HEMPSTEAD, New York * Senior midfielder Casey McGrath (Kings Park, NY) tallied four goals, four ground balls and three draw controls to lead the Hofstra Women's Lacrosse team to a 9-6 victory over George Mason at James M. Shuart Stadium on Friday evening.

The win was the fifth straight for Hofstra, which started the season with a 2-4 record. With the victory, the Pride improves to 7-4 overall and a perfect 4-0 in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play. The 4-0 mark to begin CAA action is Hofstra's best start since joining the conference in 2002, besting the 3-0 start of the 2005 squad. George Mason, meanwhile, drops its third straight and falls to 5-6 and 0-3 in the conference.

With the victory, Hofstra wins its eighth straight against CAA opponents at home and the Pride's senior class earns the 40th win of their careers, tying them for fourth all-time in Pride Lacrosse history.

Hofstra dug itself an early hole in the contest as they trailed 3-1 with 7:45 left in the opening stanza after Laura King notched her 27th goal of the season off a free-position shot.

The Pride would rally at that point, though, as they closed the half with three goals in the final 3:40 of the first half to take a 4-3 lead into halftime. Hofstra would have four different in the first half with freshman midfielder Corrine Gandolfi (East Northport, NY) tying the score at three and senior attacker Kimberly Hillier (Farmingdale, NY) giving the Pride the 4-3 advantage with an unassisted goal with 1:04 remaining in the half.

Each goalie had a strong first half, with Pride keeper Maisie Osteen (Charlottesville, VA) totaling six saves in the first half and George Mason goalie Sara Longobucco notching five saves in the opening 30 minutes. Osteen, the current Inside Lacrosse/Nike Division I and CAA Player of the Week, finished with nine saves, while Longobucco had seven for George Mason.

After closing the first half with three straight goals, Hofstra would outscore the Patriots 3-1 over the first 15:25 of the second stanza to lead 7-4 after Hillier's second tally of the contest. George Mason had evened the score at four on Megan Udovich's 17th goal of the season before Hofstra notched the next three goals of the game.

King ended the Pride run with a free-position goal at the 10:40 mark for the Patriots, but Hofstra held George Mason to just one goal over the final 10-plus minutes of the game to earn the three-goal victory. McGrath gave Hofstra the extra breathing room with a pair of goals in the final 9:09, with Alex Velesz accounting for the Patriots goal.

Hofstra had a decided advantage in draw controls in the game, winning 11 of the 17 draw controls, including six of eight in the first half.

With her four goals in the contest, McGrath now has 108 goals and 142 points in her career. She is now fifth all-time in goals at Hofstra and ninth in points. She passed Beth Simpson (1989-92) in both categories as Simpson had 106 goals and 139 points.

Hillier had four points in the contest as well, totaling two goals and two assists, while senior attacker Becky Thorn (Holbrook, NY) also found the back of the net twice. Gandolfi led Hofstra with three caused turnovers, while sophomore attacker Lauren Whitcomb (East Rochester, NY) and freshman midfielder K'Leigh Vanaman (Penn Yan, NY) each had two draw controls.

King (two goals) and Udovich (one goal and one assist) led the way for George Mason in the scoring column, while Megan Bartlett had three caused turnovers.

Hofstra returns to action on Sunday when they host James Madison at 1 p.m. The contest against the Dukes will mark the return of Shelley Klaes-Bawcombe, who took over the JMU program this season after directing the Pride fortunes for the past five seasons.

Box Score

2007-04-13