CLINTON, NY – Trailing by four goals in the third quarter, Hartwick's men's lacrosse team rallied to within one deep in the fourth quarter but eventually would come up just short in an 8-7 loss Tuesday at Hamilton College. 'Wick slips to 8-4 on the year. Hamilton snaps a 12-game winless streak to improve to 2-13.
           
The Hawks would fall behind 7-3 with 11 and a half minutes to go in the third quarter. Goals from Chris VanDemark (Painted Post, NY/Corning-Painted Post) and Justin Curreri (Miller Place, NY/Rocky Point) trimmed the margin to two, 7-5, at the end of the quarter.
           
After the Continentals tallied seven seconds into the fourth, Brett Maguire (Adams Center, NY/South Jefferson) scored back-to-back goals at 7:05 and 2:30 to make it an 8-7 game. Hamilton gained possession and thought it had scored an insurance goal with just over 30 seconds left in the contest. However, a crease violation gave the ball back to the Hawks. Following a 'Wick timeout with 17 ticks left, Hamilton forced a Hartwick turnover, came up with the ball, and ran out the clock for the win.
           
Maguire and Curreri would account for two goals apiece on the night for the Hawks. VanDemark, Eric Schweitzer (Babylon, NY/Babylon), and Mike Majchrzak (Plantsville, CT/Southington) each scored once. Wyatt Long (Hardwick, NJ/Blair Academy) had an assist.
           
Hartwick would score first in the game before Hamilton netted three unanswered goals for a 3-1 lead after 15 minutes. After Majchrzak and Curreri scored to tie the game in the second quarter, Hamilton would register four straight goals over the next 16 minutes to gain the 7-3 upper hand.
           
The hosts led the Hawks in shots, 31-28. They also had more ground balls (42-29) and face-offs (13-4).
           
Schweitzer recorded a game-high six caused turnovers and a team-best seven ground balls. Garrison Wojtas (Hauppauge, NY/Hauppauge) added three ground balls and three caused turnovers. Goalkeeper C.J. Alesandrini (Schenectady, NY/Colonie), who made 10 saves in the Hawks' cage, grabbed three ground balls. Tanner Patterson (East Longmeadow, NY/East Longmeadow) also picked up three ground balls.
           
Chad Morse and Clay McCollum each scored three goals to pace the Continentals. Kyle Gately made eight saves in goal.
           
The Hawks travel to Nazareth for their regular season finale on Saturday at 2 p.m. A win would clinch a berth in next week's Empire 8 semifinals.