LOWELL, Mass.—The UMass Lowell men's lacrosse team faced a 16-5 setback at the hands of conference foe Vermont Saturday afternoon at Cushing Field. With the loss, the River Hawks fall to 1-6 (1-5 America East), while the Catamounts move to 5-3 (5-1 AE) on the season.
 
Freshman Jake Davis (Franklin, Mass.) led the River Hawks in the afternoon tilt with a team-high two goals. The multi-goal outing marks Davis' third of his rookie campaign. Freshman Niall Cremin (Northborough, Mass.) dished out a team-high two assists against Vermont, matching his career-high set last week against Albany.
 
"They did a good job of possessing the ball. They dominated on the faceoffs, winning quite a few. We only won a few possessions off the faceoff," said Head Coach Ed Stephenson. "With a team like that, they're very patient. We had a bit of trouble clearing it, so you put that combination in, it's going to make it hard."
 
The Catamounts took an early lead with a three-goal uncontested run across the first quarter after penalties halted the River Hawks scoring momentum.
 
With Vermont adding a fourth at the top of the second frame to move to a 4-0 advantage, the UMass Lowell offense came alive to stunt their scoring run. Davis struck first for the River Hawks, finding the feed from senior Jake Lining (Rochester, Mich.) to end the UMass Lowell scoring drought with 8:22 left in the first half.
 
A Catamounts penalty then set up the River Hawks for a man-up opportunity just moments later, giving senior Kyle Laforge (Tynsboro, Mass.) the go-ahead to slash the Vermont lead in half off the look from senior Domenic Giachello (Somers, Conn).
 
The Catamounts found their rhythm once again to add a pair of tallies, including a man-up goal of their own, to extend their margin to 6-4 with just over four minutes left on the clock. Lining closed out the first half with his own shot with 1:22 left to play, finding the pass from Giachello to send the River Hawks to the break down 6-3.
 
With a feed from Cremin from X, Davis found the back of the net with 4:55 on the game clock for his second of the day to offset a trio of Catamounts goals to open the frame. Led by Michael McCormack, Vermont put up another three-goal run to cap the third with a 12-4 lead.
 
Junior Dakota Clark (Bedford, N.H.) snuck in the final goal for the River Hawks of the day to breakup Vermont's four-goal fourth period and close out the 16-5 loss at home.
 
Sophomore Max Christides (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) suffered the loss between the pipes, making 10 stops on the afternoon. Freshman Anthony Mancino (Holbrook, N.Y.) also saw time in the cage for the River Hawks, stopping three shots and allowing just one goal.
 
On defense, freshman Ethan Zupko (Livonia, Mich.), sophomore Cody Stevens (Windham, N.H.) and Laforge each registered a caused turnover for UMass Lowell. Zupko's forced turnover marked the first of his collegiate career.
 
The River Hawks hit the road next weekend, traveling to Baltimore, M.d. to take on the No. 16 UMBC Retrievers. Faceoff at UMBC Stadium is set for 12 p.m.