The Hamilton College men's lacrosse team lost for the first time in 2017, falling 12-8 at Wesleyan University in a NESCAC game Saturday afternoon in Middletown, Conn.

The host Cardinals (2-1, 1-1 NESCAC) outscored the Continentals 5-2 to close out the game after Hamilton had pulled to within a goal late in the third quarter.

Wesleyan never trailed and took a 4-1 lead into the second quarter after scoring three straight to close out the opening period. The Continentals (2-1, 1-1) pulled to within a goal three times, closing to 7-6 on a goal by Clay McCollum '19 with 6:26 left in the third before the Cardinals' 5-2 run that closed the game.

Chris Conley '20 scored four goals – giving him a team-leading nine this spring – and J.D. Brachman '17 added a pair of goals.

Carter Hawthorne and Harry Stanton combined for seven goals for Wesleyan including three of the Cardinals' five first-quarter goals. Hawthorne scored the hosts' first and last goals of the period with the latter coming with 1:40 remaining in the quarter. Wesleyan took the lead for good 3:15 into play on a goal by Grey Bradshaw Mack.

Eric Zurmuehle '18 answered Hawthorne's first goal, which opened the scoring; he won the ensuing faceoff and beat Cardinal goaltender Ted Bergman six seconds later for his fourth goal of the season (on his fourth shot of the season).

After Brachman and Wesleyan's Colin Uyecki traded goals late in the second quarter, Conley scored consecutive goals to bring the Continentals to within 5-4 with 2:09 left before halftime. Taylor Ghesquiere took advantage of a Hamilton penalty to score a man-up goal 11 seconds before the break to give the Cardinals a 6-4 halftime lead.

Conley opened the third-quarter scoring with his third goal 2:37 in and Stanton scored a man-up goal to restore Wesleyan's two-goal advantage.

A man-up goal by Ghesquiere and two straight Hawthorne goals put the Cardinals up 10-6. Stanton and Ghesquiere followed Conley's fourth goal before Brachman closed out the scoring with 80 seconds left.

Zurmuehle led all players with 12 ground balls. Andrew Cox '20 picked up three.

Hawthorne (4-1) and Stanton (3-2) collected five points each. Andres Rodriguez picked up four ground balls and caused five turnovers.

Bergman made 12 saves and Hamilton's John Schisler '17 finished with eight.

The Continentals travel to Davenport, Florida, for a pair of spring break games next week. They'll face Keene State Wednesday in a 7 p.m. game at Northeast Regional Park.