Statesmen stay perfect, upend No. 11 Hoyas 15-8

Hobart Sports Information

The Hobart lacrosse team ended 13 years of frustration with a dominating 15-8 victory over No. 11 Georgetown at McCooey Field today. The Statesmen defense posted a first half shutout for the second straight game and third time this season en route to the team's first win over the Hoyas since 1995.

Hobart improved to 5-0 for the first time since 1998. The game was also the ECAC opener for the Statesmen, marking the first time they've opened conference play with a victory since 2004 when they belonged to the Patriot League.

"We've been waiting a long time for this so to come out and jump on them early and play well at both ends it felt great," senior attackman Jeff Colburn said of his first win over the Hoyas.

Junior attackman Kevin Curtin and sophomore attackman Tim Bigelow paced an offense that exploded for a season-high in the scoring column. They produced career-highs with five points apiece. Curtin scored his second hat trick of the season and fourth of his career to go with two assists, while Bigelow scored twice and doled out three assists. Colburn, the team's top set up man, chipped in a hat trick of his own as well as his team-leading 12th assist.

Georgetown (2-3, 0-2) was led by junior attackman Ricky Mirabito's three goals and two assists, while junior midfielder Andrew Brancaccio added two goals and two assists.

Hobart needed less than three minutes to start the scoring. The Statesmen rode the Hoyas on their first two clear attempts with senior midfielder Matt Smalley causing the turnover on the second, collecting the ground ball and putting away his second goal of the season. Colburn doubled the lead midway through the opening quarter followed by consecutive tallies by Curtin for a 4-0 advantage heading into the second frame.

Junior midfielder Tyler Cassell (2-0) scored before the second quarter was two minutes old, appearing to run past the goal line on the right side of the cage before reaching back for a no-angle shot and score. Bigelow set up Colburn's extra-man goal midway through the session and put one in the back of the net himself with 1:56 remaining to send the Statesmen into halftime with a 7-0 lead.

Hobart junior goalie Max Silberlicht notched a season-high 16 saves, including 10 in the first half.

"Any time you hold Georgetown to zero goals in a half it's a pretty good defensive effort," Hobart Head Coach T.W. Johnson said. "We knew they were going to make a run. There was no way a team coached by Dave Urick was going to quit. I knew we were going to have to weather the storm defensively and get enough stops to be successful."

The Hoyas broke up the shutout 21 seconds into the second half on a man-up goal by Brancaccio. Junior midfielder Mike Lazore (1-1) countered with an unassisted tally halfway through the third quarter, followed by a goal by Georgetown junior midfielder Scott Kocis (1-1). The Statesmen extinguished any hopes of a Hoya comeback with five unanswered goals to carry a 13-2 advantage into the fourth quarter. Junior midfielder Mike Suits (1-0), Colburn, first-year attackman Chris Pedersen (2-0), Bigelow, and Curtin scored during the run.

Mirabito accounted for all of his points in the final 15 minutes as the Hoyas' 6-2 scoring advantage proved too little too late.

Georgetown won the ground ball battle (46-31) and controlled the faceoff X (17-9), but struggled to solve Hobart's defense.

Hoya junior goalie Jack Davis made seven saves in the first 45 minutes of the contest, while senior Christian McCormack made one stop in the final 15.

"Hobart was extremely well prepared, played extremely well, and played at an extremely high level," Georgetown Head Coach Dave Urick said. "I've got to give Hobart an awful lot of credit. They did what they needed to do to win."

Hobart is back in action on March 21, when the Statesmen host Rutgers in another ECAC contest. Faceoff at McCooey Field is scheduled for 1 p.m.