THE BASICS:
 
RESULT: Stony Brook 13, Hartford 9
RECORDS: Hartford (3-5, 0-1 AE); Stony Brook (5-3, 1-1 AE)
LOCATION: Al-Marzook Field at Alumni Stadium (West Hartford, Conn.)

PHOTO GALLERY
 
THE LEAD:
The University of Hartford men's lacrosse team came up short in its America East Conference opener on Sunday as the Hawks dropped a 13-9 decision to the visiting Stony Brook Seawolves. Junior Griffin Feiner scored two goals and tacked on an assist while senior Jaedon Henderson also had three points behind a trio of assists to pace the Hawks' offense.

Stony Brook, which snapped a three-game skid with the win, was led by a four-goal effort from Ryan Bitzer. He added an assist to that tally to lead all scorers with five points as the Seawolves entered the contest receiving votes in both national polls.
 
THE TURNING POINT:
Behind three goals from Bitzer, the Seawolves scored four of the first five goals of the game to take a 4-1 lead after the first quarter. Tom Haun scored 119 seconds out of the opening faceoff to give Stony Brook the early edge before Bitzer put the Seawolves up by three goals midway through the stanza with back-to-back scores.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Stony Brook extended its three-goal lead in the first quarter by opening the second with two unassisted scores. Derek Lloyd scored on the man-up just 11 seconds into the period before Jeff Reh struck less than a minute later to make it a 6-1 advantage.
• The Hawks cut into their deficit before the halftime break, pulling within four (7-3) by scoring two of the game's next three goals. With 9:39 left, junior Justin Huggins put the finishing touches on a feed from sophomore Dylan Jinks before senior Alec Brown countered a Stony Brook goal from Wayne White with a score 61 seconds before intermission.
• Momentum shifted back in favor of Stony Brook to start the second half, though.The two sides exchanged goals to the tune of an 8-4 score before the Seawolves rallied for a pair of unanswered scores. A man-up goal from Alex Corpolongo capped that spurt and gave the visiting team its largest lead of the game (6) at 10-4 with 5:45 to go in the third.
• Before the end of the third, the Hawks strung together a rally and closed the gap to four. Brown delivered a goal with 2:53 left in the quarter before junior Will Dulin found an open Conor Van Duzer with five ticks of the clock left to pull Hartford within 10-6 of the Seawolves.
• Haun halted the Hawks' run by scoring at the 12:12 mark of the fourth, but Hartford still some fight left. Back-to-back goals less than a minute apart from Huggins and Feiner made it a three-goal game for the first time since opening quarter at 11-8 with 10:20 to go. Stony Brook protected its lead, though, as Jay Lindsay tacked one more on to a 12-9 advantage to make it a four-goal Seawolves' edge with 2:28 remaining.

 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• The battle inside of the faceoff circle was fairly even between the two squads. Hartford had a 13-of-25 edge at the X with Dylan Protesto doing the duties on all 25 attempts, but Stony Brook nudged the Hawks in the ground ball category with a 28-27 advantage.
• Protesto and Zach Elkinson each corralled a game-best six ground balls.
• Both Ryan Vanderford and Micha Bollinger registered 10 saves apiece between the pipes for their respective squad. Vanderford has recorded double-figure save totals in each of his last three appearances for Hartford.
• Both teams converted on half of their extra-man opportunities, with the Seawolves going 2-of-4 and the Hawks posting a 1-of-2 effort.
• Brown and Huggins joined Feiner with multiple goals, netting two apiece in the losing effort.

 
NEXT ON TAP:
The Hawks continue conference action with consecutive road matches, beginning with a trek to Vermont on Saturday, April 1. Game time from Virtue Field is slated for 12 noon.