Hamilton College's Sam Sweet '16 scored three goals and added four assists, and the Continentals rallied for an 11-10 NESCAC win against the Colby College Mules at Colby's Harold Alfond Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The game was the season opener for both teams. Hamilton fell behind 5-0 in the first quarter but the Continentals roared back and went into halftime with an 8-6 lead. The score was tied at 10-10 midway through the fourth quarter when Clay McCollum '19 scored the game-winner on a feed from Sweet with 7:20 left.

Sweet's seven points are a career high. Joe Ricciuti '16 notched three goals and McCollum and Eric Zurmuehle '18 added two apiece. Jack Gaul '18 scored his seventh career goal. Zurmuehle won a career-best 19 of 23 faceoffs and scooped up 12 ground balls.

Hamilton's John Schisler '18 made 16 saves, including eight in the fourth quarter, in his first collegiate start in goal. Schisler had recorded 13 stops in four games during his first two seasons as a backup for three-year starter Will Driscoll '15.

Colton Michel paced the Mules with three goals and one assist. Kevin Seiler tallied three goals and Cillian Connor chipped in one goal and two helpers. Kenny Jacobson posted four ground balls and two caused turnovers, and Dylan Rothenberg turned away 12 shots in goal.

Colby's Austin Sayre scored just 15 seconds into the first quarter and the Mules jumped out to a 5-0 lead 11 minutes in. Michel had two of the goals, including one while Colby was a man down that gave the Mules a 4-0 advantage with 9:50 left.

Five seconds after Colby took its five-goal lead, Zurmuehle put the Continentals on the scoreboard after he won the faceoff and scooped up the ground ball. Gaul scored an unassisted goal with 52 seconds remaining and Connor restored the Mules' four-goal cushion with 24 seconds to go. Sweet made it 6-3 with just two seconds left. Rothenberg made six saves in the first quarter alone.

Sweet factored into four of Hamilton's five goals in the second quarter as he scored twice and was credited with two assists. His unassisted goal with 9:04 remaining gave the Continentals their first lead at 7-6, and Sweet passed to Ricciuti for another goal with 6:22 to go before the break.

Colby stopped the bleeding in the third quarter as Seiler scored to make it 8-7 with 12:58 left and Alex Rutan tied things up 90 seconds later. McCollum's first collegiate goal put Hamilton back in front with 8:04 remaining but Michel's man-up score drew the Mules even again with 4:48 to go.

Seiler gave Colby its last lead at 10-9 on an unassisted goal with 8:41 left in the fourth quarter. It took Zurmuehle five seconds to tie the score again as he won the ensuing faceoff, picked up the ground ball and put a shot into the back of the net. The Buff and Blue won all nine faceoffs in the second half.

Zurmuehle won the next faceoff and McCollum scored the game-winner a little more than a minute later. The Mules squeezed off five shots in the final 5:12, including one that hit the post with 4:04 remaining. After a failed clear by the Continentals, Colby called a timeout with 56 seconds to go. One last shot by Seiler was stopped by Schisler with seven seconds left and Hamilton could celebrate.

The Continentals host Utica College for the Contineer Cup at Campus Road Athletic Complex on Wednesday, March 9, at 4:30 p.m.