Hartford, Conn. - The Trinity College men's lacrosse team knocked off the Hamilton Continentals, 17-8 before a large crowd on Senior Day, saturday in Hartford. Senior captain Ryan DeSimone (St. James, N.Y.) led the charge with five goals and an assist as the Bantams improve to 5-9 overall and 2-7 in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) tilts while Hamilton drops to 3-11 on the season and 1-9 in the conference. 

The Bantam seniors went out on a high note as the group of seven played their last home games at Robin Sheppard field. DeSimone led all scorers with his five goals while fellow senior captain Seth Bird (Concord, Mass.) added two scores of his own. Senior captain Danny Badolato (Boonton, N.J.) anchored the Trinity back line with two caused turnovers and two ground balls while senior goalie Henry Coote (Wayne, Pa.) played solid in net with 13 saves on the day.

It was Hamilton who led after the first quarter, 3-2, thanks to goals by Eric Zurmuehle (Westport, Conn.), Joe Riccuiti (Norwell, Mass.), and Pat Donahoe (Mahopac, N.Y.), however Trinity's offense found their stride in the second quarter, rattling off six goals before the half.

DeSimone netted three of his goals in the second frame, two unassisted and one assisted by freshman Scott Morgan (East Grand Rapids, Mich.). Freshman Matt Barker (Sudbury, Mass.) and senior captain Michael McQuiston (Greenwich, Conn.) also found the back of the net to erase the one goal deficit and put the Bantams up 8-4 at the half. 

Donahoe beat Coote for his second goal of the game less than four minutes into the second half, but the Bantams proceeded to rip off six unanswered goals to take a commanding 14-5 lead entering the final quarter of play. Two of the goals came in succession from freshman Ben Knaus (Ross, Calif.) before a man-up goal from DeSimone, and three unassisted scores by Bird, junior Stefan Pappas (Millstone, N.J.), and junior Gus Ackley (Columbus, Ohio) gave the Bantams the nine goal lead.

Both teams traded goals in the fourth quarter as Riccuiti scored twice more, sandwiched between Donahoe's fourth goal of the game, but goals from Pappas, DeSimone, and Bird kept Trinity at arms length and cut short the Continentals chance at a comeback.

Trinity returns to action on Wednesday, April 27, for the team's final regular season game at Amherst. Game time is set for 6 p.m.