May6, 2005

Chris David scored on this shot to give Hobart a 1-0 lead, but Cornell came back to take the win 10-5. (Photo by Ken DeBolt)

Daryl Veltman finished the season with 50 points and became the first Hobart first-year to lead the Statesmen in scoring since Rick Gilbert '74. (Photo by Ken DeBolt)

ITHACA, N.Y.—The Hobart lacrosse season came to an end this evening in the cavernous confines of Schoellkopf Field, as third-ranked Cornell University handed the Statesmen a 10-5 defeat. Senior Dan Valente (Mt. Hebron/Ellicott City, Md.) played a strong game in goal, closing out his collegiate career with 12 saves and a team-high six ground balls.

The first quarter was relatively quiet for both teams as defense prevailed in the early going. Sophomore midfielder Chris David (Georgetown Prep/Silver Springs, Md.) fired home the lone goal of the opening frame at the 4:55 mark, his 24th season, to give Hobart a 1-0 edge.

In the second quarter, senior midfielder Chris Scanlon (Corning West/Painted Post, N.Y.) finished a feed from red-shirt junior midfielder Nate Molinari (Oswego/Oswego, N.Y.) to raise the Statesmen’s advantage to 2-0 with 12:45 remaining in the first half.

Cornell, which came into the game with the No. 2 scoring offense in the nation, finally solved Hobart’s D, 19:31 into the contest. Just 25 seconds later, at the 10:04 mark, the Big Red (10-2) took advantage of a failed clear by the Statesmen to even the score.

Cornell added two more goals before halftime to take a 4-2 lead into the break.

The Big Red struck first in the second half, but Hobart responded in kind at the 13:02 mark, when senior attackman Nate Hill (Hamburg/Hamburg, N.Y.) set up first-year attackman Daryl Veltman (Salisbury School/Georgetown, Ontario).

The assist raised Hill’s career total to 79, 10th on Hobart’s all-time list, while his 143 career points rank first among Division I Statesmen and 18th overall.

Cornell notched back-to-back goals to grab a 7-3 lead at the 4:34 mark of the third quarter. Junior attackman Mike Conklin (West Genesee/Syracuse, N.Y.) made it a 7-4 game after depositing a feed from David at the 2:46 mark. The Big Red squeezed in one more score, with 10 seconds remaining in the frame to take an 8-4 lead into the fourth quarter.

After another Cornell goal opened the fourth quarter scoring, Veltman setup Conklin for Hobart’s final goal of the night with 8:41 remaining.

The two-point effort makes Veltman the second Statesman since the program moved to Division I in 1995 to record 50 points in a season (28-22), following Mark Williamson’s 56-point effort last season. Veltman also finished atop the team’s leaderboard in points, the first time a Hobart first-year has led the Statesmen in that category since Rick Gilbert ’74 in 1971.

Hobart ends the season with a 7-7 overall record.