WEST HARTFORD, Conn. — Despite a late rally, the Hartford men's lacrosse team was unable to claw back from a seven-goal deficit as it fell, 13-10, to visiting UMBC Saturday on Al-Marzook Field at Alumni Stadium. Junior Andrew Boniface and sophomore Anthony Sericolo tallied two goals apiece to pace the Hawks, who fall to 0-3 on the season and in America East action.
 
Nick Dupuis scored five goals, including three in what proved to be a pivotal second quarter, to help the Retrievers improve to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the conference.
 
UMBC 13, HARTFORD 10
Both teams came out of the gates hot, with the first seven shots of the game finding the back of the net. UMBC held the momentum in that stretch, though, striking three times inside the first three minutes to go up, 3-1. The Retrievers would push the advantage to 5-2 on a strike by Mike Doughty, but a last-second goal by senior Carter O'Connell closed the gap to two at the end of the opening quarter.
 
Just 61 seconds into the second quarter, Boniface delivered his first goal of the afternoon to pull Hartford within one at 5-4, but the Hawks wouldn't get any closer, as UMBC strung together a 5-0 run to ultimately take a 10-5 advantage into the intermission.
 
After a quite third quarter featured just one goal by either side — a Brett Baucia score for UMBC and a tally by Hartford junior Chris Campbell — the Retrievers opened the fourth with back-to-back goals to take their largest lead of the game at 13-6 with 9:44 remaining. 
 
Hartford refused to go down easy for the remainder of the game. With 8:22 left, Sericolo found the back of the net for the second time on the afternoon to ignite a four-goal rally that closed the gap to 13-10 with 4:47 left. UMBC held off the late charge, though, as Hartford was limited to just two shots down the stretch.
 
INSIDE THE BOX & NOTES

• Boniface added an assist to lead the Hawks with three points
• O'Connell, Chris Ladyga and Ryan Lovell collected four ground balls apiece for Hartford, which held a 27-25 edge in the category
• Behind Ladyga, who took all but one faceoff, the Hawks finished with the edge inside at the X, going 14-of-26
• In nearly one half of action (26:41), junior goalie Joe Prikhodko held the Retrievers to two goals on 10 shots faced
• He recorded four saves in that stretch, while UMBC goalie Tommy Lingner registered 10 in 60 minutes
• Baucia, Trevor Patschorke and Steven Zichelli registered multiple goals for the Retrievers with two apiece

 
NEXT ON TAP
The Hawks return to the road for their next game, when they head to Burlington, Vt., next Saturday (March 27), to face Vermont. Opening faceoff between the Hawks and Catamounts is set for 3 p.m. from Virtue Field.

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