Three goals for Hunt '20, Larsen '19 in men's lacrosse setback

Zach Larsen '19 (Josh McKee photo)

The Nazareth College Golden Flyers took the lead for good with three straight goals late in the third quarter and posted a 14-12 non-conference victory against the Hamilton College Continentals on Wednesday in Rochester, N.Y.

Hamilton (1-5 overall) held the advantage in faceoffs, ground balls and shots. Nazareth (2-5) recorded a season high for goals in a game as the Golden Flyers ended their losing streak at three contests.

Henry Hunt '20 and Zach Larsen '19 paced the Continentals' offense with three goals apiece. Chris Conley '20 recorded four points on two goals and two assists, and Chad Morse '19 chipped in two goals and a helper. Morse leads the team with 14 goals and shares the team lead of 17 points with Conley. Henry Hill '19 and Clay McCollum '19 added a goal and an assist. 

Eric Zurmuehle '18 won 16 of 27 faceoffs and scooped up eight ground balls, and Alex Choy '21 picked up five for Hamilton. Kyle Gately '20 made nine saves.

Jeremy Jacob led Nazareth with three goals and Jacob Gray and Jack Crowley finished with two goals and an assist apiece. Tristan Gosselin won nine faceoffs and collected four ground balls. Alex Winkler started in goal and stopped four shots. Joe Whitmore replaced Winkler with six minutes left in the third quarter and registered three saves.

Larsen gave the Continentals a 9-8 lead with his goal on a feed from Conley with 6:00 remaining in the third quarter and the Golden Flyers replaced Winkler with Whitmore in goal. Nazareth responded with a three-goal run that put the Golden Flyers in the lead to stay. Gray started the spurt with a goal on a pass from Myles Young with 4:35 to go in the third. Anthony Basile found Paul Walter for another goal that put Nazareth up 10-9 with 2:37 left and Jacob made it a two-goal advantage on his unassisted tally with 58 seconds remaining.

Larsen's unassisted goal 32 seconds into the fourth quarter pulled Hamilton within 11-10, but the Golden Flyers answered with another three-goal run that all but clinched the victory. Jacob scored with 13:07 left, Crowley found the back of the net with an assist from Chris Murphy with 8:40 remaining, and Colin McElligott made it 14-10 with 4:01 to go. Crowley's man-up goal represented the first time either team led by more than two goals the entire afternoon. Morse passed to Conley for a man-up goal with 3:00 left and Morse scored with 37 seconds remaining but it was too little, too late for the Continentals.

Morse gave Hamilton a 1-0 edge early in the first quarter and the teams alternated scores until Hunt and McCollum put together two goals in a row for a 5-3 Continentals advantage 1:15 into the second quarter. Gray and Gosselin scored goals seven seconds apart a little more than two minutes later, and Crowley put Nazareth in front for the first time at 7-6 with 3:41 to go in the second. Hamilton's Hill scored with 11 seconds left and sent the teams into the break tied at 7-7.

The Continentals are at nationally ranked No. 6 Amherst College on Saturday, March 24 for a NESCAC game at 1 p.m.