ALBANY, N.Y. – The University of Hartford men's lacrosse team fell at the University at Albany Great Danes on Sunday afternoon, dropping a 24-11 decision to the No. 20 Great Danes. The Hawks dip to 4-5 overall and 1-1 in America East games while the Great Danes remain unbeaten in league play at 2-0 and improve to 8-3 on the season.

Seniors Jared Franze and Rory Nunamacher netted three and two goals, respectively, but it wasn't enough for the Hawks as the Great Danes combined to outscore the visiting squad, 13-3, in the final two quarters to extend a three-goal halftime lead to 13 before the last horn sounded.

Five UAlbany players netted three or more goals, with Lyle Thompson's four goals leading the way for the afternoon. He added three assists to that number to finish with a game-best seven points.

After the intermission, the Great Danes came out firing, all but one of the six third-quarter goals to push an 11-8 halftime advantage to 16-9 over the 15 minute span. In the fourth, the two squads traded one tally apiece before UAlbany reeled off seven-straight scores to extend its lead into double digits.

The two squads played an evenly matched game to start, trading two goals apiece in the first 11 minutes. The home team striking first before Adam Yee gave Hartford its first lead of the game at 3-2 just four seconds after Jack Bobzien tied things up at two-all with 3:54 left in the quarter.

Hartford was unable to expand on that lead before the end of the quarter, though, as Miles Thompson knotted up the score at 3-3, delivering his second goal of the stanza with 3:11 remaining.

Nunamacher put the Hawks ahead for the second and final time early in the second quarter, finding the back of the net just 31 seconds in, but the Great Danes had an impactful answer, rallying for a 7-0 run over the next five minutes to take a commanding 10-4 advantage over Hartford with 9:18 left to play before halftime.

Tim Cox started that spurt with two unanswered goals and five other players contributed to the offensive outburst that put the Great Danes ahead by six.

Before the end of the half, Hartford managed to close the gap to down to three, scoring four of the final five goals. Franze shoveled in his first goal of the contest with 8:44 to go and Andrew Cacchio made it two in a row for the Hawks, ending the game's first scoring drought, a six minute span, with his 16th goal of the season. Following a John Maloney tally that re-extending UAlbany's lead back to five with just over two minutes remaining, Garrett Dollard and Franze reeled off two-straight to provide the three-goal halftime margin of 11-8.

Redshirt junior Frank Piechota played just under 54 minutes, allowing 22 goals while making 15 saves. Blaze Riorden, his counterpart, recorded seven saves in all but four minutes, allowing 10 goals in. UAlbany finished with commanding advantages in shots (55-33) and ground balls (50-39) but fell behind at the faceoff X as Hartford won 21-of-38 duels, paced by a 20-of-34 effort from Yee.

The Hawks will take a break from conference play on Tuesday when they travel to Dartmouth for a mid-week contest. Faceoff is set for 3 p.m. from Hanover, N.H.