April 30, 2005

Andrew Narog hustles after a ground ball. (Photo by Larry French '81)

GENEVA, N.Y.—The Hobart lacrosse team dropped a 15-11 ECAC Lacrosse League decision to Loyola College at rain-soaked Diane Geppi-Aikens Field this afternoon. Statesman Daryl Veltman (Salisbury School/Georgetown, Ontario) led all scorers with four points on two goals and two assists.

The Greyhounds—who honored 11 seniors playing their final home game in a pregame ceremony—came out on fire, scoring the first three goals of the game.

At the 7:12 mark of the first quarter, Veltman got Hobart (7-6, 2-4 ECAC) on the board with a strong individual effort. The first-year attackman backed down his defender on the right goal line extended, spun towards the end line and beat Loyola keeper Michael Fretwell from a near-impossible angle.

The Hounds expanded their lead to 5-1 with back-to-back scores, before midfielder Chris Scanlon (Corning West/Painted Post, N.Y.) closed out the first quarter scoring with an extra-man goal. The senior executed a perfect face dodge, freeing himself for a one-on-one with Fretwell, who had no chance to make the save.

Thirty-seven seconds into the second frame, junior attackman Mike Conklin (West Genesee/Syracuse, N.Y.) made it a 5-3 game thanks to a precision pass through traffic by red-shirt junior midfielder Nate Molinari (Oswego/Oswego, N.Y.).

Unfortunately, Loyola (5-7, 4-2) notched the final two scores of the half to take a 7-3 lead into halftime.

Like the Greyhounds in the first half, Hobart stormed out of the game to start the second half. Sophomore midfielder Chris David (Georgetown Prep/Silver Springs, Md.) kick-started the run with a blistering bounce shot at the 14:14 mark. Three minutes later, first-year midfielder Sean Murphy (Bishop Timon-St. Jude/Buffalo, N.Y.) beat his short stick defender and used Loyola’s late sliding defenseman as a screen to beat Fretwell.

Hobart’s second extra-man goal, a Veltman-to-Conklin production, got the Statesmen within one. The Greyhounds answered the threat with a goal at 4:13 of the third quarter, but senior attackman Nate Hill (Hamburg/Hamburg, N.Y.) got Hobart back within one with a behind the head shot at 2:38.

Spanning the third and fourth quarters, Loyola scored seven of the game’s next eight goals to build a 15-8 lead. The Statesmen managed the final three goals of the game, but it proved too little too late.

Senior goalie Dan Valente (Mt. Hebron/Ellicott City, Md.) made several point-blank stops and finished the day with 14 saves, while Fretwell recorded 21 saves.

Hobart will close out the regular season at Cornell at 7 p.m. on May 6.