The Ithaca College men’s lacrosse team suffered its first home loss of the season to the Hamilton College Continentals on March 25, snapping the Bombers’ five-game win streak.

This 10-7 loss is the first time the Bombers and Continentals have played each other since 2007, when the Bombers won 15-8.

The Bombers’ offense usually starts off the scoring on their home turf, but the Continentals’ sophomore midfielder Wyatt Estepp and senior attacker Milo Trabulsy scored first. The Bombers were able to answer back with two of their own, thanks to graduate student midfielder Kyle Savery and junior attacker Tim Rogers.

After another goal to push the Continentals in front, the Bombers were outscored in the first quarter for the first time since March 8 against Scranton.

The Bombers’ defense was stunned through the first 19 minutes. The second quarter started similarly to the first, with back-to-back goals from the Continentals one minute apart. After a 19-minute scoring drought for the Bombers, senior midfielder Graham Brady was able to give the South Hill squad some life on offense, as the first half concluded with the Continentals up 5-3.

Hamilton continued its offensive dominance early in the third, scoring a goal within the first 12 seconds of the half. The Continentals tacked on two more, but after an almost scoreless third quarter for the Bombers, Rogers was able to get one past senior goalkeeper Jack Fried to make it 8-4 with 15 minutes left to play.

The Continentals came out hot in the fourth quarter, with junior attacker Thomas Healy scoring a goal two minutes in, marking his third of the evening. The Bombers were able to score two more goals to narrow the deficit to 9-6, with one being on a man-up opportunity. Senior attacker/midfielder Jack Pastore was able to make it a two-score game with a minute left, but Continentals sophomore midfielder Evan deBerjeois scored the dagger, as the Continentals escaped Higgins Stadium with a win.

Head coach Tommy Pearce said he has spotted the flaws in the Bombers’ system, and he and the rest of the coaching staff will adjust after the tough loss.

“When you’re at a possession disadvantage, you need to be more efficient in half-field offense than the other team, and I don’t think we were,” Pearce said. “I think that we did generate some pretty good shots on the offense, [but] sometimes we didn’t shoot them very well. … If we had shot a little bit better earlier it could have been a little closer towards the end.”

Savery is optimistic that the Bombers can bounce back from the tough loss at home.

“There’s still a lot of opportunity left with a bunch of Liberty League games coming ahead of us,” Savery said. “The season is not over yet, so we’re still excited for a big game on [March 29] against a top five opponent, so we’re looking forward to that.”

The Bombers will face off against the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Engineers at 1 p.m. March 29 in Troy, NY.