Boxscore

Photos Courtesy of Myles Tintle

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The University of Delaware put in a big effort on a big stage, but the Hens couldn't convert an opportunity in the final minute and dropped a 10-8 men's lacrosse decision to Colonial Athletic Association foe Hofstra Saturday as part of the inaugural Big City Classic at Giants Stadium.

Martin Cahill (top right) led the Hens (3-8, 0-2 CAA) with three goals and Mark Steverson converted with 1:21 left to cut the margin to 9-8, but No. 7 ranked Hofstra foiled Delaware's final attempt and then scored with just one second left to pick up the win in a game that featured five ties.

Hofstra (7-1, 2-0 CAA), the defending CAA champion and pre-season favorite, won its fifth straight game as Jay Card accounted for seven points with a career-high tying five goals and two assists.

The game closed out a successful tripleheader Saturday at wind-swept Giants Stadium as part of the Big City Classic hosted by Inside Lacrosse. The tripleheader drew a crowd of 22,308, the largest regular season turnout for an event that included only men's lacrosse action in NCAA history.

The game was also the second largest turnout ever for a Delaware men's lacrosse, behind only the throng of 52,004 for the Hens NCAA semifinal appearance vs. Johns Hopkins at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore in 2007.

Top-ranked Virginia rallied in the first game to down No. 10 North Carolina 11-10 in the first game while No. 5 Princeton upset No. 2 Syracuse 12-7 in the second game.

Delaware, looking to post its first victory over a Top 20 opponent in four tries this season, almost finished off the second upset of the day before Hofstra pulled out the win and downed the Hens for the 11th time in the last 13 meetings. The Hens, who have lost both of their CAA contests this season by a combined total of just three goals and have lostfive games by three or less goals this season, lost their 10th straight game away from home.

Card scored his card goal of the game with 3:58 left to play to extend Hofstra's lead to 9-7, but the Hens pulled to within 9-8 when Steverson scored from the right side with just 1:21 remaining.

Delaware's Tommy Lee won the ensuing faceoff, but shots by Cahill and All-American Curtis Dickson were wide and Hofstra's Christian Scuderi forced Dickson to turn the ball over just outside the circle. Scuderi scooped up the groundball and then fired a length of the field pass to Card who outjumped two UD defenders and scored into an open net from 20 yards out with just one second left to clinch the win.

"We played hard to the end," said Delaware head coach Bob Shillinglaw. "At the end the game we got some opportunities, but Hofstra is a good team and they buckled down and we couldn't get that last shot to tie it. We had the opportunities, but Hofstra did a good a job of stopping us."

Dickson had a goal and dished out an assist for Delaware to extend his three-year point-scoring streak to 36 straight games, the fifth longest current streak in NCAA Division I and No. 2 all-time in UD history, 11 shy of Anthony DiMarzo's mark of 47 set in 1992-95.

Phil Rollins also had a goal and an assist for the Hens with Steverson, Beau Davis, and Kevin Kaminski tallying goals. Kaminski left the game in the fourth quarter with a thigh contusion and did not return. Noah Fossner posted 12 saves in goal, marking his 10th straight game in double figures.

Tom Dooley added two goals for Hofstra while Anthony Muscarella contributed a goal and an assist and goalkeeper Andrew Gvozden turned back 11 Delaware shots. Delaware outshot the Pride 38-28.

Dickson scored just 46 seconds into the game, but Hofstra came back with three straight scores, including two by Card. But Cahill and Davis answered with goals by Delaware to knot the score at 3-3 after one quarter.

Card and Kaminski traded goals to tie the score again at 4-4 in the second quarter before Hofstra took a 5-4 halftime lead on a goal by Muscarella with just 22 seconds left.

Dooley scored for Hofstra just six seconds in the second half to give Hofstra a 6-4 lead, but the Hens answered again as Cahill scored just over a minute later and Rollins tallied a man-up goal with 4:50 left in the stanza to tie it at 6-6. Hofstra took a 7-6 lead into the final quarter on a goal by Dan Stein with 1:38 left.

Delaware took its last share of the lead early in the fourth quarter as Cahill scored his third goal of the game just 1:02 into the quarter to tie the game for the fifth time at 7-7. Dooley and Card then answered for Hofstra to push the Pride lead to 9-7 with 3:58 left before Steverson scored the Hens' final goal with 1:21 remaining.

The Hens will continue action Wednesday when they host Sacred Heart in CAA action at 7 p.m. at Rullo Stadium.