BURLINGTON, Vt.  – The University of Hartford men's lacrosse team suffered a 14-11 loss in a crucial America East matchup at Vermont on Saturday afternoon. Senior midfielder Kevin O'Shea matched a game-best in scoring with five points on three goals and two assists as a dominant second quarter led the Catamounts past the Hawks for the first time in four seasons.

The Hawks dipped to 7-6 overall and 3-2 in the America East. Friday's matchup, the Hawks' regular season finale against Stony Brook, will be a crucial one for postseason implications as the Hawks are currently tied for third with Vermont with respective 3-2 records. The Seawolves, who are in second place with a 3-1 mark, will take on fifth-place Binghamton (2-2) tomorrow afternoon.

Sophomore Jaedon Henderson and freshman Griffin Feiner also recorded multi-goal outings, finishing with two goals apiece, while redshirt senior Adam Yee, who had missed the last four outings with an injury, joined O'Shea and Trevor O'Brien with a pair of assists on the afternoon.

Freshman Ryan Vanderford made 10 saves in the losing effort for Hartford while his counterpart, Justin Rosenberg, rejected 11 shots. In the faceoff X, the Hawks held a 16-of-29 advantage over the Catamounts, led by a 13-of-25 effort from rookie Dylan Protesto.

Hartford opened up the scoring by netting three unanswered goals within a stretch of two minutes to take a 3-1 lead before the end of the first quarter. O'Shea put the Hawks on the scoreboard with his first of three goals at the 8:57 mark of the stanza before Feiner quickly doubled that advantage just 56 seconds later. Capping the flurry was senior Matt Carroll as his 15th goal of the year gave Hartford what would be its largest lead of the contest.

Ian MacKay, who joined James Barlow with a team-best three goals, ended the Hawks' rally and put the Catamounts on the board with 53 seconds remaining in the first. Vermont would make it a two-goal run and cut Hartford's lead to one on an unassisted score from Michael Clarke 95 seconds into the stanza before O'Shea and Feiner delivered back-to-back tallies less than a minute apart to put their squad back up by three (5-2) with 11:37 to go before halftime.

The Hawks would not enjoy that lead much longer, though, as the Catamounts closed out the half with a 6-1 run to take an 8-6 advantage into the halftime break. Six different Vermont players accounted for each goal during that rally, which featured four unanswered goals within a 1:40 stretch.

Vermont's lead stretched to 9-6 thanks to MacKay's third goal of the contest, but O'Shea countered for the Hawks and closed the gap back to two with his third tally of the game. Following a four-minute stretch that featured an exchange of goals between the two squads, Dyson White converted on a feed from Matt Gudas to extend the Catamounts' lead to 11-8 heading into the final quarter.

Two unanswered scores – a Nick Barlett tally at the 11:01 mark before a James Barlow man-up goal with 4:10 left – provided the Catamounts with their largest edge of the game at 13-8. Hartford managed to pull back within three on scores from Alec Brown and Jaedon Henderson in the final 2:18, but wouldn't get any closer as Barlow sealed the victory for Vermont with a goal with 46 seconds left.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS: 

·         Hartford and Vermont finished even in shots, taking 41 apiece, with the Catamounts putting 24 on goal compared to 22 shots on goal from the Hawks

·         In two man-up opportunities, the Hawks were unable to convert while the Catamounts scored twice in six extra-man opportunities

·         Hartford was also edged in the ground ball battle (42-41), committed one more turnover than its foe, and went 18-of-21 in clears

·         Kevin O'Shea paced all scorers with five points, netting his fourth-straight hat trick while adding a pair of assists

·         Also adding multiple goals were sophomore Jaedon Henderson and rookie Griffin Feiner, who each scored twice

·         Hartford had nine caused turnovers, led by three apiece from sophomore Conor Daley, junior Torrey Martone and senior Brian Monks

·         Inside of the faceoff circle, the Hawks held a 16-of-29 advantage as freshman Dylan Protesto won 13-of-28 draws, collecting a game-best eight ground balls in the process

·         Despite suffering the loss between the pipes, Ryan Vanderford made 10 saves while adding six ground balls 

NEWS AND NOTES: 

·         A Hartford four-game win-streak against Vermont was snapped with its loss in Burlington on Saturday

·         The setback brings the all-time series to 19-11, in favor of Vermont

·         With the loss, Hartford ended a brief two-game win-streak in conference games

·         Senior Kevin O'Shea led the scoring with three goals and two assists, recording his fourth-straight hat trick and his seventh on the season

·         O'Shea extended his goal-scoring streak to 17 games, marking the nation's 11th longest current rally

·         Sophomore Jaedon Henderson has recorded multi-goal outings in five of the seven games he has appeared in this season while rookie Griffin Feiner has put together seven multi-goal games, including four-in-a-row

·         Redshirt senior Adam Yee made his return to the lineup after four games with an injury; he had two assists and three ground balls in the loss while adding a 3-for-3 effort at the faceoff X

·         Between the pipes, Ryan Vanderford, who is coming off his second-straight America East Rookie of the Week honor, picked up a career-high six ground balls 

UP NEXT:
The 2015 regular season comes to a close at home for Hartford, as it hosts Stony Brook on Friday night. The tilt between the two league foes is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Prior to opening faceoff, the Hawks will honor their six seniors, who will be playing at Al-Marzook Field at Alumni Stadium for the final times in their career.