Greg McCarthy

Nate Hill

John Soden

December 21, 2004

GENEVA, N.Y.—Three Hobart lacrosse players were named to the Face-Off Yearbook preseason All-America teams. Senior defenseman Greg McCarthy (Pinkerton Academy/Derry, N.H.) earned a spot on the third-team, while senior attackman Nate Hill (Hamburg/Hamburg, N.Y.) and sophomore faceoff specialist John Soden (Delbarton/Chester, N.J.) received honorable mention.

An honorable mention USILA All-American in 2004, McCarthy is a physical defender and a deft takeaway artist. He was sixth on the team in ground balls (41) this past spring, raising his career total to 85. McCarthy turned in two of his best defensive efforts of the season against Navy’s second-team All-American attackman Ian Dingman, limiting the Midshipman to two assists during the teams’ regular season meeting and just one helper in the Patriot League championship game.

In 2004, Hill led Hobart and ranked 15th in the nation with 26 assists and was second on the team in points with 48. His helper total is the most by a Statesman since the program moved to Division I in 1995. Hill matched his career high with seven points (2-5) in a 13-9 victory over Bucknell last season. One of only five Statesmen to score 100 career points (46-60-106) at the Division I level, he is poised to graduate as the top DI Statesman, just 32 points behind Jamie Breslin ’01 (92-46-138).

Soden ranked fourth in the Patriot League and 15th in the nation in faceoff win percentage as a first-year. He won 186-of-337 (.552) restarts and scooped up a team-high 73 ground balls. Soden won a season-high 21 faceoffs on 28 tries against eighth-ranked Ohio State.

Hobart returns all but four graduating seniors from the 2004 team that posted a 9-7 overall record, the most wins in a season since 1994. The Statesmen, who join the ECAC Lacrosse League this season, open the 2005 campaign against Butler at 1 p.m., on Feb. 26, at St. Paul’s School in Brooklandville, Md.