WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - The University of Hartford men's lacrosse team returned home with a presence after more than a month-long stretch of road games, the Hawks defeated Nichols College with a final score of 18-7. Hartford is now 6-3 overall and 3-0 in the Conference of New England (CNE).

Rapid Recap:

• Hartford came out strong in the opening quarter, striking first as junior Micheal Novotny (Cornwall, N.Y.) found the back of the net within a minute and 20 seconds of play. Within six seconds, junior Colin Reilly (Southington, Conn.) marched up the field to build a 2-0 lead over the Bison. Nichols answered with a pair of goals during the period, but Hartford maintained control as senior Tobias Ballester (Westwood, N.J.), Novotny, and Reilly capped off the quarter. Reilly brought in the last goal with just three seconds on the clock to complete his hat trick for this opening quarter and give the Hawks a 6-2 lead.
• Hartford maintained their offensive rhythm in this second quarter, opening the frame with back-to-back goals from Reilly and Novotny. Hartford applied the pressure as junior Nick Forgione (Denville, N.J.), sophomore Shaun Wright (Frederick, Md.), and sophomore Gavin Pelletier (Southington, Conn.) got into the scoring mix pushing their lead to a comfy 11-3 over the Bison heading into halftime.
• The Hawks stayed in control coming out of halftime, continuing its offensive surge, Pelletier and sophomore Nick Ugolini (Agawam, Mass.) broke this game open gaining a 10-point lead over Nichols. The Bison let out their frustrations in penalties as Cam Ayotte was charged with unnecessary roughness. Reilly used the man-up opportunity to sneak one in just 20 seconds into the man-up time. The Hawks forced errors all over the field to maintain possession and block the Bison from building any threatening momentum, Hartford closed the third leading 17-4.
• The Bison found some success early in the final quarter putting together three quick goals over the Hawks to bring down the differential to 10. Hartford remained unfazed, applying high pressure to force Nichols into back-to-back failed clear attempts. Freshman Andrew Cardwell (Somers, Conn.) capped off the evening with the 18th goal for Hartford to take the 18-7 victory on their home turf.

Post Game Press:
"This win feels great," said junior Colin Reilly (Southington, Conn.). "It's been over a month plus since being back and it's a really great feeling to finally be back. For Saturday, we are going to use the momentum we've built from these last three games and continue to use our systems in order to get this win."

Inside The Numbers:

• Reilly led the charge for Hartford with six goals, in his seven shots at net also picking up one ground ball and one caused turnover for the team. Novotny followed close behind with four goals and two assists.
• Cardwell picked up his first collegiate goal in this game in the final quarter; this was his sixth appearance in his freshman season so far.
• Senior Andrew Leibold (Chula Vista, Calif.) took the win in net for the Hawks this evening putting up eight saves in his 45 minutes played.
• Sophomore Ian Reynolds (Queensbury, N.Y.) went 12-19 in the face-offs, freshman Cam Costanzo (Chester, Conn.) went 4-6, then sophomore Massimo Cappoza (Deer Park, N.Y.) went 2-4.

Up Next:
The Hawks will remain on their home turf this upcoming Saturday to celebrate their senior day against Curry College on April 4th with a start time of 12:00 p.m.

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