ALBANY, N.Y.  – Making its fourth America East Championship appearance in five years, the University of Hartford men's lacrosse team fell to the seventh-ranked Albany Great Danes, 15-6, in semifinal action on Thursday evening at Bob Ford Field in Albany. Freshman Justin Huggins paced the Hawks with a hat trick, the third of his career.

Behind a five goal and four assist night from three-time America East Player of the Year Lyle Thompson, Albany, which improves to 14-2 on the season, advances to take on No. 17 Stony Brook in the title game on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. The Great Danes will be seeking their seventh America East Championship crown and their third in as many seasons. Connor Fields, the league's Rookie of the Year, added three goals and an assist for the Great Danes.

The Hawks put up a fight in the first two quarters, as they were all tied up with the Great Danes at 4-4 three minutes in to the second stanza. But Albany closed out the half on a 3-0 run and had a damaging third quarter, putting the contest out of reach by netting five goals while holding the Hawks to just one tally – a goal from freshman Griffin Feiner at the 5:06 mark of the stanza.

"I am very proud of the effort our guys gave tonight," commented 10th-year head coach Peter Lawrence. He continued, "I think we played really hard. We only had 24 field players when you take out our goalies, and it's been a tough road for us this season in terms of injuries. We even had multiple kids who were in that number of 24 that were playing tonight with injuries. I give a lot of credit to Albany - they have a phenomenal attack group between the combination of Lyle (Thompson), Seth Oakes, and (Connor) Fields."

Despite the loss, All-Rookie Team selection Ryan Vanderford posted an impressive performance in net. He registered a career-high 17 saves, and is already listed in Hartford's Division I record books as the program's eighth winningest goalie with seven career victories.

"We got a lot of great play from our players, including Kevin O'Shea, but we needed to have a little bit more gas in the tank to be able to beat a great team like Albany," Lawrence added.

Freshman Justin Huggins and senior Kevin O'Shea each scored twice in the game's first 18 minutes to help Hartford keep pace with Albany. Huggins struck twice in the first quarter as the two squads exchanged blows before O'Shea went back-to-back within a 16 second span to bring the Hawks out of what was a two goal deficit and tie up the contest at 4-4 with 12:20 remaining in the second quarter.

Albany dominated the remainder of the half, though, as it wheeled-off three unanswered scores to take a 7-4 advantage over Hartford. Thompson assisted on a Seth Oakes goal with 8:11 left to spark the rally before going off for two goals of his own to provide the Great Danes with the three-goal edge at the break.

The Hawks' deficit expanded to eight goals as Thompson's final tally of the game made it a 13-6 Albany lead with 9:56 left in the game. Huggins closed the gap to 13-7 and completed the hat trick with 3:52 remaining before the Great Danes strung together a pair of tallies to close out the game.

Alec Brown and Doug Biondi tacked on assists to round out the Hawks' scorers.

Hartford loses seven seniors, including America East All-Conference First Team picks Brian Monks and Kevin O'Shea, to graduation. Also among the graduating seniors is Matt Carroll, James Murphy, Dan Pierce, Adam Yee, and Robert Zecher.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

·         Freshman Dylan Protesto, who earned America East All-Rookie Team honors, started out the night by going 5-of-6 at the faceoff X to help the Hawks stay in the contest

·         In the final three quarters, Albany went 13-of 18 in the battle for possession to help fuel an offense that scored 12 of the game's final 16 goals

·         Albany held advantages in shots (52-30), ground balls (41-38) and went 24-of-26 in clears

·         The Hawks were unable to capitalize on five extra-man opportunities while the Great Danes scored four man-up goals in six opportunities

·         Hartford went 15-of-19 in clears and committed 18 turnovers

·         Albany exploded in the third quarter, outscoring the Hawks, 5-1; in the second half, it outscored Hartford, 8-2 

NEWS AND NOTES: 

·         With 175 points, senior Kevin O'Shea, who took home his second America East All-Conference First Team honor, finishes his career as the fifth-best scorer in Hartford's Division I era

·         O'Shea also ranks in the program's top-10 in goals (119) and assists (56), as he ranks fourth and eighth, respectively

·         O'Shea ended his career riding a 19-game scoring streak, the eighth-best rally in the nation

·         Hartford has suffered five-straight losses to Albany as the Great Danes hold a 15-4 advantage over the Hawks

·         Freshman Ryan Vanderford registered 17 saves, a career-high, in the setback

·         Concluding his rookie season with an overall record of 7-8 between the pipes, Vanderford is already listed in Hartford's Division I record books as the eighth winningest goalie in program history

·         Vanderford's eight ground balls were also a career-high

·         The Hawks will return (58/146) over 60-percent of its goal production next season, but loses top-scorer O'Shea (36 goals, 20 assists) to graduation