Penn State eliminates Hofstra men's lacrosse

Shane Sturgis scored with 1:07 left in the second overtime as host No. 15 Penn State came from behind to beat Hofstra, 9-8, in a Colonial Athletic Association men's lacrosse game Saturday. The loss eliminated Hofstra (6-8, 2-4) from the CAA Tournament and the Pride will not qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

"We're not used to the season ending this early," Hofstra coach Seth Tierney said. "The last five years, we've been in the CAA or the NCAAs.

"We're going to let this sink in a little bit and then 2013 is going begin a bit faster than we want it to."

Senior Mike DeNapoli tied a career high with four goals and Lance Yapor had two assists for the Pride, who needed a win and loss by Towson to qualify for the CAA Tournament. Making the loss worse for Hofstra, St. Joseph's defeated Towson, 6-3.

Korey Hendrickson scored his first goal of the season to give Hofstra a 2-1 lead with 10:51 left in the first quarter and the Pride led until 18 seconds left in regulation.

Sturgis scored his first of two goals with 12:14 to go in the second as Penn State cut the gap to 4-3 at halftime.

DeNapoli scored twice during a 3-0 third quarter as the Pride took a 7-3 lead.

The Nittany Lions (9-5. 5-1) outscored the Pride 5-1 in the fourth and rallied for three goals in the final 3:18, capped off when South Side's Gavin Ahern tied the score at 8 with 18 seconds left.

The Pride was without leading scorer Adrian Sorichetti for the second straight game because of a bulging disk and hernia, according to Tierney.