The Utica College men's lacrosse team lost to visiting Hartwick College 15-9 in Empire 8 Conference play Wednesday afternoon at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium. The Pioneers -- winners of three straight headed into the contest -- netted eight first half goals but they could not seem to crack the Hartwick defense in the second half. Seniors Michael Bulger and Reed Reynolds led the way for the Pioneers with five points and three points, respectively.

Dave Aitchison netted two goals and added three assists for Hartwick, which snapped a five game conference losing streak and improved to 4-7 overall. Utica dropped to 4-8 overall and 2-3 in conference play.

The first half was highlighted by two different three goal streaks, one for each team, after the Pioneers opened the scoring at the 12:02 mark when Bulger netted his 31st goal of the season off an assist from Michael Brodhead. Hartwick answered with three consecutive goals to take a 3-1 advantage before the Pioneers answered right back with three straight of their own to earn a 4-3 lead at the end of 15 minutes. Bulger netted his second goal of the contest to cut the Hartwick lead to 3-2, before Reynolds and Tanner Stewart added back-to-back goals, just 1:12 a part, to give UC a 4-3 lead.

Hartwick's Brandon Wilk opened the second quarter scoring when he netted a goal to knot the score at 4-4 just 1:36 into the second stanza. Stewart gave UC the lead right back 1:24 later when he scored his second consecutive goal off an assist from classmate Robert Schloop.

The Hawks would score two straight goals in under a minute to tie the score at 5-5 with 7:21 to go in the half. The Pioneers answered with two of their own and held a 7-5 advantage with 3:20 to go in the half. Bulger netted his third of the day on the man-down opportunity before senior Corey Boulio netted his lone goal of the contest off an assist from John Giordano.

Hartwick scored two of the halves final three goals and the score was tied at 8-8 head into the final 30 minutes of play.

Hartwick went on to dominate play in the second half, outscoring UC 7-1, to earn the six goal victory. Aitchison and Joe Shields each tallied two second half goals while 'Wick goalie Ryan Twardowski made ten of his 11 saves in the second half to seal the victory.

The Pioneers earned a 33-18 ground ball advantage on the day and each team had 18 clears. Hartwick scored three man-up goals and out shot UC 39-37.

Travis Wright finished the day with nine saves in net for the Pioneers.

UC returns to action Saturday when it hosts Elmira in conference play on Senior day at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium. The contest is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.

                      --- www.ucpioneers.com ---