Clinton, NY – The Utica College men's lacrosse team lost to host Hamilton College 18-5 in the sixth annual Contineer Cup rivalry game on Wednesday afternoon at Campus Road Field. Utica freshman Dominic Castiglia (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) netted a team-best two goals to pace the Pioneers.

Utica's record fell to 0-2 overall on the year, while Hamilton improved to 2-0. UC continues its three game road trip to start the season on Saturday when the Pioneers travel to Potsdam to take on the Bears at 1 p.m.

Utica's Matthew Miller (Geneva, NY/Geneva), Liam Wheatley (Rochester, NY/Webster Schroeder) and Xavier Perron (Sherbrooke, Quebec/Le Triolet) each added one goal to pace the Pioneers. Senior Alex Finnegan (Bay Shore, NY/Islip), Patrick Mulligan (Commack, NY/Commack) and Nick Yelich (Lancaster, NY/Depew) each tallied one assist. Hamilton was led by five goals and three assists from J.D. Brachman while Sam Sweet also chipped in with four goals and one assist.

Utica goalie Andrew DiOrio (Greenlawn, NY/Harborfields) stopped 10 shots in the loss before Parker Smith (Dexter, NY/General Brown) came on in relief in the fourth quarter and made three stops.  Noah Weissmann added 19 saves for the Continentals.

Hamilton earned a 31-25 shots on goal advantage, but the Pioneers did force 20 Hamilton turnovers, including a team-best three caused turnovers by UC's Rusty Dessert (Islip, NY/Islip). Dessert and Mitch Sobilo (Hamburg, NY/Hamburg) posted a team-best four ground balls each for the Pioneers.

Hamilton jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 5:19 of action before Castiglia got the Pioneers on the board, assisted by Alex Finnegan (Bay Shore, NY/Islip), to make it a 2-1 game with 8:03 to go in the first quarter. Hamilton closed out the final 6:31 of the first quarter with three unanswered goals to take a 5-1 lead after 15 minutes of action.

Hamilton then outscored UC 7-1 in the second quarter to earn a 12-1 lead at the half. Wheatley tallied his first goal of the young season, unassisted, in the second quarter for Utica. 

Hamilton outscored UC 6-3 in the second half to retain the Contineer Cup for the sixth straight year.  Matthew Miller (Geneva, NY/Geneva) and Dominic Castiglia (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) netted third quarter goals for Utica.  Nick Yelich (Lancaster, NY/Depew) assisted on Miller's first goal of the season at 8:54 of the third quarter, while Mulligan assisted on Castiglia's second goal of the afternoon with 3:30 to go in the third.

Freshman Xavier Perron (Sherbrooke, Quebec/Le Triolet) then added his first collegiate goal with 10:39 to go in the fourth quarter to close out the scoring on the day for the Pioneers.

Castiglia leads UC with three goals this season, while Yelich now has three points on one goal and two assists.