Syracuse, NY - Senior Alyssa Parrella closed her incredible career in style as she posted a game-high five points (3G, 2A) along with a game-high tying four draw controls in Hofstra's 11-9 loss to #9 Loyola in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday afternoon at the Carrier Dome. Senior Katie Whelan added four points on two goals and two assists for the Pride.

Hofstra gave the top-10 ranked Greyhounds all they could handle, repeatedly rallying from deficits to push Loyola to the limit.

The loss ends the Pride's season at 6-7, while Loyola improves to 12-2 and moves on to face Syracuse in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.

A three-goal run by Hofstra quickly erased an early 2-0 Loyola lead as the Pride took a 3-2 advantage with 17:01 left following a tally from Whelan. Hofstra got on the board with a free position goal from Parrella and junior Grace Langella tallied the other Pride goal during the run. Loyola dominated the final half of the opening stanza as they scored the final five goals of the half to take a 7-3 lead into the break.

Parrella opened the second half scoring off an assist from Whelan to make it 7-4 before Loyola pushed the lead back to four goals with a tally from Livy Rosenweig. The two teams alternated goals again with graduate student Alexa Mattera scoring for the Pride.

At that point, Hofstra mounted a game-changing rally as Langella started a 4-0 Pride spurt that eventually knotted the score at nine. Langella was aided in the run by Whelan, Parrella, and the first goal of the game by junior Jackie Gatti. The two teams would battle back and forth down the stretch before Loyola scored the game-winner with 1:40 left on an unassisted goal from Elli Kluegel. The Greyhounds would add an empty-net goal in the final 70 seconds to account for the final score.

Junior Jess Smith was strong in net for the Pride with nine saves and a team-high three ground balls. Whelan tied Parrella for game-high honors with four draw controls, while junior Anna Kaufmann posted a team-high two caused turnovers.

Kluegel led Loyola with four goals, while Rosenzweig posted a goal and four assists.

NOTES
- Hofstra is 3-5 all-time against Loyola. The Pride had won three straight against the Greyhounds coming into this year's NCAA Tournament meeting.
- This was Hofstra's third NCAA Tournament appearance after previous appearances in 2001 and 2007. 
- Parrella finishes her career with 261 goals to rank 10th all-time in NCAA history. She passed Kayla Treanor of Syracuse in today's game for 10th on the list. She is also tied for 15th all-time in NCAA history in points (355) with Selena Lasota of Northwestern. 
- Parrella's 261 goals and 355 points are both tops all-time in Hofstra and Colonial Athletic Association history. Mattera finished her career with 125 goals to finish in a tie for sixth all-time in program history and her 152 points is ranked 10th. Whelan moved into sixth all-time in Hofstra history with 61 assists, while Parrella's 94 assists is second all-time in school history and ninth in CAA history. In draw controls, graduate student Darcie Smith finished with a program record 232 and is ranked third in CAA history. Mattera finished with 209 draws to rank second at Hofstra and fifth in the CAA. Parrella closed with 196 draws to rank fourth in program history and seventh in the CAA.