Box Score Photo Gallery

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – In the opening game of America East action on Saturday, the University of Hartford men's lacrosse team posted a late comeback bid, but its attempt was cut short as visiting Binghamton came away with the 11-10 win on a rainy Al-Marzook Field. The Bearcats improve to 3-5 overall and 1-0 in league play while the Hawks dip to 4-6 with a 0-1 record in the conference.

Junior Kevin O'Shea netted his fourth hat trick of the season in the first 17 minutes of the game as Hartford jumped out to an early 4-2 lead. That advantage extended to 6-2 with 11 left to play in the second as O'Shea's final tally fueled a 3-0 run that also featured scores from rookies Doug Biondi and Jaedon Henderson, but the Bearcats used seven unanswered points to take a three-goal lead early in the third and never looked back from there, despite Hartford's late charge.

Pushing his point-scoring streak to 22 games, O'Shea's three goals led all Hawk scorers. Hartford also received two goals from Henderson while senior Tate Klidonas contributed a score and an assist. Paced by a four-goal effort from Matt Springer, Binghamton's Nelson Tucker finished with a game-best five points, scoring twice and handing out a trio of assists for the Bearcats.

Springer and Nelson combined for four of Binghamton's seven goals in what proved to be the game-deciding run that put the Bearcats up, 9-6, with 10:48 left to play in the third. With 4:49 to go in that period, senior Conner Yatauro disrupted the Bearcats' rally and ended Hartford's scoring drought – a 21-minute stretch that dated back to the 10:49 mark of the second quarter – with his seventh tally of the year to make it a two-point game.

But Binghamton had an answer, forcing Hartford to enter the final quarter facing a three-goal deficit at 10-7 thanks to a Springer goal with 17 seconds remaining in the third.

The Hawks did pick up the pace offensively and scored three of the final four goals of the game, but it was too little, too late. Klidonas got the comeback bid going and made it a 10-8 deficit with an unassisted score two and a half minutes in before Springer's final marker with 5:55 to go re-extended his team's lead back to three.

The Binghamton lead was then brought down to a single goal as senior Brad Hutton and Henderson strung together back-to-back goals less than a minute apart for Hartford with 2:37 left on the clock. Winning the ensuing faceoff, the Hawks had possession for the remainder of the contest, but with the time winding down, they were unable to capitalize. O'Shea's shot with 21 seconds left bounced off the crossbar while the home team's final attempt from senior Andrew Cacchio was caught by Binghamton goalie Max Schefler's net.

Schefler finished with 10 saves in the cage for the Bearcats. At the faceoff X, redshirt junior Adam Yee had a solid day, winning 16-of-24 duels while collecting a game-high eight ground balls. The Hawks held advantages in shots (39-33) and ground balls (29-18), but went 0-for-4 on the man-up while committing 12 turnovers to Binghamton's eight.

Hartford has eight days off before returning to action at home against defending league champ Albany next Sunday. The Hawks and Great Danes are slated for a 1 p.m. opening faceoff from Al-Marzook Field at Alumni Stadium.