Newport, R.I. – Down by as many as five goals early in the third quarter, Clark University's furious comeback fell short as the visiting Cougars dropped an 8-7 decision to Salve Regina in non-league lacrosse action on Wednesday afternoon.

The win for the Seahawks is their third straight after opening the season with five consecutive losses. Clark, meanwhile, has dropped two of their last three and now sit at 3-2 overall.

Salve Regina was paced offensively by Chad Hollenshade who finished with a game-high four goals – his third consecutive game with at least three goals.

The Cougars actually held a brief 1-0 lead after Peter Christiansen (Seattle, Wash.) set up Rob Holden (East Longmeadow, Mass.) for his ninth goal of the season less than two minutes into the contest.

James Fee answered with back-to-back goals for the Seahawks six minutes apart and then Taylor Braun found the back of the net to give Salve Regina a 3-1 lead after the first.

The Seahawks were at it again to open up the second frame as Daniel Parks notched an unassisted marker at 12:46, making the score 4-1.

Jeffrey Wasson (Buckhorn, Ontario) stopped Salve's momentum with his first of the afternoon less than two minutes later, but Hollenshade scored a pair of goals eight seconds apart to give the Seahawks a 6-2 halftime edge.

Hollenshade completed the natural hat trick with his third consecutive goal to start the third but Wasson recorded another unassisted score to make the game 7-3 heading into the fourth.

Clark embarked on its comeback when Holden found Nick Figliola (Weston, Conn.) for his second goal of the season and the Figliola returned the favor by setting up Luke Dunn (Amherst, Mass.), closing the gap to 7-5 with 11:51 left to play.

Hollenshade, however, added another goal to push the Seahawks lead back to three goals.

The Cougars made one final push as Dunn scored a pair of man-up goals – both off of excellent feeds from Jacob Maselek (Marblehead, Mass.) – the last coming with 4:29 left making the score 8-7. Clark would get no closer as Salve Regina held on for the victory.

Once again, Kevin Ranta (Beverly, Mass.) was strong in net for the Cougars, turning back 11 shots – his third game this season with double-digit saves.

The Cougars will now play four of their next five games at home beginning with a Saturday night matchup with Manhattanville College. Faceoff is slated for 7:00 p.m.