10 saves in the Pride cage. Sophomore Brian Herber won 20 of 23 face-offs against the Blue Hens.

On the season, Hofstra is led in scoring by Tierney with a single-season career-best 34 goals and eight assists while senior Jimmy Yanes has seven goals and seven assists. Sophomore Riley Forte has eight goals and four assists while junior Ryan Kinnard has 10 goals and one assist. Casey now has a 10.11 goals against average with 130 saves and a .516 save percentage.

The Dragons of Drexel, who come to Long Island following their 21-9 victory over Fairfield last Saturday, have wins over Michigan (17-16 in 2 OT), Saint Joseph's (10-7), Villanova (15-10), Providence (15-9) and Fairfield (21-9). Their losses have come to High Point (15-14 in OT), Albany (13-12), Jacksonville (19-12), Georgetown (13-10), UMass (10-9) and Delaware (15-13). The Dragons average 13.25 goals per game while allowing 12.18 per contest.
 
Drexel is led by the CAA's leading goal scorer Reid Bowering with 36 goals and five assists while Matthew Varian has added 21 goals and 20 assists. Marshal King has contributed 18 goals and 18 assists while Ryan Genord has posted 13 goals and six assists. The Dragons have used three goalies this season with Ross Blumenthal starting seven games and posting a 10.53 goals against average with 67 saves and a .482 save percentage in 410 minutes of action.
 
Hofstra and Drexel will be meeting for the 32nd time on Saturday in a series that began in 1986. The Pride hold a 24-7 series lead. Saturday's contest will be the sixth contest in the HEADstrong Foundation's Hero Bowl series between the Pride and the Dragons, with Hofstra holding a 3-2 series lead. The road team has won each of the last five contests. The two programs met last on April 21, 2018 with the Pride recording a 16-8 victory at Vidas Field in Philadelphia. The last Drexel victory came on April 15, 2017 with the Dragons posting a 13-12 win at Shuart Stadium and snapping Hofstra's 10-game winning streak from the start of the season.
 
After the Drexel game, the Pride will head to Connecticut on Friday, April 26 for their final CAA regular season game of the year against the Stags of Fairfield. Game time is 7 p.m.