The Hobart College lacrosse team doubled up Mount St. Mary’s University 14-7 to clinch the No. 3 seed in the Northeast Conference Championship Tournament. After dropping three straight to start NEC play, the Statesmen have won four in a row to improve to 6-5 overall, 4-3 in conference play. The Mount ends the season with a 5-10 overall record, 2-5 in the NEC.
Hobart dominated possession, outshooting the Mountaineers 74-31, outground balling them 48-19, winning 18 of 23 faceoffs and committing eight fewer turnovers (10-18). Adam Shea was a big reason for Hobart’s advantage at the X, winning 17-of-21 faceoffs while corralling a game-high 11 ground balls.
Attackman Ryan Archer recorded a game-high five points in his final appearance on Boswell Field. He scored a pair of goals and added three assists. Midfielder Chad Bach added a goal and three assists while John Herlihy, Derrek Madonna, and Bradley Simas each finished with three points. Herlihy and Simas both logged hat tricks while Madonna had two goals and an assist.
Defenseman Dan Ryan led Hobart at the other end of the field in his final game at the Boz. He posted a career-high four caused turnovers and matched his career-high with four ground balls. Defenseman Marcus Trujillo chipped in two caused turnovers. Goalie Kevin Holtby made 10 saves and contributed five ground balls.
For the Mount, Brendan Lantieri led the team with three points (goal, 2 assists), four ground balls and two caused turnovers. Goalie Gunnar Luckoski made 17 saves in over 51 minutes of work, while Andrew Preston stopped all five shots he faced in relief.
Hobart jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Bach set up Simas to open the scoring less than four minutes in. A minute and a half later, Herlihy scored unassisted followed by a Madonna goal set up by attackman Tommy Mott. Mott, who notched his 100th career points last week against LIU, helped Madonna reach the same plateau with his early marker. They are tied for 16th place on the Statesmen Division I era career points list with 102.
Archer fed attackman Alex Rosa for an extra-man goal to make it 4-0 with seven minutes left in the first quarter.
The Mountaineers got on the board just under the four minute mark, but Archer fed midfielder Brian Mitrow to make it 5-1 with less than a minutes run off the clock. Mount St. Mary’s made it a 5-2 game heading into the second quarter.
Archer netted his 22nd goal early in the second quarter, but the Mount answered with two goals midway through the second quarter that made it a 6-4 game.
Hobart built up a head of steam going into halftime, scoring the final four goals of the half for a 10-4 advantage.
The Statesmen netted four of the first five goals of the second half to leave little doubt about the game’s outcome.
Hobart will face No. 2 seed Bryant in the NEC semifinals May 5 at top-seeded Saint Joseph’s. The Bulldogs topped the Statesmen 14-11 back on March 26 in Geneva. The Hawks will host LIU in the other semifinal.
GAME NOTES
- Hobart’s 74 shots are the most in a game in the program’s Division I era and the most by any Statesmen team since April 7, 1986, when Hobart fired 78 shots at St. Lawrence in a 31-6 victory.
- Ryan Archer has 182 career points, 10 behind Chris Aslanian’s Division I era record. Archer also has 98 career assists, Hobart’s DI era record. He’s one behind No. 6 Jeff Tambroni ’92 on the program’s all-time list. Archer is ninth on the DI list with 84 career goals.
- Archer leads Hobart with 34 assists and 57 points this season. He’s tied for the team lead with Madonna and Herlihy with 23 goals. Archer is tied for second on the Division I era season assists list, four behind Jamie Kirk’s record set in 2007. Archer is third on the DI era season points list, 10 away from matching Eric Holden’s 2019 record.
- Adam Shea raised his team-leading ground ball total to 94, which is fifth on Hobart’s DI era season list. He’s six behind No. 4 Alex Mitchell, who had 100 in 1997.
FingerLakes1.com is the region’s leading all-digital news publication. The company was founded in 1998 and has been keeping residents informed for more than two decades. Have a lead? Send it to [email protected]