The Lehigh men's lacrosse team scored five straight first-half goals to take a 5-2 lead and 6-4 halftime advantage, but No. 11 Virginia responded with seven in the second to down the Mountain Hawks, 11-8 on Friday evening at Klockner Stadium. Junior Conor Gaffney was stellar facing off, winning 15-of-23 with eight groundballs. Offensively, senior Alexander Tumminello scored three goals for his first-career hat trick. The Mountain Hawks return to action next Sunday when they travel to No. 5/6 Cornell to face the Big Red. "I was proud of the effort and attitude the guys brought to this game tonight," said Lehigh head coach Kevin Cassese. "They battled hard and left it all out on that field. Obviously, we were playing a little short-handed tonight, but we didn't use that as an excuse and we just scrapped for 60 minutes." Tumminello's three goals and four points were both career highs. Senior Tristan Rai had two goals and two assists while classmate Mickey Fitzpatrick dished two assists. Making his first-career start, freshman Tommy Schelling had multiple points for the first time in his career. Lehigh's defense contained a potent Virginia offense, which finished seventh nationally last season in scoring offense. Junior Andrew Eichelberger tallied career highs in groundballs (5) and caused turnovers (3), senior Matt Rimol caused two turnovers while senior Craig Chick had four groundballs and a caused turnover. After UVA jumped out to a 2-0 lead, Rai took advantage of an unsettled situation to pull Lehigh within 2-1 with 4:44 left in the first quarter. Just 38 seconds later, Tumminello scored on the extra man to even the score at two. Virginia scored the first four second-half goals to take an 8-6 lead before Tumminello scored his hat-trick goal on a nifty inside move to pull the Mountain Hawks within 8-7 with 13:43 left in the fourth quarter. The Cavaliers responded with three of the game's final four goals, the only Lehigh goal coming from Rai, as Virginia wrapped up the 11-8 victory. Final shots were 34-33 in favor of UVA while Lehigh held a 45-42 edge in groundballs. Sophomore goaltender James Spence made eight saves across UVA's Alex Rode, who recorded 11. "There is a lot to build on from tonight," said Cassese. "Definitely a different feeling than how we felt after the Hofstra game. Playing a team like UVA forces you to get better, so we will start to learn and grow from this one immediately." Lehigh will return to action next Sunday when it travels to Cornell to face the No. 5/6 Big Red.