Boxscore
Photos Courtesy of Mark Campbell

NEWARK, Del. -- The University of Delaware jumped out to a five-goal halftime lead but had to hold off a strong second half surge by Hartford to post an 11-9 men's lacrosse victory at chilly Rullo Stadium Saturday afternoon.

The Hens (2-2), who snapped a two-game losing streak, got three goals from senior Josh Coveleski (top right) and All-American Curtis Dickson and Pat Lombard each scored twice and dished out an assist to lead the way for Delaware. The Hens improved to 7-0 all-time vs. Hartford in Newark.

Dickson, who pushed his team-leading goal total to 13, extended his point-scoring streak to 30 straight games and his goal-scoring streak to 29, breaking the previous Delaware school record of 28 set by Haylor Osborn in 1962-64 and Randy Powers in 1983-84.

Hartford (0-2), which lost its season opener 11-10 in overtime to Dartmouth last week, continued to struggle as the Hawks pushed their three-season losing streak to 18 games and their road losing skein to 15 games dating back to 2006.

Carter Bender led the Hawks with three goals while Justin Bearse scored twice and dished out three assists and Aidan Genik, who scored five goals in his collegiate debut last week vs. Dartmouth, was held without a goal but dished out two assists.

Blue Hen goalkeeper Noah Fossner posted 14 saves and faceoff specialist Tommy Lee (bottom right) was outstanding, winning 19 of 24 draws and also adding a goal and an assist for Delaware.

The Hawks cut the lead to one-goal twice in the second half on goals by Bender, pulling to within 9-8 with 10 seconds left in the third quarter and to within 10-9 with 9:50 remaining in the game. But Delaware responded each time and never allowed Hartford tie the score as a goal by Pat Lombard with 3:06 left to play provided the Hens with some insurance.

Coveleski scored two goals in the first six minutes of the game to help the Blue Hens move out to a 3-1 lead after one quarter and the Hens pushed that lead to 8-3 at the half as they outscored Hartford 5-2 in the stanza.

Delaware scored the first four goals of the second quarter to move ahead as Lombard, D.J. Widlake, Dickson, and defenseman Matt Stefurak each delivered. Lee won a faceoff and scored seconds later with 2:24 left to send the Hens up five goals going into the break.

But the Hawks refused to go down without a fight as they outscored the Hens 5-1 in the third stanza to get back into the game. Hartford scored the first three goals of the second half as Bearse scored twice and then fed Michael Cudmore to narrow the UD margin to 8-6 with 8:03 left in the third stanza.

After Coveleski scored to push the UD lead to 9-6, Hartford’s Compitello scored off a Bearse feed with 5:05 left and Bender tallied with just 10 seconds left to cut the lead to 9-8.

Dickson, who has scored multiple goals in five straight games dating back to last season, gave the Hens some breathing room with his second goal of the game just 40 seconds into the final stanza, but Hartford answered again on a goal by Bender with 9:50 remaining to cut the lead to 10-9.

Neither team managed to score for the next seven minutes before Lombard scored with 3:06 to ice the win for the Hens.

AGATE:

Hartford.......1.....2.....5.....1.......9
Delaware.....3.....5.....1.....2.....11

Scoring Summary (Goals-Assists):
Delaware - Josh Coveleski, 3-0; Curtis Dickson, 2-1; Pat Lombard, 2-1; Tommy Lee, 1-1; Kevin Kaminski, 1-0; D.J. Widlake, 1-0; Matt Stefurak, 1-0; John Austin, 0-1; Hartford - Carter Bender, 3-0; Justin Bearse, 2-3; Ryan Compitello, 1-1; Jacob Eustice, 1-0; Rob Nosworthy, 1-0; Michael Cudmore, 1-0; Aidan Genik, 0-2.

Shots: Hartford - 32, Delaware - 51; Groundballs: Hartford - 29, Delaware 34; Faceoffs: Hartford - 5, Delaware - 19; Clears: Hartford - 22 of 25, Delaware - 14 of 20; Extra Man Goals: Hartford - 1 for 3, Delaware - 0 for 3; Penalties: Hartford - 3 for 2:30, Delaware - 3 for 2:30; Saves: Hartford - 18 (Jon McMahon, 22:03 min., 7 goals, 8 saves; Lee Malandrino, 37:57 min., 4 goals, 10 saves); Turnovers: Hartford - 19, Delaware - 20; Attendance: 610.