February 1, 2003

GENEVA, N.Y.—RIT senior forward Sam Hill (Strathroy, Ontario) scored four goals to lead visiting RIT to an 8-2 victory over Hobart College in ECAC West action. The loss ends the Statesmen’s record-setting six-game unbeaten streak, putting Hobart at 12-7-1 overall and 2-3-0 in conference play.

Featuring a matchup between the second-ranked scoring offense in the nation in RIT and Hobart’s 11th-ranked scoring defense the game remained scoreless until Tigers’ sophomore Michael Tucciarone (Richmond Hill, Ontario) gave RIT the 1-0 edge 12 minutes into the opening session with the first of his three goals. Six minutes later Hill netted one of the team’s five power-play goals making it 2-0 at the close of the first stanza.

The Statesmen would pull to within two when sophomore forward Craig Levey (Mississauga, Ontario) notched his 14th goal of the year to make it 3-1 with five minutes left to play in the second period. That would be as close as the Statesmen would get as the Tigers rattled off two more scores before Hobart sophomore Jesse Desper (West Kennebunk, Maine) netted his second goal of the year putting the score at 5-2.

The Tigers received three more goals in the closing period to improve to 14-3-1 overall and 4-1-0 in the ECAC West.

In an aggressive game that featured 22 penalties for 52 minutes, Hobart outshot RIT 33-32, but was unable to connect on any of its eight power play opportunities. Statesmen goalie Adam Lavelle (Chelmsford, Mass.) made 24 stops for the afternoon, moving him to fourth on the career saves list with 1,223, while RIT goaltender Tyler Euverman (Surrey, British Columbia) went the distance, pulling in 31 saves.

Hobart returns to action when it travels to ECAC West rival and 11th-ranked Elmira on Feb. 7. Faceoff with the Eagles is slated for 7 p.m.