By Max Sass, Sports Editor
Last season, the men's lacrosse team could not figure out how to tame the Dragons, suffering a demoralizing loss resulting in an early 0-2 hole in Colonial Athletic Association play.
"It was a long ride home from Philadelphia for us last year," head coach Seth Tierney said.
Tierney's crew faced the same threat when the Dragons came to Hempstead Saturday looking to once again drop the Pride to 0-2 in the CAA after the Pride had lost its CAA opener to Delaware.
Hofstra would not let that happen though, posting an 11-6 win and evening its record in conference.
"The orangutan is off our back," Tierney said. "Certainly we'd like another shot at Delaware, but you have to earn that next shot at Delaware."
Sophomore midfielder Ian Braddish's move to the first-string midfield, replacing the injured Steve Serling, continued to be a success, scoring a goal and assisting on two others.
"Steve Serling is great, he was one of our best players," Braddish said. "I am just trying to make up for a little bit, but I'm not trying to do too much, because we have a lot of great players on the field."
Drexel hit the scoreboard first when senior attacker Scott Perri beat Hofstra's junior goalie Andrew Gvozden low from seven yards out.
The Pride looked poised to tie the game four minutes later when senior attacker Jay Card split two Drexel defenders and fired on goal, but Drexel junior goalie Mark Manos got to the ball with his left foot, holding on to the shut out for the Dragons.
Senior attacker Stephen Bentz did tie the game less than two minutes after Card's shot, when he deflected a pass into the net.
Hofstra then sandwiched a Drexel goal with two goals of its own fired from over 10 yards out. First Card slipped a rocket right under the crossbar just five seconds after the Pride won the faceoff and then sophomore midfielder Aaron Jones found his second goal of the season when he beat Manos from almost 12 yards to make the score 3-2.
Hofstra ended the first quarter on a run when senior midfielder Steven DeNapoli scored in transition, followed by senior attacker Jamie Lincoln 1:13 later to give the Pride a 5-2 lead at the first break.
It took over four minutes for anybody to get on the board in the second quarter, but it was Hofstra who capitalized on a Drexel failed clear when Card scored on a breakaway.
Braddish continued the 6-0 Hofstra run with an impressive individual effort to dodge two defenders, maintain the ball through the middle of Drexel's defense and score.
Drexel junior midfielder Kyle Bergman ended the run when he beat Gvozden, but Hofstra fired back as Braddish's long diagonal pass set up freshman midfielder Torin Varn, who beat the net minder from the doorstep to give Hofstra an 8-3 lead heading into halftime.
For the third straight quarter, Hofstra scored first, as Lincoln hit the twine.
Drexel matched 2:30 later as Perri scored on the extra man offense, with Card penalized.
Drexel sophomore attacker Robert Church, who scored seven goals in last season's matchup, tallied the Dragons' fifth of the game on a high shot.
Drexel cut the deficit to four with 4:16 left to play when it capitalized on a pair of failed clears by the Pride. Just 13 second later, the Pride once again extended its lead to five as Varn picked up a ground ball right outside the crease and stuffed it home to end the scoring on the day.
This time it was Drexel's turn to take a long ride home.