MARCY, N.Y. – After taking a 4-3 lead into intermission, the Hilbert College men's lacrosse team maintained their one-goal lead and captured a 6-5 NEAC victory over SUNY Poly Tech to open the league portion of their schedule tonight.  

Hilbert (2-3) held advantages in face-offs, outworking the Wildcats with an 11-3 margin, and saves.  Brenden Deady was credited with 13 saves for Hilbert while SUNY Poly's goalie finished the game with eight.

The Hawks picked up one more groundball but committed four more turnovers which led to five fewer shots.

Hilbert shot out to a 3-0 lead by 9:28.  Andrew MacKay found the back of the net just 89 seconds after the opening face-off.  Three minutes later Adam McCulle added his marker which was followed by Matthew Simon's first score of the day. 

SUNY Poly snuck one past Deady,  but with 0:28 left on the clock, Sean Purtill set up Simon's second goal in the first quarter to give Hilbert a 4-1 lead by the break.

SUNY Poly responded with a string of three goals over the next 18 minutes, scoring two in the second quarter and one in the third to knot the game at 4-4.

Sean Purtill earned his 3rd point with his own unassisted goal early in the fourth quarter and less then sixty-seconds later, Hilbert padded their lead (6-4) with an Andrew Ulbrich, man-up tally thanks to Tyler Nicoloff's pass.

With just over six minutes remaining, the Wildcats earned a man-up score to make things interesting.  Hilbert was able to hold on and secured their first NEAC victory of the year.

Hilbert went 26 players deep with 19 players earning a stat other than part of the double-digit penalty minutes served. 

Travis Hicks and Roland Jimerson's four ground balls each led the 16-man brigade who was credited with 33 ground balls.  

Jimerson was a perfect 5-for-5 on face-offs and Brady Metcalf finished with a 5-for-7 effort.

Bryan Binaxas and Garrett Rehner lead the defensive effort with a team-best two caused turnovers each.

Hilbert returns to action Monday, March 30 when they travel to Alfred State for an afternoon, non-conference match-up.