It was a tough way to end the regular season for the men’s lacrosse team, as they fell 10-3 to Hofstra on Saturday afternoon in Hempstead, N.Y. Out of the last 11 times that the two teams matched up, Villanova has walked away with four wins. The last time the teams met it was a heartbreaking loss for ‘Nova, when the game went into double overtime and Villanova fell one goal short. Unfortunately Villanova was once again unable to come out on the wining side.

The Hofstra Pride came out strong, starting the game with a goal once the clock started running. The Wildcats responded fast, though, when senior Dan Liva was able to tie the game at one apiece. There was 6:36 remaining when Liva netted the ball with an assist from senior Matthew Fritts.

The same thing occurred at the end of the quarter when the Pride scored to lead by one. Villanova responded with a goal by freshman Kevin Cunningham, who notched his seventh goal this season, tying the score at two.

It was in the second and third quarters that the Pride exploded offensively. The Pride scored five -traight goals to make the score 7-2. With only two minutes remaining in the third quarter, Driscoll was able to score his 24th goal of the season and bring the ‘Cats total score to three goals.

Hofstra just kept the goals coming though, and Villanova wasn’t able to find the net. The Pride went on to score three more goals and finish the game with a score of 10-3. For the Pride it was Tom Dooley and Kevin Ford who led the team with goals. They tallied three apiece on the afternoon. Hofstra goalkeeper Andew Gvozden had 10 saves on the day to earn the win.

Villanova goalkeeper Andrew Diloreto impressively had 11 saves on the day, making his season total 120 and his career total 381.

Senior Chris MacDonald and Fritts have both recorded at least one point in each of Villanova’s 14 games this entire season.

For the regular season Fritts finished with 19 goals and four assists. MacDonald totaled eight goals and 19 assists. Driscoll had two assists on the day and finished the season leading the Wildcats with most goals in the 2009 season.

Although the loss was a tough one for the ‘Cats, they will be able to redeem themselves when they play Hofstra again in the first round of the playoffs. The Wildcats will go to the CAA semi-final game for the second season in a row. Villanova is ranked No. 4 while Hofstra is the No. 1 seed.