HAMBURG, N.Y. – The Hilbert College men's lacrosse team closed their 2018 regular season on a six-game win streak after capturing a 16-9 victory over Cazenovia College.

The Hawks honored their six seniors prior to the start of the game and those six players shined on a rainy and wet field today.

Hilbert (9-5) improved to 6-2 and dropped Cazenovia (4-9) to 3-5 in the NEAC and out of post-season play. 

The Hawks will return to the NEAC play-offs as the #3 seeded team and will travel for their semifinal game at #2 Byrn Athyn College May 2nd.

Edward Mathias spent a lot of time on the muddy ground this afternoon, but was the game's leading scorer with seven points behind six goals.  James Duffy shared three assists with three goals and senior Joshua Schindler and Anthony Cappola netted a pair of scores in the win.

Senior Travis Hicks and Tyler Balsavage earned a pair of assists as the Hawks attacked aggressively in the first half and fourth quarter.

Elijah Ryan earned his second win of the season making 10 saves for the Hawks.

Hilbert built a 3-0 lead after six minutes of action before the Wildcats inched back with back-to-back scores.  Mathias scored his second goal of the first quarter lifting Hilbert by two points.

After 15 more minutes of fun in the rain, both teams met for intermission with the same goal differential as Hilbert led 8-6.

Mathias' low, rolling, falling-to-the-ground goal gave Hilbert a 9-6 lead at 13:26 which turned out to be a big lift.

Cazenovia stormed back and went on a 3-0 run to force the game's first tie.  Michael Bellanca responded with a man-up goal less than two minutes later and the Hawks didn't look back from there.

Five different players found the back of the net in the fourth quarter and senior Austin Good put a punctuation mark on the game with his first collegiate goal on his final game at home with only seconds left on the game clock.

Several other players produced big numbers this afternoon. Ryan Spath won 12 face-offs and led with nine ground balls for Hilbert.  Austin Good dominated the game with six caused turnovers and was credited with eight ground balls, as was senior Garrett Rehner.  Balsavage was also credited with three caused turnovers and six ground balls.

Seniors Chase Harmon (3 ground balls), Grant Stockman (1 assist), and Travis Hicks (2 assists, 3 ground balls) left everything they had on the field today.  Their defensive effort (which isn't noted in stats) was impressive and their pushing the pace played a big part in the team's victory.

Be sure to stay up-to-date on all your Hilbert Hawks scores and awards by following @HilbertAthletic on Twitter and by liking the "Hilbert College Athletics" Facebook page.  Additionally, fans of the Hawks who have an Apple device can receive push notification from the newly created Hilbert College Hawks iOS SIDEARM mobile App which can be found in the Apple Store and ITunes.