Villanova, PA - Junior Mac Gates tallied a career-high 17 saves, but it wasn't enough as the Hofstra men's lacrosse team fell to Villanova, 8-6, on Saturday afternoon at Villanova Stadium. 

It was a spectacular performance for Gates, who had 10 saves in the first half to help the Pride out to a 5-1 lead after 30 minutes. 

Hofstra falls to 3-3 with the loss, while Villanova improved to 3-2. 

Hofstra jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the contest as senior Matt Elder opened the scoring off a feed from junior Colton Rudd before junior Justin Sykes added another tally for the Pride at the 11:36 mark of the opening quarter. 

Villanova got one back less than a minute later but Hofstra closed the half with three consecutive goals to open up a 5-1 lead at the break. Redshirt freshman Rory Jones got the run started and he would be joined in the half-closing spurt by goals from sophomore Gerard Kane and Sykes. 

Villanova scored in the opening minute of the third quarter to close the gap to three, but an incredible goal from graduate student Bryan McIntosh with 10:27 left in the third quarter put the lead back at four, 6-2, for Hofstra. McIntosh, facing a 10-man ride from the Wildcats, shot the ball from approximately 55 yards away to tally the goal for Hofstra. 

It was all Villanova down the stretch, though, as the Wildcats scored the game's final six goals to rally for the win. Matt Campbell, who had four goals on the day, had three during the game-ending run to help Villanova capture the win. 

Elder finished with a goal and an assist for Hofstra, which also got three caused turnovers from McIntosh. Gates added a career-high four ground balls in the game as well. Sykes had two goals and an assist for Hofstra. 

Patrick Daly added a hat trick for the Wildcats, while Will Vitton had three saves for Villanova. 

Hofstra will begin a three-game home stand on Tuesday when it hosts Binghamton at 6 p.m. For ticket information visit HofstraTickets.com, call (516) HOF-TIXX, or stop by the Hofstra Athletics Ticket Office in the lobby of the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex. That game will also air on FloLive. 

NOTES
- Today was the 17th all-time meeting between Hofstra and Villanova, with the Wildcats now leading the series, 9-8. 
- The 17 saves by Gates were one better than his previous career-best of 16, last achieved against Merrimack earlier this season. 
- The four ground balls by Gates were one better than his previous career-high of three, last achieved against Navy earlier this season.