Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell

HEMPSTEAD, NY -- Host Hofstra scored five straight goals to take control in the second half and Delaware suffered through a scoring drought of nearly 36 minutes as the Blue Hens fell to the Pride 9-7 in the Colonial Athletic Association men's lacrosse semifinals Wednesday night at Shuart Stadium.

The Blue Hens, who captured the 2007 CAA title and advanced all the way to the NCAA national semifinals, were making their fifth straight appearance in the league tournament but a rash of turnovers kept them from advancing to the league title game for the fourth straight year.

Top seed Drexel, which defeated No. 4 seed Villanova 11-5 Wednesday night, will host No. 2 seed Hofstra in the championship game Saturday at 5 p.m. The winner earns an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

Delaware senior goalkeeper Tom Scherr was brilliant in his final game as a Blue Hen, turning back 15 shots, but the Hens failed on nine of 21 clears and committed 18 turnovers in suffering their seventh straight loss to the Pride at Shuart Stadium. Delaware has not defeated the Pride on Long Island since a 13-7 victory in 1999.

Curtis Dickson and J.J. Moran (at right) each scored two goals for Delaware, which ended the season with a record of 9-7, marking the squad's fifth straight winning season.

Hofstra (9-5), which also defeated Delaware 11-8 at home back on April 12, got three goals each from Tom Dooley and Dan Stein with Michael Unterstein adding two goals and an assist and Michael Colleluori dishing out three assists.

"Hofstra did a terrific job of controlling possession tonight," said Delaware head coach Bob Shillinglaw, who was denied his 250th career victory at Delaware. "They were methodical on offense and did a good job of finding the open man. The game is all about possession and we gave them more opportunities than we wanted to. That part of the game was not an issue all year but tonight it was."

Hofsra broke a 3-3 first quarter tie by scoring the only goal of the second quarter and the first three of the second half as part of a pivotal 4-0 run. Dooley scored back-to-back goals during the run and fed Stein to complete the rally.

Delaware finally ended a scoring drought of 35:45 when J.J. Moran tallied a goal with 1:05 left in the final stanza, pulling the Hens to within 7-4.

Delaware managed to cut the lead to 7-5 with 11:56 left to play when freshman longstick midfielder Tim Langmaid raced coast to coast and scored his second goal of the season, but the Pride came right back with goals by Unterstein and Stein - both on assists from Colleluori - within a span of just 2:36, take control.

"Once you've been to places where we went last year, it's tough falling short," said Scherr, a senior who finished his career with 33 victories in the net and 576 saves to rank No. 4 all-time at Delaware. "This is a tough one to take and it's frustrating. We made some mistakes tonight, but Hofstra beat us. We were in a similar position last season but the result was obviously much different this year. But I'm proud of this team."

Senior Cam Howard, who ended his five-year career as Delaware's sixth all-time leading scorer with 186 points on 84 goals and 102 assists, scored a goal with 4:06 left to cut the lead to 9-6 and also dished out two assists on the night. Junior Beau Davis also scored a goal for the Blue Hens.

Dickson tallied his second goal of the game with 14 seconds left, but it wasn't enough to cap a comebacker for the Hens. A CAA Player of the Year and Tewaaraton Trophy national player of the year candidate, Dickson finished his sophomore season with a team-high 46 goals and scored a goal in his 25th straight game, the third longest streak in UD history. His 46 goals ranks him in the top 10 nationally in the NCAA.

Hofstra took a 4-3 halftime lead as the Pride broke a 3-3 tie with the only goal of the second quarter when Anthony Muscarella fired a shot past Tom Scherr from five yards out on the right side with just 1:12 left in the stanza. It could have been worse for the Hens, but a laser shot from the left side by Michael Colleluori just before the halftime horn hit the post.

The first half, which saw the Pride outshot Delaware 20-11, featured three ties. Hofstra opened the scoring just 1:08 into the contest when Tom Dooley took a feed from Colleluori for a 1-0 lead, but Delaware came right back almost three minutes later when D.J. Widlake found J.J. Moran for the Hens’ initial goal with 11:08 left.

Hofstra regained the lead on a man-up goal by Mike Unterstein with 9:15 remaining in the opening stanza, but the Hens came back with consecutive goals to take a 3-2 lead. Beau Davis scored an unassisted goal from close range with 8:10 left to tie the score at 2-2 and Curtis Dickson gave the Hens their only lead of the half at 3-2 with 6:50 left with his team-leading 45th goal of the season.

Dickson’s goal extended his streak of scoring a goal to 25 games, the third longest streak in school history and longest since Randy Powers scored in 27 straight in 1983-84.

Hofstra then tied the game for the third time as Dan Stein scored off a feed from Unterstein with just 31 seconds left in the opening quarter to knot the game at 3-3.

"I've been happy with our team's effort all year long," said Shillinglaw, who extended his NCAA record for career games coached to 513. "Tonight was no different."

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