HAMBURG, N.Y. – Three Hawks scored hat-tricks today as the Hilbert College men's lacrosse team secured their third consecutive NEAC play-off spot with the 13-6 victory over Cazenovia College April 23.  Matthew Simon tallied four goals and added one assist to match points with Elliott Russillio who chipped in three scores and two helpers.  In a total-team-effort, the Hawks posted nine assists on their thirteen goals in their last home game of the 2014 season.

Prior to the start of the game, the men's lacrosse team honored their five seniors who have carried this program from club status to varsity status in their careers.  Austin Collett, Nick Kieffer, Sean Manning, John Pingitore and Doug Takac have helped build this program and were rewarded with a third seed in the NEAC play-offs with their 5-2 record (7-4 overall).

Nick Kieffer was the third amigo who scored three goals while winning 50% of his face-offs (8-16).  Nathaniel Hyman led the field with six ground balls and Simon chipped in a strong effort with five.   Jed Bengert did a nice job in the face-off circle finishing with an impressive 5 of 6.

Hilbert dominated play grabbing 16 more ground balls (42-26) and outshooting the Wildcats by 17 attempts (46-29).  But their aggressive attitude also caused the team to play in a man-down situation for two-minutes more than the visitors. 

Hilbert's rookie goalie, Brenden Deady swallowed the ball for 12 saves while Cazenovia's Pat Boyle was credited with 13 in the game.

Cazenovia opened the game with a quick wide-open, unmarked score early in the game.  Both teams then traded tallies until the quarter break tied at 2-2.  Hilbert scored their second in-a-row to start the second period but their lead wasn't held for long as the Wildcats responded less than one minute later.  Hilbert took a 4-3 lead to the break when Kieffer scored at 4:53 in the quarter.

Cazenovia forced another tie at 13:55 and then they were shut-out until the final second of the third quarter when they scored a man-up goal before the horn sounded.  Hilbert unleased their pent-up energy in the middle of the two Wildcats markers.  Russillio had a hand in four of the five Hilbert goals scored between 8:09 and 2:15 in the period.   Hilbert took a 9-5 lead to their huddle. The Hawks outscored Cazenovia 4-1 in the final period for the 13-6 victory.

The Hawks have one more non-conference game on their regular season schedule this weekend.  They are traveling to Pittsburgh, Pa to battle La Roche College at Shaler Area High School's Biles Field which is located at 381 Wible Run Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15209.  The April 26th game will begin at 4pm.

Hilbert will then prepare for their semi-final play-off game on April 30th.  There is a big game going on Saturday within the league as #2 Morrisville is playing #4 Medaille.