LOWELL, Mass.—Despite a career outing from junior Conor Foley (Walpole, Mass.), the UMass Lowell men's lacrosse team (0-1) dropped a 15-14 heartbreaker to Quinnipiac (1-0) Saturday afternoon at Cushing Field to open the 2022 campaign.
 
Leading the way for the River Hawks, Foley tallied a career-best four goals and three assists for seven points. Joining Foley with a hat trick, sophomore Jake Davis (Franklin, Mass.) was one of four River Hawks to register three-point outings. Graduate students Domenic Giachello (Somers, Conn.) and Kyle Laforge (Tyngsboro, Mass.) each picked up two goals and an assist against the Bobcats, while junior transfer Brian Wiles (Longmeadow, Mass.) knocked in his first goal as a River Hawks and dished out a pair of assists.
 
Rounding out the crew of goal scorers, senior Dakota Clark (Bedford, N.H.) scored a pair of goals, with one coming on the man-up chance. Freshman Khairi Sears (Columbus, Ohio) registered his first career point with an assist to accompany senior faceoff specialist Liam McDonough (Groton, Mass.) third-period helper.
 
Splitting time in goal, freshman Calvin Desmarais (Dracut, Mass) and graduate transfer Paul Macrina (Wrentham, Mass.) each made four saves against Quinnipiac.
 
"It was a good battle back and forth. I expected that out of them. They were the regular season conference champs last year. They returned most of their guys on offense and defense, so we knew we were going to get a great run," commented Head Coach Ed Stephenson. "We had a lot of guys play and saw some really good things. We saw a lot of young guys do really well."
 
The River Hawks offense went to work early, scoring in the opening minute of the action off a shot from Giachello in front of the net. Giachello's opening shot sparked what would be a four-goal uncontested streak from the River Hawks to take a 4-0 lead over the Bobcats.
 
Although Quinnipiac temporarily stifled the early home team hot streak, UMass Lowell quickly picked up the pace to net a man-up tally off a shot from Wiles to close out the first quarter.
 
The two squads traded blows to open the second, with the Bobcats striking first just over 1:30 into the frame. Clark brought the heat on the retaliation tally just 29 seconds later, beating two Bobcats and firing one in push UMass Lowell out to a 6-2 lead.
 
After a back-and-forth battle in transition kept both teams off the scoreboard for just over five minutes, Laforge reignited the offensive energy for the River Hawks, grabbing a feed from Sears to push the team to a five-goal advantage.
 
Across a 13 second span, Quinnipiac went back-to-back with goals from Will Abbott and CJ Gallagher to start chipping away at the UMass Lowell lead. Ramping up the attack once again, Giachello got the look from Foley to connect for an extra-man goal and regain the four-goal buffer. The Bobcats retaliated just 38 seconds later to send the River Hawks into the half holding on to an 8-5 lead.
 
The Bobcats took control at the top of the third period with back-to-back goals. Hoping to shift momentum back in their favor, McDonough snagged the faceoff and connected with Davis just nine seconds later with 11:31 on the clock to bring UMass Lowell to 9-7.
 
A five-goal uninterrupted streak by Quinnipiac gave the visiting squad a 12-9 lead with just 3:38 left in the third. Despite goals from Laforge and Foley to make it a one-goal game, the Bobcats scored an insurance goal with 44 seconds left in the quarter to hold a two-goal advantage over the River Hawks heading into the final 15.
 
The scoring continued for Quinnipiac into the fourth with a goal just 1:37 into the frame. An impressive full team effort from the River Hawks in the final 10 minutes changed the direction of the game, as they fought back with a three-goal scoring streak. After Davis sparked the offense with a man-up goal off the pass from Laforge, Foley came in with back-to-back tallies to electrify the team.Picking up his fourth career hat trick, Foley followed up with a clutch game-tying goal just minutes later. Critical defense from Macrina and the UMass Lowell defensive core stopped several shots from Quinnipiac as the threat of overtime drew closer.
 
Stunting a crucial shot from Sears on the doorstep, Bobcat goalie Nick DiMuccio cleared the ball upfield to regain possession with just 20 seconds to go. Despite an all-out effort from the River Hawks to stop their movement and force extra time, Quinnipiac logged a lucky shot with 12 seconds left to hand UMass Lowell the loss.
 
Next up, the River Hawks pay a visit to in-state foe Massachusetts on Saturday, Feb. 19, for a Kennedy Cup clash at 1 p.m.