THE BASICS:

RESULT: Bryant 16, Hartford 11
RECORDS: Hartford (1-1); Bryant (3-1)
LOCATION: Al-Marzook Field at Alumni Stadium (West Hartford, Conn.)
ATTENDANCE: 428

THE LEAD:

Two Hawks registered hat tricks, led by a career-high five goals from sophomore Griffin Feiner, but the University of Hartford men's lacrosse team was unable to shake off Bryant's barrage of fourth-quarter goals as it fell by a 16-11 final in its home opener on Saturday. The Bulldogs, who outscored the Hawks, 7-3, in the decisive final quarter, opened that stretch with a 4-0 run to extend a 9-8 edge to five goals with 8:07 left to play.

Freshman Dylan Jinks joined Feiner with a hat trick, as he recorded three tallies and added a trio of assists to finish with a team-best six points. Bryant was led by five goals and three assists from Tucker James while Collins Gantz added four goals for the Bulldogs.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• A hot start featuring a pair of tallies in the first four minutes from Feiner landed the Hawks with the early 2-0 edge. But Bryant responded, as James single-handedly put the Bulldogs in front with three-straight scores over a stretch of 4:13. The Bulldogs would extend their lead to 4-2 behind the strength of Gantz's first goal with 2:31 remaining before sophomore Will Dulin stopped the bleeding on the visiting squad's run. His lone score with 50 seconds remaining made a 4-3 Bryant lead at the end of the stanza.
• Forty-six seconds into the second quarter, Feiner connected with junior Jaedon Henderson for the second time to tie up the game at 4-4 with his third goal of the contest. The Bulldogs would again answer back, though, as they took a two-goal advantage with 7:57 remaining thanks to tally from Tom Forsberg and a man-up score from Ryan Sharpe.
• The Bulldogs never built more than a two-goal edge in the opening half, though. Both times Bryant pushed ahead by two in the stanza, Hartford had an answer as it trimmed its deficit down to a single goal. After Feiner closed Bryant's 7-5 lead down to one with an unassisted score with 61 seconds left until halftime, he had a chance to tie up the game at 7-7 before the break. But goalie Gunnar Waldt came away with an impressive stop on the midfielder's shot from point-blank range to preserve the Bulldogs' 7-6 edge at halftime.
• Both sides were quiet on the offensive end in the third quarter, as they combined for four goals during that stretch. Three minutes in, Jinks rifled in an unassisted score to tie things up at 7-7 before Bryant took its fourth two-goal edge of the game by responding with two unanswered scores. With 3:11 left in the stanza, sophomore Trevor O'Brien rounded out the scoring with an unassisted goal to close the gap to one at 9-8.
• A 45-second stretch in the final quarter proved to be a costly one for the Hawks' defense. With 9:17 left, James sparked a rally that would feature three Bryant goals in less than a minute. The Bulldogs went on to open that stanza with four-unanswered goals, two of which came from Shane Morrell, to go up, 13-8 with 6:59 left. Feiner broke up the Bulldogs' run with his final goal of the contest about a minute later, but it wouldn't be enough to spark a comeback bid as the Bulldogs went on to take their largest lead of the game (15-9) behind two more goals. Morrell contributed all three of his goals in the fourth as the Bulldogs outscored the Hawks, 7-3, during that stretch
• In the game's final minutes, the Hawks' offense received back-to-back goals from sophomore Brendan Gates and Jinks before Gantz sealed the win for the Bulldogs with a man-up goal in the final seconds.

 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Feiner surpassed his previous career-best goal total (3) in the first half alone with four goals. That number led all goal scorers at the break.
• Bryant capitalized on 4-of-5 man-up opportunities, while Hartford went 2-for-3 in extra-man opportunities
• Coming off a 14-of-24 game at Boston University, sophomore Dylan Protesto had another impressive outing at the X against the Bulldogs, winning 20-of-30 duels while collecting a game- and career-best 13 ground balls.
• Behind Protesto's performance, Hartford finished with an 18-12 advantage in faceoffs.
• The Bulldogs, who held a 45-37 shot advantage, finished with a 33-32 edge in the ground ball battle.
• Waldt totaled 13 saves, including four in the final quarter.

 
NEWS & NOTES:

• The Hawks dip to 0-3 in the all-time series with the Bulldogs. The previous two meetings were two-goal decisions as Hartford fell, 7-5, in 2014 and 11-9 last season.
• Feiner and Jinks each registered career highs in scoring with five and six points, respectively. Each of Feiner's five points came on goals while Jinks had three goals and a trio of assists.
• Feiner extends his goal-scoring streak to 11 games, marking the longest rally on the team.

UP NEXT:                                                                     
Hartford hits the road for its next two games, beginning with a tilt at UMass on Tuesday, March 1. Opening faceoff from Garber Field is scheduled for 3 p.m. Last season, the Hawks upended the Minutemen at Al-Marzook Field with a 15-8 victory.