The Hobart College lacrosse team scored an NEC Tournament record 21 goals to beat No. 2 seeded Bryant University and advance to the NEC Championship game for the fifth time. The Statesmen used an 8-0 run in the first half to break the game open on the way to a 21-5 victory.
Hobart’s Derrek Madonna matched his career-highs with six goals and eight points. Anthony Dattellas also matched his career-high with six points on four goals and two assists. Bradley Simas added a hat trick and Ryan Archer scored twice to extend his point scoring streak to 32 games. Archer also raised his team-leading point total to 59, tying Chris Aslanian ’19 for second on Hobart’s Division I era season list.
Faceoff specialist Adam Shea won 17-of-27 faceoffs and scooped up a career-high 15 ground balls. He raised his season total for ground balls to 109, moving from fifth to third on Hobart’s Division I era season list, six behind No. 2 Eric Curry ’96.
Defensively, goalie Kevin Holtby made 13 saves to earn the win. Long-stick midfielder Frank Imburgia recorded a career-high three caused turnovers while long-stick midfielder Marcus Trujillo and defenseman Nolan Firth each had two.
Bryant got out to a 3-1 lead early in the first quarter, but Hobart came roaring back with eight straight goals to go into halftime with a 9-3 lead. The Bulldogs interrupted the run with the first goal of the third quarter, but the Statesmen fired home 11 straight games to leave no doubt about which team would advance to the championship game.
Hobart which lost three straight to start NEC play has now won five in a row to improve to 7-5 overall. The Statesmen will face Saint Joseph’s in the NEC Championship game at 1 p.m Saturday, May. 7. The top-seeded Hawks defeated No. 4 LIU 11-10 to earn their trip to the title game.
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