Attackman Ryan Archer and midfielder Bradley Simas combined for 13 points for Hobart College, but Bryant University used a 7-1 scoring run in the second half to escape Boswell Field with a 14-11 Northeast Conference victory this afternoon. Archer produced a game and career-high eight points while Simas notched a career-high five points.
Archer’s career-high day included a pair of goals and a career best six assists. He set up each of Hobart’s final six goals in the game. Simas scored a team-high four goals, all set up by Archer, and assisted on one of Archer’s tallies. First-year attackman Alex Rosa made his first collegiate start and scored twice while senior attackman Tommy Mott added a goal and an assist.
The Bulldogs were led by attackman Bennett Abladian’s seven-point effort, which included a game-high six goals. Attackman Logan McGovern finished with six points on three goals and three assists. Attackman Marc O’Rourke chipped in two goals and an assist.
The game got off to a fast start with midfielder Chad Bach and Archer staking Hobart to a 2-0 lead before the game was three minutes old. Abladian and McGovern tallied to even the ledger by the nine-minute mark. After the early offensive fireworks, the defenses settled in and kept the game knotted at 2 for the remainder of the first quarter.
The Statesmen outscored the visitors 3-1 in the second quarter to carry a 5-3 lead into halftime. Rosa and Archer scored back-to-back just over a minute apart to make it a 4-2 game early in the frame. With 4:30 left in the half, Abladian scored his second, ending a nearly 20-minute scoring drought for the Bulldogs. Less than a minute later, Mott scored unassisted to restore the two-goal advantage going into the break.
Hobart sandwiched goals around a Bryant strike in the first five minutes of the second half for a 7-4 lead, but Bryant rattled off four in a row, seizing its first lead of the game with 0.8 seconds remaining in the third on Abladian’s 20 goal of the season.
From straight away and 13-yards out, Simas opened the fourth quarter scoring with a laser into the upper right corner of the cage, tying the game at 8.
The Bulldogs took control of the game with three goals in under three minutes. Faceoffs for the game were split 14-14, but Bryant’s Nathan Laliberte won each of the next three restarts as Kevin Groeninger, O’Rourke and Abladian scored in succession to build an 11-8 Bulldog lead. Laliberte was 14-of-26 on faceoffs and grabbed a game-high seven ground balls.
From there, Hobart was able to trim its deficit to two, three times down the stretch, but each time Bryant answered to restore their three-goal advantage.
Bulldog goalie Luke Caracciolo went the distance, making nine saves to earn the victory. The Statesmen split time in the crease between starter Kevin Holtby and Loukas Sotiropoulos, who combined for seven stops.
Hobart (2-4, 0-2) will travel to Philadelphia for its next game on Saturday, April 2. The Statesmen will face off at Saint Joseph’s at 1 p.m. Bryant will return to Smithfield, Rhode Island, to host Long Island University on the same day at noon.
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