GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Hilbert College men's lacrosse team earned an exciting 7-6 overtime road win at Thiel College this afternoon.  The Hawks forced overtime and posted the first Hilbert win for head coach Mike Carbery with 1:04 on the clock in the extra period.

Hilbert (1-0) outshot the 0-2 Tomcats (41-31) with a three shots-on-goal edge (21-18) and outworked Thiel on the ground, scooping up 30 ground balls.

Sophomore Joseph Stevenson earned his first career win in goal for the Hawks after making 12 saves in his 61:52 minutes of action.

Sophomore-eligible James Duffy returned to action this year and scored his second goal on the day, earning  the game-winner in the extra period.

Sophomore defender Tyler Balsavage picked up right where he left off last year and collected his first assist of the season – that pass to Duffy in overtime.

Balsavage, Garrett Rehner and Edward Mathias each earned one caused turnover while Mathias notched a pair of goals on the offensive end of the field.

Also beating the Thiel keeper were senior Travis Hicks (four ground balls), junior Trevor Kuhnlein and freshman Matthew Toro who also collected three ground balls in his Hilbert debut.

Hilbert won 50 percent of the game's face-offs, with freshman Ryan Spath leading the charge going 5-for-7 while earning four ground balls after the restart.

Toro got the Hawks on the scoreboard first at 5:17 but the Tomcats responded with a pair of markers less than eighty seconds apart to end the opening quarter.

Mathias and Hicks pushed Hilbert back on top 3-2 midway through the second period while the host knotted the game at 3-3 by intermission.

The Hawks took a 5-4 lead into the final quarter thanks to Kuhnlein and Duffy's unassisted goals but the Tomcats went on a three-goal run to take the lead 6-5 with 12:53 left in regulation.

Mathias scored Hilbert's sixth unassisted goal and forced overtime.  Then, after almost three minutes of scoreless action, Balsavage hooked Duffy up with the winner.

The Hawks will re-board the bus and head to Myrtle Beach, S.C. Monday morning as they prepare for a non-conference, neutral site game against St. Vincent College Wednesday, March 7.

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