Hempstead, NY - Kayleigh Bender tied her career high with five points and four goals to lead the Hofstra women's lacrosse team to a key home win, 10-7, over Towson on Friday evening at James M. Shuart Stadium. 

Nikki Mennella, who scored the 100th goal of her incredible career in the third quarter, had three points on two goals and an assist. 

Luchianna Cardello was strong throughout the contest as she made 12 saves and added a pair of ground balls. 

Hofstra improved to 8-5 overall and 3-2 in CAA play with the win. Towson dropped to 6-6 and 2-3 in league action. 

The Pride scored the first two goals of the game as Kristen Redding opened the scoring and then Hofstra added a second goal on a unique own goal as Towson sent the ball into their own net. Redding added another goal early in the second quarter to push the lead to three for the first time in the contest. The Tigers would close the gap to two, 5-4, with 4:55 remaining before intermission before Bender scored an momentum-swinging goal with 71 seconds left to allow Hofstra to take a two-goal advantage into the break. 

It was all Hofstra in the third quarter as the Pride scored three times to break the game open and led 9-4 heading into the final stanza. A goal from Julia Harris with 4:09 left in the third gave the Pride its largest lead of the game. Hofstra was never seriously challenged in the final quarter with Bender accounting for the Pride's final goal sandwiched by a pair of Towson tallies. 

Redding had two goals in the game for the Pride. Christine Dannenfelser led Hofstra with six draw controls. 

Ocea had three goals for Towson, which also got a goal and an assist from Katie Roszko. 

Hofstra won the draw control battle, 11-9, and had 13 ground balls to Towson's nine. The game saw 14 cards issued to the teams, all in the second half. 

Hofstra is back in action on Sunday when it travels to #23 Drexel for a 2 p.m. game. The game will air on FloCollege. 

NOTES
- Hofstra improved to 20-27 all-time against Towson. The Pride has won two straight and five of the last seven in the series. 
- Mennella is the 16th player in program history to reach 100 career goals. Interestingly enough, she is the first since her sister, Taylor, reached the milestone last season on the way to 116 career goals. 
- Cardello has tallied double figures in saves four times this season and in each of the Pride's last two contests. 
- The hat trick was the sixth of the season for Bender. 
- Bender previously had four goals on a pair of occasions, most recently at Wagner on March 4 and also had five points against the Seahawks.