Utica, NY – The Utica College men's lacrosse lost to visiting Hamilton College 19-10 on Wednesday in the seventh annual Contineer Cup at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium. The Pioneers pulled the game to within five goals with less than 10 minutes to play, but the visiting Continentals spoiled the hosts season-opening comeback bid with the final four goals of the contest to earn the victory. 

Senior Brickman House (Oneida, WI/Pulaski) led Utica and tied his career-high with five points on three goals and two assists, while sophomore Dominic Castiglia (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) picked up where he left off last season and led the team with four goals. Ryan Desveaux (Bowmanville, ONT/St. Stephen Catholic) recorded a team-high three assists for UC. Nick Yelich (Lancaster, NY/Depew) provided valuable production as he posted three points on one goal and two assists. 

The Pioneers started off on the right foot as Castiglia scored the first goal of the game, after receiving a pass from Yelich, giving UC a 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the contest. Hamilton then responded by scoring two goals in a row in the span of 3:03 to take a 2-1 lead with 6:43 left in the first quarter. Sophomore transfer Jake Bratek (Syracuse, NY/Jamesville-Dewitt) recorded his first goal in a Pioneer uniform to tie the game up with 3:37 left in the quarter. The Continentals closed out the quarter with two more goals to take a 4-2 lead heading into the second quarter.
 
UC was able to score an early goal in the second, but Hamilton responded with three straight goals to earn a 7-3 lead with 10:37 left before halftime. After a Liam Wheatley (Rochester, NY/Webster Schroeder) goal for the Pioneers, the Continentals fired right back with two more goals of their own to make the score 9-4 with 6:58 remaining in the second quarter. Hamilton entered halftime with a five goal lead over Utica.
 
Nick Yelich (Lancaster, NY/Depew) netted his first goal of the season to start off the third quarter, making the score 9-5. The visiting Continentals once again were able to answer scoring two consecutive goals, increasing their lead to six with 8:12 left in the third quarter. After a penalty on Hamilton, Castiglia scored his third goal of the game earning the hat trick with 7:52 remaining before the fourth quarter. Hamilton scored four more goals before the third quarter was over to take a commanding 15-7 lead heading into the final 15 minutes.
 
The Pioneers came on strong early in the fourth quarter as they scored three straight goals in the span of just 3:09, to make the score 15-10 with 9:27 remaining in the game. However, UC's comeback attempt was halted after Hamilton netted four consecutive goals to close out the game as the Continentals came away with the nine goal victory.
 
Defenseman Tyler Nicolaus (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) snagged a team-high six ground balls and caused two turnovers on defense. Rusty Dessert (Islip, NY/Islip) and Sam Davi (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) also caused two turnovers each in the contest for the Pioneers. Senior goalkeeper Parker Smith (Dexter, NY/General Brown) was able to scoop up five ground balls for the team and made a career-high 10 saves.
 
For Hamilton (2-0), Chad Morse and Clay McCollum both finished with five total points to lead the Continentals. Jack Gaul added four points of his own off of two goals and two assists. Eric Zurmuehle also tallied four points, as well as winning 19 out of 24 face offs, and scooping 11 ground balls. Casey Kopp was second on the team in ground balls, as he grabbed five. Goalkeeper John Schisler ended the game with six saves and 10 goals allowed on his way to earning the win.

The Continentals placed 29 shots on goal compared to UC's 17. Hamilton also scooped up 38 ground balls in the game, nine more than the Pioneers. UC had a hard time controlling the face-offs, winning just 8-of-24. 
 
The Pioneers will return to action on Saturday, as they host SUNY Potsdam. This contest is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.