Box Score
GENEVA, N.Y.—The Hobart lacrosse team scored 12 goals on the nation’s No. 1 defense, but the seventh-ranked Loyola Greyhounds relied on its offense to sneak out of town with a 17-12 ECAC victory.
Junior midfielder
Tim Bigelow led the Statesmen with five points on a goal and four assists. Attackmen senior
Kevin Curtin and sophomore
Sam Miller each contributed hat tricks, while senior midfielder
Mike Suits added a goal and two assists. Junior long-stick midfielder
Alex Caton scooped up a team and career-high nine ground balls.
Junior attackman Matt Langan paced the Greyhounds with four goals and an assist. Junior midfielder Chris Basler and senior attackman Collin Finnerty each produced four-point efforts, while junior midfielder Eric Lusby chipped in three points.
Loyola junior faceoff specialist John Schiavone won the most compelling battle of the day. Seventh in the nation in faceoff winning percentage at the start of the week, he outdueled Hobart sophomore
Bobby Dattilo in what were without a doubt the longest fights for possession in the 10-year history of McCooey Field.
Most of the faceoffs were protracted affairs, none more so than the struggled for the third faceoff of the fourth quarter. Schiavone and Dattilo fought for possession for a full 46 seconds without the ball moving a bit from between their crosses. The Greyhounds were finally awarded possession on a loose ball push against one of the Hobart wings.
Schiavone was 18-of-28 with a game-high 10 ground balls. Dattilo, who was fifth in the nation in winning percentage, finished 11-of-29.
The Statesmen have struggled on offense at times this season, but against Loyola’s defense, which came into the game allowing just 6.7 goals per game, Hobart hardly seemed intimidated. The Statesmen, thanks to first-year midfielder
Tyler Smith’s strike, scored the first goal and traded offensive jabs with the ’Hounds to a 2-2 tie after 15 minutes.
Loyola (9-2, 6-0) appeared ready to run away with the game, scoring the first five goals of the second quarter in less than four minutes to build a 7-2 lead. However, Hobart stayed in the contest with three of the final four goals of the half, including a pair of strikes by Curtin, who gave the team a lift by coming off the bench despite an injury that kept him out of practice this week.
Loyola led 8-5 at halftime.
The Statesmen (2-10, 0-6) began the second half with another 3-1 run to close to within a goal, 9-8, with 6:36 left in the third quarter.
First-year long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff sparked a five-goal run by the visitor’s, tucking a shot just under the crossbar at the 3:29 mark. Finnerty, Langan, and senior attackman Cooper MacDonnell scored in quick succession to send the Greyhounds into the fourth quarter with a 13-8 lead. Loyola scored the first goal of the final frame to give the Greyhounds their biggest lead of the afternoon.
Hobart scored four of the next six goals to make it a 16-12 game with 2:06 left, but with time in short supply, the Statesmen were forced to bring senior goalie
Max Silberlicht out of his crease to try and force a turnover. That opened the door for Langan’s final goal of the day on an open cage.
Silberlicht produced 10 saves, while his counterpart, junior Jake Hagelin made nine stops.
Loyola outshot Hobart 43-34 and collected more ground balls (36-21). The Statesmen were 2-of-7 with the extra man, while the Greyhounds were 0-for-2.
Hobart will play its final home game of the season on May 1, when the Air Force Falcons visit McCooey Field. The game will be televised live on Time Warner Cable Sports with the opening faceoff at 7:07 p.m. Loyola will be back in action on May 2 when they visit Denver.