LOWELL, Mass.—The UMass Lowell men's lacrosse team (1-10, 1-4 AE) suffered an 11-7 heartbreaking loss to UMBC (4-5, 2-2 AE) Saturday afternoon at Cushing Field.
 
"The guys fought hard. We really didn't clear the ball well in the first half and that hurt us. We had a handful of layup looks, and I give their goalie credit," remarked Head Coach Ed Stephenson. "One-on-ones, we didn't execute those today. We had some really high percentage looks, but today just wasn't our day there. We didn't finish them."
 
Junior Nick Harvath (Whitmore Lake, Mich.) led the squad with a season and career-high four points off his first collegiate hat trick and an assist. Behind Harvath's offensive explosion, sophomore Jake Davis (Franklin, Mass.) and junior Conor Foley (Walpole, Mass.) finished with two points each. Davis knocked in a goal and dished out an assist, while Foley picked up a pair of helpers.
 
On defense, freshman Alex Chairs (Ellicott City, Md.) matched his season-high in caused turnovers with two against the Retrievers and added three ground balls to his stat line. At the X, senior Liam McDonough was a force for UMass Lowell, outmatching UMBC with 13 wins in his 21 attempts.
 
"[Liam] is just so big and strong. When we needed a spark, he gave us a spark. He got a goal to get us within a few late," said Stephenson.
 
In goal, sophomore Anthony Mancino (Holbrook, N.Y.) stopped 10 shots to post his second-best single-game save percentage this season.
 
The River Hawks took the early 1-0 lead off an unassisted tally from freshman Riley Lawhorn (Amherst, N.H.) just over two minutes into play. The Retrievers retaliated with two back-to-back notches to overtake UMass Lowell's lead, but the River Hawks went to work, stifling the advantage with goals from Laforge and Harvath.
 
Though UMBC clipped the back of the cage to lock up the teams at 3-3, a rocket from Davis pushed UMass Lowell back in the lead to cap the first frame.
 
The Retrievers picked up the offense in the second quarter with three unanswered strikes to take a 6-4 edge at the half.
 
Bouncing back to start the third, Harvath sparked the attack early. Making a move past his defender, Davis went to X and flicked a pass to an advancing Harvath. The junior knocked down the ball off the quick stick to bring the River Hawks back within one.
 
UMBC picked up the pace through the remainder of the third, extending their margin to 9-5 as the game moved into the final 15.
 
A Retrievers goal to start the fourth pushed the River Hawks to a five-goal deficit with 9:16 left to play. A gritty faceoff win by McDonough brought energy back to the UMass Lowell offense as the senior net a make-it-take-it goal to cut down UMBC's lead to just four.
 
A late man-up tally from Harvath snapped UMBC's five-game run without allowing a man-up goal, but the River Hawks could not cut down the deficit.
 
UMass Lowell returns to Cushing Field on Wednesday, April 20, for its final home game of the 2022 campaign with a 7:30 p.m. matchup against Holy Cross.