University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
Hartford
Hartford Outpaces Men's Lacrosse In Minuteman Road Loss
April 11, 2015 | Men's Lacrosse
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - A pair of extended Hartford scoring streaks put the Hawks by UMass men's lacrosse, 15-8 at Alumni Stadium in West Hartford, Connecticut, Saturday afternoon. The Minutemen tallied multi-goal games from Brendan Hegarty, Andrew Sokol and Grant Whiteway.
Dan Muller and Peter Lindley had one goal each, while Muller added an assist for two points on the day. Gianni Bianchin, Grant Consoletti, Dylan Gruder, Hegarty, Nick Mariano and Paul Spinney also dished out one helper against the Hawks.
Gruder and Sokol provided all five caused turnovers the Minutemen produced. Gruder had three with a groundball while Sokol added two as both reset their career-highs in the process.
A quartet of hat tricks boosted Hartford (7-4 overall) to the non-conference win. Kevin O'Shea had five goals with two assists for seven points while Matt Carroll, Griffin Feiner and Justin Huggins scored three times apiece.
UMass led early as Lindley and Muller tallied once each separated by O'Shea's first of the game. Lindley made it 1-0 when he scooped a stopped shot at the crease and redirected the loose ball beyond the reach of Hartford goalie Ryan Vanderford three minutes, 25 seconds into the contest.
After O'Shea found the back of the net, Bianchin and Muller teamed to give the lead back to UMass. Bianchin rushed through the right alley, turned and found a trailing Muller, who fired high to put UMass back in front, 2-1, with 5:48 to go in the first.
However, the offense went cold following Muller's conversion and Hartford used the opportunity to build a 7-2 lead with six consecutive goals, the final three of which came from O'Shea.
Whiteway ended the drought 3:52 before halftime. Hegarty, operating behind the Hartford cage, spotted Whiteway unmarked 10 yards out from the left post and sent play to the Billerica, Massachusetts, native. Whiteway met the pass and stepped into a forceful shot that brought UMass back within 7-3 of the Hawks.
The Hawks put the game out of reach after the halftime break with a seven-goal run spanning 14:05 of game action. Huggins supported the run with all three of his goals in the stretch while Feiner nabbed two and Huggins and O'Shea provided the additional scores.
The Minutemen continued to fight in the fourth quarter despite the deficit and put in five consecutive goals as a result.
Sokol sandwiched two tallies around one from Hegarty as both Minutemen reached 12 goals on the season. Whiteway added his second of the game in an unorthodox manner at the 6:45 mark of the fourth following Sokol's 12th of the year.
Whiteway cradled play behind the Hartford goal with the offense in motion and attempted to whip a pass to Hegarty as he broke toward the cage. The ball deflected off of Vanderford en route and landed behind the goal line, which gave Whiteway his 16th career multi-tally game.
Hegarty scored the final Minuteman goal through low-to-high shot into right side. His man-up conversion after a loose ball shuffle made it 14-8 with 3:10 left to play in the game.
Groundballs favored Hartford, 36-20, while the Hawks earned a 36-33 lead in shots taken. Spencer Andrews and Dylan Protesto combined to go 17-of-27 at the faceoff X for the home squad. Charlie Schatz took 20 faceoffs for the Minutemen and won eight to go with a team-high five groundballs picked up. Kurt Hunziker finished 2-of-7 with one groundball.
The Minutemen (3-8, 1-2 CAA) return to CAA action with a Saturday, April 18 contest in Amherst, Massachusetts, against Drexel at 4 p.m.
