LOWELL, Mass.—The UMass Lowell men's lacrosse team (0-7) suffered a 22-8 setback at the hands of No. 16 Jacksonville (7-2) Saturday afternoon at Cushing Field.
 
"I think we left a lot in the locker," said Head Coach Ed Stephenson. "We're a team. It has to be a collective effort in our selflessness, our toughness, our discipline, and it wasn't collective. We didn't see that. That's where the disappointment comes in."
 
Netting his fourth hat trick of the season, junior Conor Foley (Walpole, Mass.) lead the crew with his three goals. Just behind him, sophomore Justin Longo (Kingston, N.Y.) logged a career day with his first collegiate goal and multi-point game. Four other River Hawks—seniors Dante Giachello (Somers, Conn.), Dakota Clark (Bedford, N.H.), Zach Zeyher (Wilton, Conn.) and Liam McDonough (Groton, Mass.)—also scored in the clash with one goal each. Zeyher's fourth-period strike marked the first of his career as a River Hawk.
 
"I will say there were some bright spots. Foley played hard, played fast and played tough. [Dante] Giachello came in from reserve early in the game. We felt like we needed a boost, and he really gave us a strong one," commented Stephenson. "He got a goal in the first few minutes he was in there. I thought that was huge."
 
In net, UMass Lowell split action between its goaltending quartet. Freshman Calvin Desmarais (Dracut, Mass.) and sophomore Anthony Mancino (Holbrook, Mass.) shared most of the time in the cage for the River Hawks, tallying two saves each.
 
Faceoff specialist McDonough registered another solid outing at the faceoff X, edging out Jacksonville by going 19-32 against the nationally-ranked foe.
 
"McDonough was just absolutely so strong when we needed it. He didn't start the first few strong, but he made an adjustment," remarked Stephenson. "We saw his pride and his passion. I thought that was huge today, especially for the younger guys to see someone be able to turn it around like that and start to dominate a little bit. I'm pleased with his performance."
 
The Dolphins dominated possession early to take a 7-0 advantage over the River Hawks in the opening 11 minutes. Sparking the UMass Lowell attack, Clark put the River Hawks onto the scoresheet with three minutes left on the clock in the opening frame. Using his speed, Clark beat his defender and fired on through the legs of Luke Millican to knock in his seventh of the year. Jacksonville then responded with a pair of goals to send UMass Lowell into the second facing a 9-1 deficit.
 
UMass Lowell regrouped in the second, muscling its way through the Dolphins defense to add four to their total. After a man-up goal in the opening minutes of the second pushed Jacksonville to a 10-1 lead, the River Hawks responded with a quick tally off the stick of Giachello.
 
The home squad kept the pressure on as they responded to a pair of Dolphins' goals with two of their own from Foley and Longo to stay within eight. Unwilling to back down, the River Hawks retaliated again to keep the Jacksonville scoring runs at bay. With two more notches for the visitors on the board, Foley came through with tough defense in front of the Dolphins' cage to cause a turnover and give McDonough the open lane. Scooping the loose ball, McDonough stuffed the shot behind the Dolphins' goalie to send the River Hawks into the locker room down 14-5.
 
Foley completed his fourth hat trick of the season in the third, netting two for UMass Lowell to offset a six-goal frame for the Dolphins. Transitioning to a heavily defense-centric final 15, the River Hawks limited Jacksonville to just two tallies in the fourth. In the waning minutes, Zeyher found the back of the cage off a feed from senior Jack Tepper (Shrewsbury, Mass.) for one last point for the River Hawks. Pushback from the visitors ultimately stifled the late-game efforts from UMass Lowell to hand them the 22-8 loss.  
 
The River Hawks pick back up with conference action next weekend when they head to NJIT on Saturday, March 26. Faceoff is set for 7:30 p.m.