Hempstead, NY - Freshman Justin Sykes made his collegiate debut a memorable one with four goals and two assists and Hofstra received goals from 10 other players as the Pride opened the 2020 campaign with a 21-11 victory over Wagner Saturday afternoon at James M. Shuart Stadium. The 21 goals were the most since a similar 21-goal outburst at Robert Morris on April 12, 2006.

Hofstra moved to 1-0 on the season and saw its record in season openers improve to 46-26. Wagner fell to 0-1 on the season.

Sykes scored the first goal of his career and the first of the Pride's season 3:49 into the game, a man-up tally off a feed from junior James Philbin. After Wagner tied the score on Tim Schmidt's goal at the 5:00 mark, the Pride went on a three-goal run with red-shirt junior Riley Forte, freshman Sam Lutfi, and Sykes netting unassisted scores to make it a 4-1 game with 3:42 remaining. The Seahawks would add a goal just before the end of the quarter but Hofstra would score the first three goals of the second and lead, 7-2, after senior Ryan Tierney's first of the season with 11:21 remaining. Wagner responded with a three-goal spurt to make it 7-5 with 4:21 to go. However, the Pride scored twice in the final minute as Philbin put home a feed from Sykes with 32 seconds to go and senior Michael Altmann scored from junior Dominic Pryor 10 seconds later to send Hofstra into the half with a 9-5 lead.

The second half was all Hofstra as the Pride outscored the Seahawks, 12-5. Wagner netted the first score of the third quarter, 1:24 in as Jake Garb picked up his second of the game. Altmann picked up his second of the game, from Dylan McIntosh, igniting a seven-goal run that spanned the rest of the third and first five minutes of the fourth to give Hofstra a 16-6 lead with 10:44 to play following Sykes' third of the game. After Wagner snapped the spurt, Hofstra ran off five more goals to lead 21-7 with 2:38 to go after Tierney completed his hat trick from Lutfi, who notched his third assist. Wagner would close the game with four consecutive goals to account for the final score.

In addition to the four goals from Sykes, McIntosh finished with three goals and two assists, Tierney had three goals and an assist, Philbin had two goals and two assists, Altmann had two goals and an assist, and freshman Ryan Sheridan had two goals. Lutfi finished his first career game with a goal and three assists while Forte, and sophomores Sterlyn Ardrey, Matt Elder, and Liam Muldoon each had one goal. Sophomore Whit Stopak tallied two assists with Pryor contributing one. Junior face-off specialist Brian Herber won 24 of 30 and picked up a career-high tying 16 ground balls. Red-shirt junior keeper Bobby Casey notched eight saves and allowed nine goals in 58:01 of action. Red-shirt freshman Mac Gates made his debut and played the final 1:59, allowing two goals.

Tyler Lawton led Wagner with four goals and an assist while Garb tallied two goals and two assists.  Danny Brady started in goal for Wagner and allowed 13 goals with 10 saves in 45 minutes of action. Johnny Wright played the fourth quarter and allowed eight goals with three saves.

Hofstra is back in action next Saturday (Feb. 15) at 11 a.m. versus Michigan. Tickets are available by calling (516) HOF-TIXX or by visiting HofstraTickets.com and purchasing online.

Notes:
-Hofstra held a 47-30 advantage in shots and a 45-24 lead in ground balls.
-The Pride capitalized on all three man-up opportunities they had.
-Hofstra won 27-36 face-offs.
-Hofstra freshmen (Sykes, Sheridan, and Lutfi) accounted for seven goals and five assists.
-Muldoon, who was also making his Hofstra debut, scored a man-down goal. It was the first man-down goal for the Pride since 2013 (Sam Llinares).
-The 21 goals were the most scored by the Pride under the direction of Head Coach Seth Tierney.