The loss dropped the Big Green to 2-5 (0-1 Ivy) on the campaign.
The first quarter and a half was hard fought, with the teams trading goals.
The Pride (6-3, 1-1 CAA) began and ended the first half on a high note, scoring within the first 10 seconds and in the final five. Despite this, the Big Green ended the first down only 5-3, thanks to two goals from Chris Costabile '13 and one from Jake Weil '15.
"We felt like going into this game, we had nothing to lose," midfielder Robbie Hoffman '13 said. "We felt like we were the more aggressive team at the half. Unfortunately, we couldn't keep that at the start of the third."
An extra-man goal five and a half minutes into the second brought the Big Green within one, but they could not back it up, giving up five consecutive goals over the next quarter and a half to Hofstra, which put the home team up 10-4. The run was propelled by two Big Green penalties and two Pride extra-man goals.
"We took a couple of sad shots on offense and they ran down the field and took advantage," Costabile said. "They're a good team. If you make mistakes against them, it'll cost you. It ended up costing us the game."
The Big Green were down but not out, however, as they embarked on a scoring run of their own.
Nikki Dysenchuk '13 got it started with an unassisted goal with 3:48 to go in the third.
Cam Lee '16 tallied his fourth of the season on a Dartmouth man advantage to cut the lead to four.
Weil then completed his hat trick with goals late in the third and early in the fourth to cut the lead to 10-8.
The Pride refused to cede the win on its home turf, and Hofstra senior Adrian Sorichetti added an insurance goal with 2:36 to go. The Big Green picked up their offensive pressure to try to tie the game, but could only muster one goal, which came off Dysenchuk's stick at the 25-minute mark.
"We dominated the last 25 minutes of the game," Hoffman said. "Unfortunately we came up short, but hopefully next time, it'll be only a one or two goal deficit and we can put one in the win column."
Statistically, the game was among the strongest of the season for the Big Green.
They outshot the Pride 44-26. Despite the offensive pressure, Hofstra sophomore goalie Chris Selva turned aside 14 Big Green shots to bring home the win.
"We took good shots for the most part, but sometimes the other goalie plays well," Bernie Susskind '13 said. "If he's on fire, it's tough to beat him. We can work on being a little more efficient on offense, but we did well for the most part."
The Big Green won the face-off battle 13-11, had half as many turnovers as the Pride and won the ground ball battle 35-26. They were also a perfect 15 for 15 on clears in the game.
"We decided we needed to start to turn around our season as soon as possible," Hoffman said. "We were able to get up for the game today and, even though we lost, we can take that effort into the Ivy League schedule.
The Big Green failed to make the most of extra-man opportunities. Both teams had success with the man advantage, scoring three goals a piece.
Hofstra's goal timing pushed their lead ever further away from the Big Green.
"There were a lot of flags in the game," Costabile said. "From a man-up perspective, 50 percent is the best you could hope for. Defensively, they moved the ball and made the extra pass. I think it was more a case of them having a good man-up unit than our defense playing poorly."
Costabile continued his offensive dominance in the game. The senior captain scored twice for the sixth straight game and added two assists. Dysenchuk got back in the groove, scoring two goals of his own. It was his first multi-goal game since a 13-8 victory over the University of Vermont in February. Adam Fishman '15 also chipped in a goal for the Big Green.
Susskind tallied seven saves in the loss.
Dartmouth travels next to Ithaca, N.Y., to face rival and No. 3 Cornell University on Saturday.
"We need to take the energy and confidence we had today and keep it for the Cornell game," Susskind said. "I'd say it was one of the best games we played all season, even though we lost."
