A five-goal second period helped lift the Wesleyan University Cardinals to a 9-6 NESCAC win against the Hamilton College Continentals at Hamilton's Steuben Field on a warm and sunny Saturday afternoon.

The Continentals (2-1, 1-1 NESCAC) grabbed an early 2-0 lead but Wesleyan scored the next five goals and held at least a two-goal advantage or more the rest of the way. Both teams received votes in the latest Division III Top 20 coaches poll.

J.D. Brachman '17 paced Hamilton with two goals and an assist. Brachman is second on the team with 11 points.

Sam Sweet '16 chipped in two goals for the Continentals and moved over the 100-point mark for his Hamilton career. Sweet, who has 101 points, leads the team with nine goals and five assists.

Dan Cahill '17 was credited with a pair of assists and Pat Donahoe '16 and Jarett Greben '19 tallied one goal apiece for the Continentals. Noah Weissmann '18 made 14 saves in his second collegiate start. Eric Zurmuehle '18 won 12 of 18 faceoffs and scooped up a team-best six ground balls. On defense, Matt Greene '18 caused three turnovers and Sellers Garrett '16 tied a career-high with five ground balls.

Harry Stanton led the Cardinals (2-1, 1-1) with four goals and Taylor Ghesquiere posted two goals and one assist. Niall Devaney recorded two goals and Christian Barker registered one goal and one helper. Ted Bergman stopped 15 shots and Greg Pietroforte led all players with seven ground balls as Wesleyan held a 40-28 edge in the category. Andres Rodriguez and Quinn Mendelson topped the defense with two caused turnovers apiece.

Hamilton dominated the first quarter and enjoyed an 11-4 shot advantage during the opening 15 minutes. Donahoe opened the scoring with an unassisted goal two minutes in and Greben made it 2-0 on his third goal this season with 7:13 left. The Cardinals began their five-goal run with 33 seconds remaining when Barker scored on a feed from Quentin DellaFera.

Wesleyan played as well in the second quarter as the Continentals did in the first, boasting a 16-9 shot advantage and committing just two turnovers. Stanton tied the score on a pass from Ben Shively just 27 seconds into the quarter and Ghesquiere put the Cardinals in the lead for good 65 seconds later. Devaney made it 4-2 with 7:51 to go in the second and Ghesquiere capped the spurt one minute later.

Sweet pulled Hamilton within 5-3 on his 100th point with 2:21 left but Stanton made sure Wesleyan had a three-goal cushion at the break after he scored with 20 seconds remaining in the quarter.

Devaney gave the Cardinals their largest lead of the day of four goals when he scored with 8:01 to go in the third quarter. Brachman cut the Continentals' deficit to 7-4 with 6:48 left in the third but Stanton restored the four-goal lead with 1:56 remaining.

Sweet's man-up goal pulled Hamilton within 8-5 with 11:48 to go in the fourth quarter. The Continentals received a huge break with 4:21 left when a Wesleyan played was flagged for a 60-second unreleasable unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and another 60-second penalty for slashing. Brachman scored just nine seconds into the unreleasable foul and Hamilton sensed a chance to get back into the game now down 8-6.

Zurmuehle won the ensuing faceoff and the Continentals kept possession. Hamilton squeezed off two more shots, the second of which was saved by Bergman. The Cardinals were able to get a successful clear despite being down a man, and Stanton clinched the win on his fourth goal of the day with 1:16 remaining. Hamilton finished 2-for-6 on man-up opportunities. 

The Continentals take on Keene State College for a non-conference game in Florida on Tuesday, March 15, at 5 p.m. Wesleyan travels to Vassar College for a non-conference contest on Tuesday at 2 p.m.