LOWELL, Mass. – Senior attackman
Matt Balter (Albany, N.Y.) scored his fourth hat trick of the season to pace the UMass Lowell Men's Lacrosse team in the 12-10 victory against Hartford on Saturday night in America East play at Cushing Field Complex.
UMass Lowell improves its record to 7-6 overall (3-2 AE), while Hartford drops to 3-8 overall (0-4 AE) with the loss. The River Hawks move into a tie for third place with No. 16 ranked Vermont in the America East standings.
"That was one heck of a game, 60 minutes hard fought until the end," said UMass Lowell Head Coach
Ed Stephenson. "Really give our guys credit, I thought we did a really good job on ground balls tonight. We made some adjustments personnel-wise, matchup-wise and things like that help a lot. I thought we were resilient, guys hunted really hard tonight."
Sophomore attackman
Daniel Cozzi (Reading, Mass.) totaled a career-high seven points and a career-high five assists on the night, which set a new Div. I record for points in a single-game.
Balter finished the game with six points and four goals with 10 shots and a game-high six shots on goal.
Senior midfielder
Jon Phillips (Delta, B.C.) gave the River Hawks their first lead of the game on his second tally of the game with just 10:17 left in the game. UMass Lowell scored six of the final seven goals of the game to seal the win for the River Hawks.
Junior defender
Ryder Lessing (Framingham, Mass.) and freshman attackman
Jake Lining (Rochester, Mich.) each notched their first career goals for the River Hawks. Senior attackman
Sean Tyrrell (Calgary, Alta.) and Phillips also chipped in two goals for UMass Lowell, while Tyrrell also finished the game with a team-high five ground balls.
The River Hawks trailed 5-1 after the first quarter, but then came back with a five-goal second quarter. The Hawks scored at the buzzer in the first half to break the tie and take a 7-6 lead. Balter scored two of this four goals in the second frame alone, as he posted his seventh career hat trick for the River Hawks.
Freshman goalie
Hunter Braun (Hartland, Mich.) totaled 11 saves in this 11th consecutive start of the season, while his counterpart Ryan Vanderford managed 11 stops in net for Hartford.
Griffin Feiner notched three goals and four points for Hartford in the losing effort.
The River Hawks return to action at Stony Brook in the America East finale on Friday, April 20
th. Game time from Lavalle Stadium is 7 p.m.
