THE BASICS:
 
RESULT: UMass 17, Hartford 13
RECORDS: Hartford (2-4, 0-0 AE); UMass (4-4, 0-0 CAA)
LOCATION: Garber Field (Amherst, Mass.)
 
THE LEAD:
 
UMass held off a furious comeback bid by the University of Hartford men's lacrosse team to come away with a 17-13 defeat of the Hawks at Garber Field on Saturday afternoon. Senior Griffin Feiner matched a career-high in goals (6) and points (7) to lead all scorers, while junior Dylan Jinks added two goals and four assists for Hartford  in the losing effort.

Chris Connolly netted six goals to pace UMass, which won its third straight game. Buddy Carr added five goals and an assist for the Minutemen.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 

• Scoring twice in the game's first 10 minutes, Feiner kept the Hawks within striking distance in the opening quarter. With 30 seconds left in the stanza, Jinks fed junior Alex Borja for a quick score to cut Hartford's two-goal deficit down to one at 4-3.
• Fueled by a pair of goals in the first 28 seconds of the second quarter, UMass quickly pushed its lead to five at 9-4 less than five minutes into the stanza with a 5-1 run. 
• But Hartford put together a run of its own and brought UMass' lead down to two before the end of the break. Ending the quarter on a 4-1 run, senior Justin Huggins and Jinks made it a three-goal game before Feiner's third score pulled the Hawks within two, 10-8, in the final seconds of the half.
• Jinks' second goal with 12:23 remaining in the third cut the deficit to one at 10-9, but the Minutemen picked up the pressure defensively and held the Hawks without a goal for the remainder of the stanza. During that stretch, UMass tacked on three goals to push its lead back to four (13-9) heading into the final quarter.
• The Minutemen went on to match their largest lead of the game – a five-goal spread – with 6:31 left to play, but the Hawks would not go down without a fight. Feiner delivered back-to-back strikes at the 3:55 and 2:13 marks before Huggins closed the gap down to two at 15-13 with 2:01 to go on his second goal of the afternoon. UMass managed to hold off the Hawks' comeback, though, as Jeff Trainor scored twice in the final 74 seconds to ice the game.

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE & NOTES:
 

• Feiner's six goals matches a career high, set last week in the Hawks' win at Sacred Heart. In addition, he hit his career-best mark of seven points for the fourth time in his career, and second time this season.
• Feiner, who leads the team in hat tricks with four, has accomplished the feat in his past three outings.
• Huggins contributed a pair of goals and one assist for three points.
• Noah Rak had a solid outing at the X for the Minutemen, going 21-of-27 on faceoffs. He collected a game-best 17 ground balls as UMass held a 39-17 edge in the category.
• UMass finished with 23 faceoff victories to Hartford's 10.

 
NEXT ON TAP:
The Hawks return to Al-Marzook Field for the first time since their home opener back on Feb. 24, to face Quinnipiac on Tuesday, March 20. Opening faceoff between the two in-state rivals is set for 3 p.m. The contest will be aired live on ESPN3.