EAST HARTFORD, Conn. There was no dramatic late comeback or overtime heroics for the University of Massachusetts men's lacrosse team Saturday.

Each of the last two weeks, the No. 15 Minutemen fell behind before mounting furious late comebacks to avoid losses to mediocre opponents. But they could not repeat that formula against No. 8 Hofstra and fell 14-5 Saturday at the ESPNU Warrior Classic at Rentschler Field.

The previous three losses for UMass had come by a combined four goals but the Minutemen (8-4, 3-2 Colonial Athletic Association) were overmatched by the Pride. UMass scored the fewest and allowed the most goals it had all year.

"We were outplayed in every facet of the game today, which is obviously very disappointing," Minuteman coach Greg Cannella said. "We felt we were poor in our execution. Hofstra is a very good team. Give them all the credit in the world. They took it to us."

Sophomore UMass defenseman Tom Celentani echoed his coach's sentiments.

"We didn't execute today. We had a good game plan, but we didn't show up to play," Celentani said. "We have to move on and focus on Delaware. I think we'll be all right."

The Minutemen will try to regroup Friday when they host Delaware on Senior Day at 7 p.m. at Garber Field.

"You can't use it. You have to say, "Hey this is over,' and you have to prepare for Delaware next week," Cannella said. "Hopefully guys take it personally and prepare themselves well for next week's game. You don't get a lot out of this."

The Pride set the tone early by holding UMass scoreless in a quarter for just the second time this season and led 2-0 after the first period.

Hofstra carried that momentum into the second period and stretched its edge to 7-0. That was a particularly deep hole considering seven of the Pride's opponents this season did not score seven goals. The Minutemen finally got on the board when Anthony Biscardi converted a Ryan Hantverk pass with 3 minutes, 19 seconds left in the half. The drought of 26:41 to open the game was the longest in almost three years. Syracuse held UMass scoreless for 30:07 almost exactly three years ago on April 26, 2008, at the Carrier Dome.

The Minutemen cut their deficit to 7-2 just before halftime. Short stick defensive midfielder Stephen Zorkers picked up a loose ball in the UMass end and sprinted the length of the field. He fired from about 15 yards out. Pride goalie Andrew Gvozden (seven saves) deflected the shot but did not stop it and the ball knuckleballed into the net as time expired.

"That goal actually got us refocused," Hofstra coach Seth Tierney said.

Any hope the Minutemen had of that goal starting a rally died quickly after intermission. The Pride again shut out UMass and outshot the Minutemen 17-2 while stretching their edge to 12-2.

Two goals by Art Kell and one by Colin Fleming led a mini-UMass uprising as it scored the first three goals of the fourth quarter to get within seven at 12-5, but Hofstra scored the last two to finish off the Minutemen.

It was the first time in his career that UMass sophomore attackman Will Manny (six turnovers) was held with out a point.

Hofstra outshot UMass 47-22, controlled possession by winning 15 of 21 faceoffs and won the ground-ball battle 32-20.

Tim McCormack made nine saves for the Minutemen.

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Follow UMass coverage on Twitter at twitter.com/GazetteUMass. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at http://www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.