Hempstead, NY – The Hofstra men's lacrosse team fought and clawed for the entire 60 minutes in its home opener against Navy, but the Midshipmen were able to hold off the Pride for a 13-12 win from James M. Shuart Stadium on a picture-perfect Saturday afternoon.
 
Hofstra falls to 0-2 on the year with today's result, and the win improves Navy to 3-0.
 
Navy raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter before John Veit tallied his first collegiate goal on a pass by Justin Sykes to put the Pride on the board. The Midshipmen put another two in the net in the final two minutes of the opening quarter to put the Pride in a 5-1 hole at the end of one.
 
Griffin Turner scored back-to-back goals at 14:28 and 13:52, and Rory Jones snuck a shot past Navy goalie Pat Ryan at 12:34, bringing the home side to within one. Neither team would score until Navy's Mac Haley struck at 8:29, and Jackson Peters made it a 7-4 Navy lead going into halftime.
 
After a pair of Navy goals by Xavier Arline and Peters put the Pride down by five, Hofstra roared back into the game with four unanswered goals. John Madsen found twine at 12:17, and Gerard Kane scored three straight goals for the Pride for a third quarter hat-trick, bringing the score to 9-8 in favor of Navy entering the fourth quarter.
 
Jones tied the game with a goal 34 seconds into the fourth, but Navy retook the lead with a pair of tallies at 12:48 and 8:45. Kane connected with Ryan Woodland for the freshman attackman's first collegiate goal at 6:03, putting Hofstra within one of tying the score again. However, Navy tallied goals from Henry Tolker and Haley to lead, 13-10, with 3:44 left. Madsen closed the deficit to one with goals at 2:57 and 1:08, but the Pride couldn't find the equalizer before the final horn blared.
 
Kane finished with six points on three goals and three assists, while Madsen recorded three goals and one assist against Navy, and Turner and Jones each scored twice. Mac Gates made 10 saves for the Pride – with nine coming in the second half – and Chase Patterson went 14-24 from the face-off X with 11 ground balls.
 
The Midshipmen were led by five goals from Tolker, and Arline posted three goals and four assists on the day. Pat Ryan earned the win with eight saves in the first half, while Dan Daly played the second half and made six saves for Navy.
 
Hofstra heads west to take on Michigan (0-1) from Ann Arbor on Saturday, February 18, at 12 p.m.
 
NOTES:
-Gerard Kane extends his consecutive goal-scoring streak to 13 games, and he finished with at least three goals in a game for the fourth time in his Hofstra career.
-Hofstra outshot Navy, 43-33, and finished with 37 ground balls to Navy's 17.
-Hofstra falls to 6-15 all-time against Navy.