Hamilton College scored the first seven goals and the Continentals went on to post a 12-8 non-conference win against the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons at the SUNY Cortland Stadium Complex on Wednesday night.
 
Hamilton (3-3 overall) has won all three of its non-conference games this spring. The Continentals led 4-0 at the end of the first quarter, 7-2 at halftime and 9-5 after three quarters. Hamilton travels to Colby College for a NESCAC game on Saturday, March 26 at 1 p.m.
 
The closest the Red Dragons (2-5) could get to the Continentals after the opening onslaught was three goals at 8-5 with 3:00 left in the third quarter. This was the first meeting between the two teams since they met in the 2003 NCAA Division III championship quarterfinals.
 
Hamilton's Tim Sommer '22 tied his career high with four points on three goals and an assist. Britt Defeo '22 tallied three goals and Christian Byrne '24 posted a goal and two helpers. Rowan Brumbaugh '23 and Jayme Wilde '25 notched two goals apiece.
 
Michael Scoleri '24 won 18 of 23 faceoffs and collected eight ground balls for the Continentals. Scoleri has won 66 percent of his 100 faceoffs this season. Seamus Fagan '23 turned away 14 shots including five in the first quarter when he helped hold Cortland scoreless. Fagan has an 8.93 goals against average and .634 save percentage in nearly 356 minutes played.

Zak Jones paced the Cortland offense with four goals and caused three turnovers. Dante Yacavone chipped in a goal and two assists, and Troy Morris added a goal and an assist. Justin Wainwright scooped up five ground balls, starting goalkeeper Evan Alfano made four saves in 19 minutes, and Matt Stento stopped six shots during the final 41 minutes.
 
Byrne gave Hamilton a 1-0 lead on an unassisted goal 66 seconds into the first quarter. He was one of six Continentals who scored a goal during their opening run. Byrne found Justin Pearl '25 for the goal that made it 7-0 with 11:00 to go in the second quarter.
 
After the Red Dragons pulled within 8-5, Wilde picked up the loose ball off the ensuing faceoff and fired it into the back of the net with 2:49 remaining in the third quarter. Sommer made it 10-5 with his third goal of the night with 10:38 left in the fourth quarter, and Cortland didn't get closer than four goals the rest of the way.
 
Hamilton held a 44-33 shot advantage and collected 38 ground balls to the Red Dragons' 21. Cortland was successful on just 18 of 27 clear attempts.
 
Brumbaugh leads the Continentals with 15 goals and Defeo has a team-best 20 points. Defeo and Byrne have nine assists apiece. Scoleri is the leader in ground balls with 25 and Marc Welch '22 has caused nine turnovers.