Hofstra falls on late UMass rally

Hofstra executed its plays, but in what has become a theme for a still-maturing team this season, the Pride failed to finish.

Hofstra overcame a four-goal, first-quarter deficit to take a one-goal lead in the fourth period, but the University of Massachusetts responded with a four-goal run of its own, defeating the Pride, 14-13, at Gillette Stadium Saturday night.

"We had the opportunity, but we dropped a pass or two and we were fighting for momentum," coach Seth Tierney said. "They have a junior and senior-laden team and UMass pulled it out. We had our opportunities."

The Pride (6-7, 2-3 CAA) came out sluggish, allowing four straight goals before Lance Yapor's score with eight seconds left in the first quarter. After a 4-4 second period, Hofstra outscored UMass 5-2 in the third before taking an 11-10 lead on John Antoniades' score with 14:52 left in the fourth. UMass, though, scored the next four, including Anthony Biscardi's goal to make it 14-11 with 5:00 to play.

Back-to-back scores by Mike DeNapoli (4:10) and Yapor (0:45) drew the Pride to within one. Hofstra's Zachary Pall won the ensuing faceoff, but a turnover in the UMass box with 30 seconds left clinched it for the Minutemen.

With the win, UMass (12-0, 5-0) clinches the CAA regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.

Hofstra, which has now lost four one-goal games, was led by Mike Malave and DeNapoli, who each scored three goals. Pall (8-11) and Antoniades (9-19) combined to win 17 of 30 faceoffs.

"It's been the story of our life this season," Tierney said of his team's propensity for close losses. "We've got a lot of freshmen . . . but we're becoming unbelievably experienced [in the course of] these games and I would like our guys to experience winning these games."