STONY BROOK, N.Y. – The University of Hartford men's lacrosse team fell in the opening round of the America East Championships on Thursday, falling 15-13 to the third-seeded UMBC Retrievers at La Valle Stadium. Freshman Jack Bobzien scored five goals while senior Garrett Dollard added two in the Hawks' season-ending setback.

Trailing by as many as four and by three at the half, the Hawks rallied back and gained a four-goal advantage with 10:18 left in the final quarter. That 13-9 advantage quickly evaporated, though, as the Retrievers reeled off a game-ending 6-0 run over the final 5:46 to score the come-from-behind victory and advance to the title game on Saturday.

Hartford, which finished with a 7-7 overall record, loses seven seniors to graduation. Nick Ceme, Garrett Dollard, Jared Franze, Adam Haig, Brendan Lake, Ben Liebel and Rory Nunamacher played in their final game in the scarlet and white, earning the program's first-ever America East Championship in 2011.

After a sluggish first half that saw the Hawks facing disadvantages in ground balls and shots, Hartford came out of the halftime break on fire. Momentum quickly swung in favor of the Hawks as they erased a 7-4 halftime deficit by scoring three unanswered to start the third, tying up the game for the first time since the opening faceoff.

Bobzien, who cut a four goal deficit to three before the intermission on a man-up goal, started that spurt off with two more scores while Andrew Cacchio capped off the rally with 7:27 left in the third. It took just seven seconds into the third for the All-Rookie Team selection to make it a two-goal game as the Hawks won the first faceoff of the half. Junior Tate Klidonas picked up the ground ball, sprinted down field, and found Bobzien open from five yards out.

The deficit quickly whittled down to one as Bobzien delivered his third-straight with 13:19 left after tracking down a rebound from teammate Jared Franze's long shot. Six minutes later, Bobzien had a share in another Hartford goal, assisting on Cacchio's game-tying strike at the 7:27 mark.

The game wouldn't remain even for long, though, as UMBC reclaimed the edge 48 seconds later on a Scott Jones score. Unlike the first half, Hartford answered back, using a long goal from Austin Gorman with 4:20 left to retie the game before Alex Matarazo provided his team with its first lead at 9-8 after scoring out of the ensuing faceoff on another Klidonas dish.

In the final seconds of the third, Scott Jones tied things up at nine-all with 31 seconds left, forcing the two teams to play even to start the fourth.

In that final period, Hartford, which outshot UMBC, 16-5, in the third, picked up right where it left off. The Hawks rattled-off four unanswered scores in the first five minutes of action, three of which came in a 90 second span.

At the 13:33 mark, O'Shea provided the pass on the go-ahead goal, feeding Dollard from the top of the crease. Back-to-back goals 10 seconds apart by Bobzien put Hartford ahead by a 12-9 count before Franze provided the Hawks with their largest lead of the game with 10:18 left to play.

Things quickly changed as the Retrievers took the momentum back and erased their four-goal deficit over the final minutes of action. Hartford had possession with over five minutes left but a turnover sparked UMBC's final run. Down the stretch, the Hawks conceded every faceoff and within a three minute stretch, the Retrievers clawed back and tied the game up at 13-13 with two minutes to go.

Joe Lustgarten, who opened up the rally six-goal rally, delivered the final daggers, putting UMBC ahead with 55 seconds left and icing the game with another goal 21 seconds later.

Lustgarten finished with four goals for UMBC (7-7) while Jones and Pat Brown each added three. For the Hawks, Nunamacher dished out a game-best four assists.

UMBC held the edge in ground balls and won 23 of 32 faceoffs. Ceme collected five ground balls for the Hawks, joining Matarazzo with a pair of caused turnovers on the afternoon.