HAMDEN, Conn. – The 19th-ranked University of Hartford men's lacrosse team had its run come to an end on Wednesday, as it fell at Quinnipiac, 14-9, in the preliminary round of the NCAA Tournament. Junior Jaedon Henderson led the offense with four points on two goals and two assists, while sophomore Justin Huggins was the Hawks' leading goal-scorer with three.

The Hawks, who won the America East Championship for the second time in program history last weekend, finished the 2016 campaign with an 11-7 overall record. The 11 victories marked the second-most since Hartford joined the Division I rankings in 1984-85.

Quinnipiac, which used a 4-0 run in the first followed by five unanswered scores through the second and the third to build a six-goal lead, improved to 12-3 with the win. The Bobcats will move on to face Maryland – the top seed in the field – in the Round of 16 on Sunday.
 
Sophomore Brendan Gates opened up the scoring for the game, connecting with Zach Elkinson to give the Hawks an early 1-0 lead 2:14 into the contest. But Quinnipiac got hot, as scored eight of the next 10 goals to take a 9-3 lead with 12:10 left in the third.

Three of those goals followed Gates' game-opening tally as the Bobcats led by a 4-1 count at the end of the first. The Hawks made a dent in their deficit as Huggins and Alec Brown opened the second quarter by going back-to-back to make it a 4-3 game at the 8:30 mark.
 
From there, Quinnipiac's Jack Brust, who finished with a game-high 18 saves, came up with some huge stops in goal, allowing the Bobcats' offense to go off. Ending the half with two-straight scores from Ryan Keenan and Brian Feldman, the Bobcats improved upon that 6-3 lead by opening the third with three unanswered goals.

Two goals from Huggins and sophomore Trevor O'Brien less than a minute apart sliced the Hawks' deficit to 9-5, but Quinnipiac rallied again and took its largest lead of the game (7) at 12-5 with 5:33 left in the third thanks to a 3-0 spurt.

Down the stretch, the Hawks pulled within five at 13-8 with 11:56 remaining, but they were unable to get any closer.

Foster Cuomo led Quinnipiac with four goals. Sophomore faceoff specialist Dylan Protesto, who entered the game as the nation's leader in winning percentage, was impressive at the X, going 17-for-26 in the losing effort. He added 11 ground balls.

The Hawks lose four seniors to graduation in defender Torrey Martone, midfielders Ty Schuldt and Jake Vogl, and goalie Zack Jones.