THE BASICS:

RESULT: Hartford 10, Holy Cross 8
RECORDS: Hartford (5-4); Holy Cross (1-9)
LOCATION: Al-Marzook Field at Alumni Stadium (West Hartford, Conn.)
ATTENDANCE: 138

THE LEAD:

Sophomore Justin Huggins scored a career-high five goals, including four in what proved to be a decisive third quarter, to propel the University of Hartford men's lacrosse team past Holy Cross, 10-8, on Tuesday afternoon at Al-Marzook Field. Joining Huggins with a game-best five points was freshman Dylan Jinks, who added four assists, a career best, to one goal.

With the score deadlocked at four goals apiece at the half, Huggins broke the game open by scoring three times within a 15-second stretch to provide the Hawks with a lead they would not relinquish for the remainder of the game. Sophomore faceoff specialist Dylan Protesto added a 17-of-19 effort at the X while classmate Ryan Vanderford turned away seven shots to preserve the victory. Jon Vogel netted a hat trick to lead the Crusaders in the losing effort.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Hartford was plagued by a cold start on Tuesday afternoon, as it spotted Holy Cross a 2-0 lead late in the opening quarter after committing four turnovers during that stretch. The Crusaders, who outshot the Hawks 12-1 to begin the game, kept the home team off the scoreboard for most of the first quarter. With 14 seconds remaining, sophomore Doug Biondi managed to cut Hartford's deficit in half at 2-1 with his sixth goal of the year.
• Biondi's goal would provide the Hawks with momentum heading into the second quarter. With 88 ticks off the clock, Huggins delivered his first goal of the afternoon and made it a new ball game at 2-2 with an unassisted score. The rally would continue, as junior Jaedon Henderson put Hartford in front for the first time after capitalizing on an extra-man opportunity with 12:10 left until halftime. Less than four minutes later, classmate Alec Brown netted the Hawks' fourth unanswered goal and made it a 4-2 edge with his 10th goal of the season at the 8:16 mark.
• But Holy Cross answered back in the latter part of the second quarter. Sean Kirkpatrick fired an unassisted score with 7:11 left to pull the Crusaders within one before Vogel tied things up for the second time on the afternoon at 4-4 with an unassisted goal just 47 seconds later.
• Things quickly changed out of the intermission. Thanks to Huggins' rally, the Hawks found themselves up by a 7-4 count just 33 seconds into the third. The attackman got his spurt going 18 seconds into the quarter, and after striking again at the 14:33 mark, he made it a hat trick in 15 seconds of game time just six ticks later.
• The Crusaders pulled back within one on three occasions during the remainder of the game. Vogel closed the gap to 9-8 with 12:01 left to play in the fourth, but Jinks, who earned assists on nearly half (4) of his team's nine scores, provided an insurance tally and extended the lead to 10-8 with 9:42 left. Neither team would reach the back of the net for the rest of the game, as the Hawks came away with the victory.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• The Hawks, who won all four faceoffs in the opening quarter and the final three of the game, were almost perfect at the X, winning 18-of-21 duels. Spencer Andrews, a sophomore, added a 1-for-2 effort for Hartford.
• Protesto picked up seven ground balls as the Hawks held a 33-26 advantage in the category.
• After holding commanding halftime advantages in shots (18-11) while forcing eight Hawks' turnovers, Holy Cross finished with a 33-22 edge in shots and a 23-13 advantage in turnovers.
• The final two scores of Huggins' three-goal stretch came just six seconds apart. That marks the second shortest time between consecutive goals by a single player in NCAA history.
• Biondi added two scores for the Hawks while Brown, Henderson and Jinks rounded out the scoring with one goal apiece.
• Huggins has been on a tear as of late, combining for nine goals in his last two outings against UAlbany (4) and Holy Cross (5).
• With four assists and five points, Jinks cracked Hartford's top-10 freshman scoring list on Tuesday. He is currently the seventh-best scoring freshman in program history with 37 points while his 17 assists are the sixth-most for a Hartford rookie in program history.
• Defensively, senior close defender Torrey Martone came away with a career-high four caused turnovers. That marks the most caused turnovers recorded by a Hawk in a single game this season.
• Michael Ortileb, Holy Cross' goalie, was forced to make four saves in the outing.

UP NEXT:                                                                     
The Hawks will battle Binghamton in America East action on Saturday, April 2, in the final date of a three-game homestand. Opening faceoff between the Hawks and Bearcats is slated for 1 p.m.