The University at Albany men’s lacrosse team’s second-half rally came up short in a 14-9 loss to Maryland on Saturday at Casey Stadium. The Great Danes trailed 7-2 at halftime, but they cut the lead to two goals on three separate occasions before the No. 7-ranked Terrapins pulled away late. “I thought we played with tremendous energy, a lot of passion and a lot of positive energy,” said Scott Marr, UAlbany’s head coach. “I was really pleased with the effort, for sure. We’re a young team, and we just have to get better at some of the small things.” Mitch Laffin led the comeback effort with three fourth-quarter goals, all in a 3-minute, 45-second span. They were the first three goals of the season for Laffin, whose last goal, on a shot from about 13 yards out, brought UAlbany within 11-9. Jakob Patterson also scored twice for UAlbany, and Kyle Casey picked up a pair of assists. Steve Ramirez, Noah Taylor, Sean Eccles and Ron John were the Great Danes’ other goal-scorers. UAlbany’s defense kept the game close, forcing Maryland into shot-clock violations six times. Nate Siekierski also made nine saves in goal. “All in all, our effort was fantastic,” Marr said. “Even though we gave up 14 goals, I thought we had some great, great stands.” UAlbany trailed 2-1 after the first quarter but quickly tied the game early in the second on Patterson’s first goal. Maryland followed with a five-goal run, though, to leave the Great Danes needing a second-half comeback. The Great Danes got within 8-6 near the end of the third quarter on Noah Taylor’s third goal of the season. Even after Maryland pushed the lead back to four, 10-6, with the first two goals of the fourth, the Great Danes weren’t finished — thanks in large part to Laffin. He scored twice in a 32-second span to cut the lead to 10-8, and then answered a Maryland goal off a feed from Casey to make it 11-9 with 7:23 to play. “It wasn’t really me doing anything specific,” Laffin said. “It was more my teammates finding me in the right spots at the right times.” Maryland scored three straight over the final 6:55 to close out the scoring. Up next UAlbany opens America East play at 4 p.m. Saturday when it hosts UMass Lowell at Casey Stadium. CLICK HERE to purchase tickets.