Hempstead, NY - Rory Jones had a spectacular day for the Pride as he tallied nine points on eight goals and one assist to lead the Hofstra men's lacrosse team to a 21-9 victory over Wagner on Saturday afternoon at James M. Shuart Stadium. The 21 goals are the most for the Pride since also tallying 21 in a win over Sacred Heart on February 12, 2022.

The eight goals are the second-most in a game in program history and the most since Ryan Tierney had eight on two occasions during the 2021 season. Michael LaCrosse has the program record with 10 goals against Virginia in 1989. The nine points are the 16th most in a game in school history.

The win was the season opener for both teams with Hofstra moving to 1-0 and Wagner dropping to 0-1.

The game was knotted at two early on before Hofstra exploded for nine straight goals to take an 11-2 lead at the 12:10 mark of the second quarter following a goal from Colton Rudd. Jones remarkably broke his career-high in goals and points during the 9-0 run with five of the Pride's goals to break the game open. Hofstra added another 4-0 run later in the quarter to take a 15-4 lead with 35 seconds left before halftime. Rudd had two of the goals during that spurt.

The lead grew to as many as 13 on a trio of occasions in the fourth quarter with Vincent McDermott making it 19-6 at one point, Dylan Sebastian putting the Pride up 20-7, and Anthony Mollica giving Hofstra its final 13-goal advantage at 21-8 with 3:09 left in regulation.

Sean Henderson made his first start for the Pride and tallied four saves in the game. Rudy Zarate had 11 saves off the bench for Wagner.

John Madsen had four points (2G, 2A) along with two ground balls for Hofstra. Chase Patterson was 15-23 on face-offs and picked up 10 ground balls in the game. JT Roselle notched four ground balls, two caused turnovers, and an assist in his Pride debut.

The goals were the first career goals for McDermott and Sebastian.

Nick Martini had three goals for Wagner and Carson Skinner added a pair of goals for the Seahawks.

Hofstra hits the road for its next contest as the Pride will take on Navy on Saturday, February 10 at 12 p.m. That contest will air on ESPN+.

NOTES
- Hofstra is now 3-0 all-time against Wagner. Today was the first meeting between the schools since an 18-6 Pride win on March 2, 2021.
- Jones previously had career-highs of three goals, most recently at St. John's on February 25, 2023, and four points, most recently in the same St. John's contest.
- Rudd's previous career-bests were three goals at St. John's on March 10, 2020 and five points at Hampton on April 22, 2023.