HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — The Stony Brook men's lacrosse team entered the USILA rankings this week for the first time in four years. And things are looking bright under second-year head coach Anthony Gilardi.

However, the 17th-ranked Seawolves suffered their first blemish of the season on Saturday, falling to host Hofstra, 20-17.

With the teams deadlocked in the third quarter, Dylan Pallonetti had a pair of goals and Wayne White also scored to open a 14-11 lead. However, Hofstra answered with five straight goals to take a two-goal lead early in the fourth quarter.

Pallonetti's fifth goal of the game stopped Hofstra's run and pulled the Seawolves within 16-15 with 11:35 remaining. But Hofstra did not relinquish the lead the rest of the way.

Pallonetti finished with a team-high five goals in the defeat. Tom Haun and Mike McCannell each added a hat trick. Haun moved to 99 career goals.

Stony Book won only 14 of 41 faceoffs.

"Obviously it's not the result we wanted in a rivalry game," coach Anthony Gilardi said. "It came down to making stops and winning faceoffs. We struggled in those two areas. Credit to Hofstra. They did a great job of earning high-quality shots and finishing the ball. We will watch the film, learn from it and get back to work on Monday as we open America East play."