Box Score | Postgame Press Conference
GENEVA, N.Y.—The Hobart lacrosse team needed just three seconds to score the opening goal against ECAC rival Air Force, kick-starting a 5-0 opening run. The Statesmen didn’t let off the gas until the game was well in hand, cruising to a 17-6 victory over the Falcons.
Sophomore midfielder
Bobby Dattilo won the opening faceoff on a procedure call, scooped up the loose ball and fired a strike to sophomore attackman
Sam Miller, who dumped it home for the early lead.
Air Force was called for a slashing penalty, the first of eight flags thrown against the Falcons, at the 13:32 mark. The visitors were saddled with a second slashing call 35 seconds later. Fourteen seconds after that, junior midfielder
Tim Bigelow found senior attackman
Kevin Curtin for a man-up goal.
Curtin scored the next two goals of the game—the first unassisted, the second set up by classmate
Daniel Keegan—to complete a hat trick just 5:39 into the contest.
At the 8:07 mark, Miller scored again off another Bigelow feed to complete the 5-0 run.
Senior attackman Ridge Flick scored in an unsettled situation to get Air Force on the board with 4:32 left in the first quarter.
With 49 seconds left in the frame, Bigelow again set up Miller to send Hobart into the second quarter with a 6-1 lead. The strike launched the Statesmen on another 5-0 run with Keegan, sophomore attackman
Chris Pedersen, senior midfielder
Kurtis Gibbs, and junior attackman
Danny Mullin scoring in succession to start the second.
Junior midfielder Zack Carroll interrupted the run for the Falcons, but senior midfielder
Mike Suits scored back-to-back extra-man goals to give Hobart a 12-2 halftime lead.
The second half was anticlimactic as Gibbs and Miller scored the first two goals of the third quarter and the Statesmen never let their advantage dip below 10 down the stretch.
The Statesmen (3-10, 1-6) dominated the final stat sheet, outshooting their guests 36-25, grabbing more ground balls (36-16), and winning more faceoffs (16-9). Hobart was 3-of-7 on the extra-man, while the Falcons were just 1-of-7.
Miller finished with a game-high six points, scoring a career-high four goals and dishing out two assists. Curtin produced a career-high four goals, and matched his career-high with five points, while Bigelow earned a career-high five assists. Pedersen and Keegan both had three-point games. Dattilo was 13-of-19 at the faceoff X, scooping up a game-high seven ground balls.
Flick led the Falcons (1-12, 0-6) with two goals and an assist, while senior attackman Jimmy Curran added a pair of fourth quarter goals.
Senior goalie
Max Silberlicht earned the win and combined with junior
Evan Kirk and first-year
Jon Lawless to record nine saves.
Air Force’s five goalies combined to make four saves.
Hobart will close out the 2010 season at Bryant on May 6. The opening faceoff of that contest has been moved up an hour from its originally schedule time to 3 p.m. The Falcons will return home to host in-state rival Denver on May 8.