Feb. 21, 2009
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA—The Saint Joseph's men's lacrosse squad dropped a hard-fought 12-7 match to the Hobart Statesmen on Saturday afternoon at Finnesey Field. SJU had nine Hawk record a point in the game that saw Hobart use a 5-1 fourth-period scoring advantage to pull away late.
Saint Joseph's (1-2) was missing many of its leaders on the field due to injury, but saw their bench step up in a hotly contested game with the Statesmen. Of the 13 SJU points, nine came from the bench.
The Hawks were down 7-6 entering the fourth period and had outscored the Statesmen with man-up goals by Evan Linthicum, Geoff DeSoye and an even strength tally by Sean Evans, his fifth of the season. Evans led the way, tallying a goal and two assists for the Hawks.
Hobart (1-0) threw their own punch at Saint Joseph's to open the fourth with back-to-back goals just seven seconds apart to open their largest lead of the game at 9-6.
After an Ian Kelly goal, his first since 2006, Hobart answered with two more back-to-back goals just 40 seconds apart for an 11-7 lead. Kelly's goal was set up by a beautiful clearing pass from Pat Williams who was credited with the assist. The Statesmen would add another insurance goal for the final 12-7 score line.
Saint Joseph's got off to a rousing start thanks to Tom Dunn, who struck twice to end the first period at 2-2. Also, the goalkeeping of Erik Hotaling kept SJU in the game, much like his 18-save performance in Geneva a year ago.
Hobart out-scored the Hawks 3-1 in the second period, the lone goal for Saint Joseph's was scored by Charlie Gorman, his second of the season.
The Hawks were 2-for-6 in man-up opportunities and held a 26-24 advantage in ground balls. Hobart out-shot Saint Joseph's 40-27, 19-4 in the fourth period.
Erik Hotaling made 12 saves in net for the Hawks, while his counterpart Max Silberlicht stopped 13 SJU shots.
Saint Joseph's will be in action again next week as they host another ECAC foe in that of Rutgers. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m. on Finnesey Field.
