Hartford achieved a pair of firsts last season, capturing the school's first America East Tournament crown and qualifying for its first NCAA Tournament.
The No. 19 Hawks appeared to take another step in that direction when they took a 5-4 lead on Maryland in the third quarter Saturday. But the No. 10 Terps responded with a four-goal run and ended the contest with another four-goal spurt.
Hartford coach Peter Lawrence said the players proved that they can compete with top-10 opponents.
"But we've got some work to do if we want to be able to beat them," he said. "It's one thing to play with them, but it's another thing to be able to beat them. We say to our guys if you're good enough to get the lead late in the game, then you're good enough to win the game. We had the lead in the third quarter. So we're good enough to be able to beat a team like Maryland, I think, but again, we have some work to do. We've got to get in better shape, we've got to get better at groundballs, we've got to get better at faceoffs. But I'm excited about the team and the season coming."