The no. 2-seeded Hartford Hurricanes’ journey to get back to the Division II lacrosse championship game began with a quarterfinal matchup against BFA Fairfax Bullets on a rainy Saturday.

While Hurricanes penalties allowed BFA kept it close through the first quarter, the Hurricanes’ offense came alive after the second quarter and the home team cruised to a 17-5 victory.

“I think we got a little nervous at first with the penalties, but once we kind of settled it down, we started rolling and putting them in the back of the cage,” Hurricanes captain and senior midfielder Owen Mock said after the game.

The Hurricanes, who suffered just one loss in the regular season, opened the scoring when junior midfielder Rex Banning scored off the fast break two minutes into the game. Less than a minute later, sophomore midfielder Isaac Tane joined the scoring with his first of five on the day.

After the visitors scored, senior goaltender Graham Thompson rolled out of the crease off a save and fired nearly the entire length of the field to find senior attackman Thomas Thorburn for the open goal.

BFA would answer on their next drive, making it a one-score game. However, the Hurricanes would score twice in less than a minute with goals from junior attackman Owen McMahon and Tane, with assists from junior midfielder Joey Gardner and Banning, making it 5-2 going into the second.

In the second, BFA would score first, but it would be all Hartford afterwards, with Tane scoring his third, assisted by sophomore attackman Kaleb Sanderson. This would be followed by back-to-back goals from Mock, with Gardner getting the assist on the second one. 

Less than two minutes before halftime, Thorburn would score his second with an assist from Tane, making it 9-3 at the break.

In the third, after BFA scored, the Hurricanes would get their one goal of the quarter with Tane getting his fourth with the assist from Thorburn, making it 10-4 entering the fourth.

Mock would get the scoring started 14 seconds into the fourth, with the assist coming from Thorburn. This would be followed 32 seconds later by Gardner, unassisted.

Tane would score his final goal while a man up followed by a goal from senior attackman Tyler Spaulding, with both assists coming from Thorburn, making it 14-5.

Following a BFA ejection with under five minutes left, Mock, Thorburn, and McMahon would score a man-up goal with assists from Tane, McMahon, and Spaulding to end the game

Along with Tane’s seven points, Thorburn would also finish with seven points while Mock contributed four goals. Along with his assist, Thompson finished the game with seven saves.

Senior midfielder Connor Payton put up an impressive performance on faceoffs, winning 11 to just two losses, while junior midfielder Liam Dube contributed two.

“We played team offense, team defense, and we controlled the face-offs, which always helps,” Hurricanes head coach Grant Whiteway said after the game. “It comes down to the little things, picking up ground balls and playing team lacrosse.”

The Hurricanes will host Milton on Wednesday in the semifinals with a shot of making it to a fourth straight championship game.