CLINTON, NY – The Utica College men's soccer team dropped a 1-0 decision to host Hamilton College on Wednesday night.  Hamilton's Erich Marcks sent a free kick into the box in the 69^th minute, which was collected by Bayard Geeslin, who then fired his first goal of the season into the right corner of the net to account for what proved to be the game-winner for the Continentals.

Utica (3-6, 0-1 Empire 8) has wrapped up a three game road trip and now returns home for Empire 8 Conference action Saturday when it hosts Nazareth College at 4 p.m. Hamilton improved to 3-2 overall on the year.

The first half yielded a 0-0 score after 45 minutes of action as the home team earned a 7-4 shot advantage before the halftime horn sounded. Both teams registered three corner kicks in the evenly matched first half.

Hamilton turned it up in the second half, outshooting the Pioneers 16-8 in the final 45 minutes.  The Continentals earned a 23-12 shot advantage on the afternoon. 

Utica goalie Nick Hallett (Adams, NY/South Jefferson CSD) made a career-high 11 saves in the loss for the Pioneers. Hamilton goalie Harris Pollack made six saves in net for the Continentals. Senior Shane Ruffing (Rochester, NY/Westborough) led the Pioneers with three shots.