LOWELL, Mass.—A second-half comeback effort could not lift the UMass Lowell men's lacrosse team (1-9, 1-3 America East) to victory Saturday night, suffering a 23-9 setback to conference foe Vermont (6-6, 3-0 AE).
 
Graduate student Domenic Giachello (Somers, Conn.) led the team's scoring efforts with a pair of goals and an assist to finish the night with a team-high three points. Junior Nick Harvath (Whitmore Lake, Mich.) matched Giachello's three-point night with a goal and two helpers against the Catamounts. Keeping his scoring streak alive, junior Conor Foley (Walpole, Mass.) put up two tallies to end the night with two points alongside graduate student Kyle Laforge (Tyngsboro, Mass.), who recorded one goal and one assist.
 
In the cage, sophomore Anthony Mancino (Holbrook, N.Y.), graduate student Paul Macrina (Wrentham, Mass.) and freshman Calvin Desmarais (Dracut, Mass.) all saw action in the contest. Macrina led the goalie crew with six saves while Mancino stopped five.
 
"This is just one of two games this year where we didn't come out firing on all cylinders. It was evident from the start," commented Head Coach Ed Stephenson. "They jumped on us early. We used a couple of time outs, but we just didn't come out firing."
 
The Catamounts controlled the action early, running out to a 14-0 lead in the first 22 minutes. The River Hawks ended their scoring drought midway through the second frame when senior Liam McDonough (Groton, Mass.) knocked in a make-it-take-it goal to get UMass Lowell on the board.
 
Vermont responded with two more to extend their lead to 16-1, but junior Brian Wiles (Longmeadow, Mass.) retaliated off a great feed from Harvath to stifle the momentum. The Catamounts found twine once more with just 1:18 left in the first to send the River Hawks to the break down 17-2.
 
UMass Lowell exploded on offense to shift momentum in its favor in the third quarter. Outscoring Vermont 6-1 in the 15-minute frame, Foley sparked a four-goal run off an unassisted tally. With a helper from Giachello, Laforge ripped one into the back of the cage to keep the energy high. Foley made his way back to the goal with his second of the night before Harvath ripped a man-up tally off the pass from Laforge to keep the River Hawks in the game.
 
The Catamounts momentarily stopped the bleeding, but back-to-back goals from Giachello in a 36-second window kept the UMass Lowell offense hot moving into the fourth.
 
Although sophomore Jake Davis (Franklin, Mass.) extended the River Hawks' scoring streak to close in on Vermont's double-digit advantage, a five-goal unanswered streak from the Catamounts in the final minutes of play decided the conference matchup.
 
Up next, the River Hawks host UMBC for a noon tilt on Saturday, April 16. Before the start of the game, the team will honor this year's graduating class with a ceremony on the field.