Jon Leanos '12 scored with 23.5 seconds remaining in the first sudden-victory overtime period and lifted Hamilton College to a 12-11 win over Utica College in a non-conference game at Hamilton's Steuben Field on April 25.
Hamilton (9-5 overall) won eight of its last nine games to finish the regular season. The Continentals are the No. 7 seed for the 2012 NESCAC Championship and will travel to No. 2 seed Trinity College for a quarterfinal on Saturday, April 28, at 1 p.m.
Leanos finished with one goal and two assists. He leads the Continentals with 19 assists and 45 points. Henry Burchenal '12 scored four times and moved into third place on the team's all-time list with 104 goals. Burchenal leads the team with 30 goals this season.
Luke Walsh '13 added two goals and Luke Sadoff '12 tallied a goal and three assists. Bryan Hopper '14 and Matt Hill '13 chipped in one goal and one assist apiece, and Brendan Mullin '14 and Connor Morgan '15 scored the other Hamilton goals. Paul Armideo '13 was credited with an assist.
Hopper scooped up a team-high five ground balls and Paul Citarella '12 won 12 of 19 face-offs. Max Vaickus '12 tied a career high with 20 saves in goal and moved into fourth place on the team's all-time list with 463.
Trent Thomas '13 netted a game-high six goals for the Pioneers. Oliver Barney '12 scored twice and Justin Edelstein '13 and Ben Winkler '13 added one goal and two assists apiece. Winkler entered the week leading Division III with 3.71 goals per game.
Dan Duffy '14 scored the other Utica goal and Joe Schoen '14 and Scott Baron '14 were each credited with an assist. David Craig '14 and Mick Krajacic '12 collected a game-high six ground balls and Barney won 11 face-offs. Krajacic caused three turnovers and Joe Davis '12 made 20 saves in goal.
Trailing 11-9 with 4:05 to play, Utica scored two straight goals to tie the score. Thomas scored off an assist from Edelstein with 3:11 on the clock and Winkler found Edelstein for a goal with 2:34 left. A shot by Leanos with seven seconds remaining sailed wide and Utica recovered the ball and ran out the clock to force overtime.
Hamilton had a good chance to score the game-winning goal when the Continentals received a man-up opportunity at 2:16 of the overtime period. But Utica was able to keep Hamilton off the board and the Pioneers regained possession with 1:25 left. Sadoff caused a Utica turnover with 44 seconds to play and later found Leanos at the other end for the game winner.
Utica (8-7) took its last lead at 5-4 when Duffy found the back of the net with 11:30 remaining in the second quarter. Hamilton scored three straight goals spanning the second and third quarters to open a 7-5 lead. Mullin scored with 8:21 left in the second quarter and Burchenal tallied with 1.4 seconds on the clock. Hill buried his first goal of the season at 9:08 of the third.
Barney and Thomas scored back-to-back man-up goals to tie the score at 7 with 6:52 remaining in the third. Sadoff found Burchenal with 4:27 left in the third and Hopper tallied an unassisted goal at 11:38 of the fourth to give the Continentals a 9-7 lead.
The Pioneers stormed back with unassisted goals by Thomas and Winkler to even the score again with 7:13 left. Walsh scored Hamilton's next two goals, including a man-up tally with 4:05 on the clock to give the Continentals an 11-9 lead.
Hamilton held a 49-40 shot advantage, including a 3-0 edge in overtime. Utica scooped up 48 ground balls to the Continentals' 37.
It was the second overtime game between the two teams, and Hamilton leads the all-time series 12-1. The Continentals claimed the second annual Contineer Cup. Hamilton won the inaugural Contineer Cup 14-5 in 2011.
