HAMBURG, N.Y. – Hilbert College just dominated the short-handed Medaille Mavericks in men's lacrosse this afternoon as the Hawks picked up a 33-4 NEAC victory. 

With the win, Hilbert jumped into a two-way tie for the fourth and final spot in the NEAC tournament, but with two of their three remaining games against the top two teams in the league, the Hawks need to win-out to ensure their participation in the post season play-offs.

After 15-minutes of action, the Hawks held a 6-2 lead.  They padded their advantage with an 11-2 second quarter and then shut the Mavericks down in the second half, outscoring them 16-0 in the win.

Hilbert out-worked the visitors in every category, striding them out in shots (79-17), shots on goal (59-12), turnovers (11-24), ground balls (75-17), face offs (36-6) and clears (15-16 vs 8-17).

Tyler Nicoloff and Matthew Simon were a constant force on the field this afternoon as they each finished with 11 points.  Where Simon looked to beat the goalie with seven goals, Nicoloff looked for the leading pass (seven assists).  Simon earned a season-high five ground balls.

Edward Mathias and Codie Thomas each posted four goals with Thomas earning a career-high seven points.

Nathaniel Hyman (3), Joshua Schindler (2g, 2a), Marc O'Neill (2), Garrett Knoll (2) and Austin Laine (2) were all multi-goal scorers while Anthony Cappola joined two first-year players who notched their first collegiate goal - Casey Hixon and Alejandro Muniz.

Justin DeLaRosa led the Hawks with a 20-21 face off conversion which also led to his team-high eight ground balls.  Hixon went 8-for-9 and Scot Zawadzki won 8-of-9 in the face-off circle as the Hawks won 36 of 42 restarts today.

John Lobdell earned his first career assist when he fed Simon on a break-away in the third quarter.  The senior defender also shared game-high caused turnovers with freshman Tyler Balsavage (2), who attempted his first point-blank shot on goal, and they each scooped three ground balls in a limited role today.

Sophomore Elijah Ryan earned his first victory making three saves in the opening half while Joseph Stevenson closed the game with five saves without a goal against.

Hilbert (7-4, 3-2 NEAC) returns home this weekend with an earlier than normal start of April 22.  The Hawks welcome Wells College (3-6, 2-3 NEAC) in a 12 noon start.