Hawks Lose Grip of Crucial Game Against Stony Brook

WEST HARTFORD, Conn.—The Hartford Hawks’ win streak ended at four after the #14 Stony Brook Seawolves rode a late comeback to take the conference bout, 10-8 at Al-Marzook Field.

Hartford (7-4, 1-1) led 6-3 going into the fourth quarter, when Stony Brook (6-4, 2-0) went on a 7-2 run, highlighted by junior Robbie Campbell’s career-high four goals, all coming in the final period. Timmy Trenkle added a second-half hat trick for the visitors, who were 2-2 on man-up opportunities.
Aidan Genik led a third quarter charge for the Hawks, who took a 2-2 halftime score and outscored Stony Brook 4-1 with the help of Genik’s hat trick in the stanza. He finished with a game-high five points on four goals and an assist.

The fourth quarter was a different story, with shoddy defense allowing the Seawolves to tie the game with three unanswered goals in the first two minutes of the quarter. The Hawks would take their final lead on a man-up opportunity when Jared Franze scored his lone goal of the game, a crank shot just five seconds into the advantage.

“We made a few of those silly mistakes and they capitalized on them,” said Hawks coach Peter Lawrence on the late struggles. “That’s just what good teams do.”

Stony Brook’s Russ Bonanno tied the game before Campbell captured their first lead of the game, 9-8 with just over eight minutes to play. Campbell scored the tenth and final goal like he did with all of them – unassisted and uncontested by the Hartford defense.

“We have to play team defense, and no one else on the team was ready and willing to slide in that middle,” explained Lawrence of the surge by Campbell. “He just looked like a man possessed.”

Senior Tim Fallon went 13-22 from the X for the Hawks against another face-off stand out in Stony Brook’s Adam Rand. Fallon tied a game-high seven ground balls with fellow Hawk Connor Flynn.
Hartford hosts in-state rivals Fairfield on Tuesday at Al-Marzook Field at 4:00 p.m. in a break from America East play. They travel next Saturday to Vermont to play the Catamounts in one of three conference games left to play.

Hitting the Links: 4/8/2011

Happy Friday, AExtra fans!

Technically, it's still the work week for a little while longer, but with the weekend so close, let's take a look ahead at what the weekend has in store. And why not? Everyone else seems to be doing it.

Case in point: the latest edition of the Binghamton University Pipe Dream has articles looking ahead to men's lacrosse, women's lacrosse, baseball, men's tennis and women's tennis. Clearly, the Bearcat faithful have a busy weekend ahead. They are not alone, however, when it comes to America East fans this weekend.

Faceoffs at Center of Hartford-Stony Brook Men's Lax Showdown

In virtually all team sports, each side is seemingly given equal opportunity to score points. In baseball every team gets 27 outs. In soccer, football and basketball, teams alternate possession. Even in hockey where a faceoff follows each goal, it's rare for a team to dominate time of possession.

Lacrosse, however, is different. Like hockey, after each goal, a face off takes place, but in the possession-oriented sport, faceoffs are crucial. In fact, in 52 games involving at least one America East team this season, the team that has won more faceoffs is 35-15.

Something will have to give on Saturday as two of the nation's top face off men will square off when Stony Brook visits Hartford in a battle for first place in the America East standings. The Seawolves' Adam Rand leads the nation winning 69 percent of his draws, while the Hawks' Tim Fallon ranks ninth, winning 64 percent of his faceoffs. As team, Stony Brook is winning a conference-best 65 percent of draws as a team and Hartford is second at 64 percent.

The Seawolves, who are ranked 15th nationally, coming in having won back-to-back games, including a 16-5 victory over UMBC in their league opener last week. The Hawks are receiving votes nationally after posting a 7-3 start, their best since the 2000 season. Hartford, which beat Albany. 10-9, in its league opener last week, has already surpassed its win total from the last three seasons combined which was six.

The winner of Saturday's contest will either hold first place alone or share it with Binghamton, which plays at UMBC Saturday, following two league games.

Hitting the Links: 4/7/2011

Hey there AExtra fans!

Yesterday was a busy day on the lacrosse fields for six of the seven women's lacrosse teams as three conference games highlighted the action. Each of the three games had its own unique storyline.

In one, you had a team you had a career record being broken as well as a streak being broken...in double overtime! In another, you had a team defending its undefeated record. And in yet another, a team used a second-half run to pick up a win. Let's take a look back at the action...in Link form.

America East Basketball Highlight Reel

In the final episode of America East On Campus Season 6, we continue our annual tradition of putting together the America East basketball plays of the year. Check out the 2011 edition of our highlight reel as we officially close out the 2010-11 basketball season. Enjoy!

UMBC Women's Lacrosse rallies past Stony Brook 10-8, Men hold off Towson 10-9

UMBC WLax 10 Stony Brook 8

UMBC junior midfielder Alicia Krause (Ellicott City,Md./Mount Hebron/Duquesne) tallied six points on five goals and an assist to lead the UMBC women’s lacrosse team (8-4, 2-1 AE) to a 10-8 victory over America East rival Stony Brook (3-8, 0-3 AE) Wednesday afternoon at UMBC Stadium.

Krause scored UMBC’s first three goals and five of their first six while assisting on the other. With the Retrievers trailing, 4-1, after 11:31 of action, she completed the hat trick with back-to-back goals that pulled the hosts to within one, 4-3, at the 9:44 mark. The Seawolves led, 5-4, at halftime.

Krause knotted the game at 5-5 just 3:05 into the second half, and the teams alternated goals for the first 10 minutes of the period before senior midfielder Amanda Pappas (Pasadena, Md./Chesapeake) sparked a 4-0 run that gave the Retrievers control of the game. It was Pappas’ second goal of the contest and the 100th of her career, making her the 17th player in UMBC history to reach the century mark.

Hole in the Wall Gang Camp Gets A Makeover Thanks To Hartford

The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Ashford, Conn., founded by Paul Newman himself., got a face lift last week when Hartford student-athletes volunteered  for a little spring cleaning. After quite a winter full of snow, wind and sleet, the camp needed some raking and overall beautification to get it in tip-top shape for campers and their families this winter.

Hartford administrators and student-athletes pausing to take a photo at the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp.

“I had a lot of fun knowing that I was doing something that benefited such an amazing camp for kids,” said Keyokah Mars-Garrick, a junior on the women’s basketball team. “Knowing that I was making the appearance of their camp that much better was a rewarding feeling.”

For a photo gallery of the day's activities and more on it, check out the U of H story: http://hartfordhawks.com/news/2011/4/1/GEN_0401115656.aspx

Hartford student-athletes will be back in the community this Saturday, this time as part of the America East-CFES Student Service Day. Rain or shine, Hawks will be headed next door to the UHartford Magnet School as mentors for school-age kids, helping them clean up their school. The Service Day is part of a larger community service event going on across the conference on Saturday where America East student-athletes are bettering their communities alongside the kids they mentor throughout the entire academic year. 


Good stuff! And it shows the true meaning of being a student-athlete goes beyond the play on the field or court. We'll follow up Service Day next week with some photos and stories about all the amazing student-athletes and the relationships they have with their younger mentees.

Hitting the Links: 4/6/2011

Good afternoon AExtra fans!

We are now into the full swing of Spring with every America East team in baseball, softball, lacrosse, tennis and track & field having taken to its respective field (or court, or track) at least once.

Just taking to the field though, in some cases, can be an obstacle. Just ask the Maine Black Bear baseball team. Last weekend, the Black Bears spent their time on the field wearing winter gloves, not baseball gloves, as they shoveled off their field. Despite the extra efforts of the team, the field was not playable and the Black Bears suffered a snow day... in April!

While Maine baseball had a tough time getting a game in, Black Bear softball had a solid showing early in its conference schedule, taking two out of three games on the road at preseason favorite Boston U.

While the spring may have started out cold and snowy, some America East squads have been red hot. No team has started the season stronger than the Albany women's lacrosse team. The Great Danes are out to their best start as a Division I program, posting an unblemished, 9-0 record. Albany resides in the top 10 of both major national polls and is one of four remaining undefeated teams in Division I women's lacrosse this season.

UNH Set to Host Boston U. in Key Women's Lax Game

With UNH set to host Boston U. today at 4 p.m., AExtra took the time to catch up with head coach Michael Daly. The Wildcats will certainly be looking for revenge, as it was the Terriers that knocked them out in the America East semifinals last season. In fact, Boston U. has won 13 straight meetings in this series.

While Daly discusses some of the keys to earning a win against the Terriers, he also talks about the balance and talent in America East this season.

Lacrosse Highlight Packages

Here are some highlights from both men's and women's lacrosse action this past weekend:

Women's Highlights:



Men's Highlights:

Binghamton Sweeps Vermont in Lacrosse Action

For fans who stuck around to enjoy both the Binghamton men's and women's lacrosse games against Vermont, Saturday proved to be a thrilling day. Both games were decided by one goal, with the host Bearcats coming out with wins in each matchup:

Men's Lacrosse:




Women's Lacrosse: