Brian Izzo | The Informer
Heading into this past week, the men’s lacrosse team looked to improve their even record of 4-4 as they looked to take on number 20 in the nation, Albany, in conference play. The Hawks, who just beat UMBC in an overtime thriller, 15-14, looked to stay undefeated in the America East and propel themselves to another conference title next month.
Unfortunately, Albany was too much for the boys to handle, as they were put down with a final score of 24 to 11. The Great Danes were the ones to stay undefeated in conference play and improved their overall record to 8-3 on the season.
Seniors Jared Franze and Rory Nunamacher scored three and two goals, respectively, but it wasn’t enough as the Great Danes outscored the Hawks 13 to 3 in the second half, which extended their three-goal lead they had at halftime.
Hartford looked to show some promise early on as they played an even match with Albany, where they traded two goals each in the first 11 minutes. After Freshman Jack Bobzien tied things up at two, Adam Yee gave the Hawks their first lead just four seconds later with the scoreboard showing 3-2 in Hartford’s favor.
Nunamacher put the Hawks ahead for the second and final time early in the second quarter, finding the back of the net just 31 seconds in, but the Great Danes had an impactful answer, rallying for a 7-0 run over the next five minutes to take a commanding 10-4 advantage over Hartford with 9:18 left to play before halftime.
Before the end of the half, Hartford managed to close the gap to down to three, scoring four of the final five goals. Franze shoveled in his first goal of the contest with 8:44 to go and Andrew Cacchio made it two in a row for the Hawks, ending the game’s first scoring drought, a six minute span, with his 16th goal of the season. Following a John Maloney tally that re-extendied UAlbany’s lead back to five with just over two minutes remaining, Garret Dollard and Franze reeled off two-straight to provide the three-goal halftime margin of 11-8.
After the disappointing loss to Albany, Hartford looked to rebound against Dartmouth. In what was one of the most exciting games all season, Garrett Dollard, proved to be the hero for the second time this season, putting in the winning goal with just 15.6 seconds remaining in regulation top push the Hawks to a 8-7 victory.
Dollard finished with a team-best two goals while Alex Matarazzo a long stick midfielder, contributed a pair of points on a goal and an assist. Rounding out the Hartford goals were Kevin O’Shea, Rory Nunamacher, Jack Bobzien and Tim Engel. Between the pipes, the Hawks received a solid outing from Frank Piechota, who registered 15 saves on the afternoon.
Hartford (5-5) broke open a 4-4 halftime tie with a pair of goals in the third quarter thanks to goals by O’Shea and Engel at 9:23 and 5:29, respectively. During that stretch, the Hawks’ defense kept Dartmouth’s offense silent, not conceding a goal during the entre quarter to maintain that 6-4 cushion heading into the final 15 minutes.
With the game tied at 1:17, Dartmouth had a chance to take the lead late, but failed to do so as their shot sailed over the crossbar and gave Hartford possession.
Hartford was given an extra man advantage as they decided to go with the nation’s top freshman in assists, Bobzien, who fed the ball to Dollard who scored the winning goal.
The Hawks will return to conference play as they will head over to Vestal, NY to take on Binghamton this Saturday at 1:00 pm. Hopefully, the boys will be able to get hot going into the post season and bring back another ring to the school.