CLINTON, Maine -- The Colby College men's lacrosse team opened up a 5-0 lead over Hamilton College for the second year in a row, but the Continentals once again fought back for a 9-8 victory in the NESCAC opener for both teams Sunday.

Colby scored five goals in the opening 11:04 of last year's 11-10 setback to Hamilton. This time the Mules scored five in 11:35 and kept the Continentals off the scoreboard the rest of the quarter.

The Mules showed patience on the second goal and were rewarded when left-handed Austin Sayre went to his right hand for an impressive goal and a 2-0 lead. Seiler added his second goal with 7:45 to play on another catch-and-shoot from Vivian.

Hamilton scored seven of their nine goals in two scoring bursts in the second and third quarters. The Continentals had three goals in 1:37 to make it a 5-3 halftime lead for the Mules. Hamilton, after a Colby goal to make it 6-3, scored four goals in a span of 2:20 to take its first lead at 7-6.

Colby made it a 6-3 game on Vivian's blast from straight on with 10:53 left in the third quarter. 

Conley tied the game at 6-6 off a nice feed from Clay McCollum with 8:55 remaining. Andrew Cox then put Hamilton ahead for the first time with 7:55 to go.

The Continentals scored the only two goals of the fourth quarter to pull out the victory. Conley, a first-year, scored his third of the game on a low shot from the right side. Casey Kopp scored an unusual goal when he beat a defender on a clear, had plenty of wide open space on the right side, and came in with a shot for the game-winning goal.

The Continentals were 2-for-3 with the man-up, while Colby was 0-for-2. The Mules did force Hamilton into 19 turnovers (Mules had 16).