ONEONTA, NY – Hartwick's men's lacrosse rallied from a four-goal fourth-quarter deficit to pull to within a single goal but two Eastern Connecticut State tallies in the final two minutes pushed the Warriors past the Hawks on Wednesday at Wright Stadium, 9-6. The game marked the first game of 2015 for the Hawks, who waited 11 days from their originally scheduled opener. The Warriors improve to 1-2.
           
Hartwick trailed 1-0 after the first quarter but registered three straight goals in a 3:04 span to move ahead 3-1 in the second. The Warriors responded with two straight goals for a 3-3 tie at half, and added four more in the third to open up a 7-3 margin.
           
The Hawks scored three straight in the fourth, including their sixth goal with 8:27 remaining, to make it a 7-6 game. It remained a one-goal contest for nearly seven minutes until ECSU got an insurance goal with 1:38 left. It tacked on the final goal with 13 ticks left.
           
Seven Hawks registered at least a point in the contest, led by Sean Brown's (Pleasantville, NY/Pleasantville) two goals. Evan Petillo (Holbrook, NY/Sachem North), Cody Petillo (Holbrook, NY/Sachem North), Jacob Sasche (Baltimore, MD/Boys' Latin School of MD), and Devlin Clarke (Sparkill, NY/Tappan Zee) also found the net for the Hawks.
           
The game started off scoreless for the opening nine minutes of action before the Warriors broke the ice at 5:56 of the first quarter. The Hawks got on the scoreboard early in the second on an Evan Petillo goal which was set up by Roy Simmons (Fayetteville, NY/Fayettville-Manlius) at 13:13.
           
At 10:37, Cody Petillo fired past ECSU keeper Blake Smaldone to give Hartwick a 2-1 advantage. Twenty-six seconds later, Brown netted his first of the game with Cody Petillo assisting to give the Hawks a two-goal cushion, 3-1.
           
ECSU made it 3-2 with 3:09 left in the half and another Warrior tally with five seconds left evened the score at 3-3 at the break.
           
The Warriors controlled the third quarter, out-scoring the Hawks 4-0. They went ahead at the 13:21 mark but the game remained 4-3 for nearly the next 10 minutes. Three ECSU goals with under 4:43 left in the quarter handed it a 7-3 edge after 45 minutes.
           
Sachse opened the scoring in the final quarter for Hartwick with 12:44 left on an unassisted goal. Brown then scored from Matt McCallan (Bay Shore, NY/West Islip) with 9:05 to go and Clarke tallied 38 seconds later and the Hawks' deficit was down to one, 7-6.
           
Both teams fired three shots over the next six minutes, including a Brown shot for the Hawks that rang off the post with just over five minutes left on the clock.
           
Steven Nixon would push the Warriors lead to two, however, with 1:38 left. The Hawks registered three more shots before Chris Barnett closed out the scoring with 13 seconds left.
           
The Warriors finished with a slim 38-32 edge in shots for the game. Both teams collected 36 ground balls. The Hawks also won 12-of-19 face-offs on the day.
           
Connor Hudson (Moriches, NY/William Floyd) grabbed a game-high nine ground balls for 'Wick. He also won 10 face-offs. David Bianculli (Charlton, MA/Shepard Hill Regional) contributed four ground balls.
           
Kevin Rourke (Long Beach, NY/Long Beach) caused four Warrior turnovers for the Hawks. Mike Rourke (Long Beach, NY/Long Beach) made 10 saves in the 'Wick goal.
           
Nixon, Zach Thresher, and Michael Dellanno each scored twice for Eastern Connecticut State. Smaldone made 12 stops in the Warrior cage.
           
The Hawks are home again this coming Saturday. They host Farmingdale State at Wright Stadium at 1 p.m.