WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - After a great 2025 season last year, the University of Hartford men's lacrosse team is looking to rise even higher this 2026 season.
The Hartford men's lacrosse program finished the 2025 season 10-7 and 6-2 in Conference of New England (CNE) play. In the first round of playoffs, the Hawks defeated the University of New England 12-5 at home taking them to the semifinals. They would fall 15-11 at Wentworth, which concluded their 2025 season earlier than wanted.
A LOOKALIKE SEASON
Even with the loss of three graduates, Jake Ojert, Griffin Weller, and Ryan Varano, this season is looking bright for the Hawks after returning 29 student-athletes from the 2025 season.
The Hawks top offensive returner is junior Aidan Ezra (New Milford, Conn.) who led the team in points last season with 47 on 28 goals and 19 assists. Ezra was named to the CNE All-Conference Second Team as was named a team captain ahead of 2026.
"This year being named a captain was an extremely high honor for me. I plan on leading on and off the field for this team. When I am on the field, I am going to be vocal and command the field and try my best there and then off the field it is just getting the boys together and making sure we all have a tight knit bond and we are more of a family than anything else."
Hartford will also retain its top goal scorer as junior Michael Novoty (Cornwall, N.Y.) who was named CNE All-Conference Third Team last season returns. Novoty had 32 goals last season along with seven assists on the year and is only looking to improve those stats in 2026.
"Our team's expectation is to build on what we did last season and obviously make the conference tournament and win the conference championship. I think all the guys on this team are really committed to winning this year and that is all that matters to us. We show it everyday, showing up and working as hard as we can."
Second-year captain graduate student Nick DiDomizio (Cheshire, Conn.) will be the Hawks top returning defender. Last season DiDomizio was named a USILA Scholar All-American, CNE All-Conference Second Team selection and a College Sports Communications Academic All-District choice. In 2025 Nick ended the year with a goal, an assist, 15 caused turnovers and 33 ground balls.
"Defensively we have a lot of young guys pushing the older guys which is good. We have some new guys filling in in some different roles which will really help us. We have a lot of guys being able to play in different spots to keep a lot of guys fresh and on the same page. Having the older guys we have is really good for us this season. The guys have all played some big minutes here and a lot of experience to help show the young guys how we do things here and how we run our systems."
Other key returners include 2025 CNE Rookie of the Year sophomore Shaun Wright (Frederick, Md.), CNE All-Conference Second Team selections junior CJ Ledwick (Falmouth, Mass.) and junior Ben Costanzo (Chester, Conn.) and All-Conference Third Teamer senior Tobias Ballester (Westwood, N.J.).
FRESH FACES
The Hawks bring in 14 newcomers to the squad for the 2026 season including three transfers in graduate student Sean Braunwart (Hebron, Conn.) (Clark University), junior Emil Johnson (Ellington, Conn.) (Assumption University) and sophomore Massimo Cappoza (Deer Park, N.Y.) (Southern Connecticut State University).
Full Incoming Class
Attack (1): Ryan Strait
Defense (3): Cooper Young, Sean Braunwart, Ben Lukens
Faceoff (2): Cam Costanzo, Massimo Cappoza
Goalie (1): Nick Donlon
Long Stick Midfielders (1): Lucas Chymbor
Midfielder (5): Drew Theriault, Andrew Cardwell, Thomas O'Toole, Liam Rainville, James Murphy
Short Stick Midfielders (1): Emil Johnson
SEASON OUTLOOK
The Hawks have 15 regular season games for the 2026 schedule, with five taking place at Al-Marzook Field at Alumni Stadium. Hartford opens the season up away on February 14th as they take on Wheaton College. The Hawks will host their first home game on February 21st taking on Vassar College at 12:00 PM. The First CNE contest will take place on March 25th at Johnson & Wales University at 7:00 PM. Other key conference games include April 14th hosting Roger Williams University, April 18th at Endicott College and April 22nd hosting Wentworth Institute of Technology.
All home games will be live streamed on the CNE Network powered by HUDL, while other game coverage can be found on the scheduled home page.
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