Utica, NY (3/10/15)- The Utica College men's lacrosse team will host Hamilton College in the fifth annual "Contineer Cup" on Wednesday afternoon. The rivalry game was named the "Contineer Cup" in 2011 and the Continentals have retained the cup in four consecutive meetings. Wednesday's contest begins at 5 p.m. at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.

MEET UC: The Pioneers are currently 1-1 overall and they are holding opponents to an average of 6.50 goals per game … Utica has totaled 17 goals and is 2–for-4 in man-up situations … The Pioneers have also caused 30 turnovers and picked up 70 ground balls as a team.

LAST TIME OUT: Freshman Ryan Desveaux (Bowmanville, ONT/St. Stephen Catholic) led the Pioneers to a 13-2 victory with a five-goal effort, while fellow freshman Nick Yelich (Lancaster, NY/Depew) added two goals at SUNY Poly on Saturday… Six other Pioneers scored including senior Zack Stevenson (Elbridge, NY/Jordan-Elbridge) and junior Alex Finnegan (Bay Shore, NY/Islip), who both added one goal and one assist a piece. 

EMPIRE 8 POTW: Desveaux was named the Empire 8 Conference Offensive Player of the Week and the College's Male Athlete of the Week after his stellar performance over the course of two games as he opened his collegiate career last week … So far this season Desveaux has scored seven of the team's 17 goals, including his first collegiate goal in the season opener against St. Lawrence University last Wednesday ... He currently leads the team in goals (seven), points (seven), and shots on goal (10).

IMPACT PLAYERS: Senior defender Tom Bryne leads the team with 11 ground balls and is second on the team with six caused turnovers while classmate Sean Flanagan (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) leads the team with seven caused turnovers and has won eight ground balls … Byrne recently moved into sixth place on the College's all-time list as he now has 187 career ground balls. 

DEFENSIVE EFFORT: The Pioneers have outscored their opponents 17-13 and only gave up two goals in their last match up against SUNY Polytechnic … Senior goalie Andrew DiOrio (Greenlawn, NY/CW Post) has 11 saves and an 8.27 goals against average over the course of his first two games this season. 

MEET HAMILTON: The Hamilton Continentals have a 2-1 overall record and they have a victory over nationally-ranked No. 20 Nazareth College under their belts… Hamilton is led by an offensive trio in junior Sam Sweet (10 points: five goals, five assists), senior John Zimmerman (eight points: six goals, two assists), and senior Pax Anthos (seven points: six goals, one assist).

ALL-TIME AGAINST HAMILTON: The Pioneers have lost 13 straight match ups against the Continentals…The last victory that Utica had over Hamilton was a 10-8 win back in 2001…Seven of the last 15 match ups have been decided by two goals or less.

UP NEXT: The Pioneers next host SUNY Potsdam on Saturday with a 3 p.m. face-off time.