February 9, 2007

Seven hundred wins. With a 12-7 win over St. John’s on April 22, 2006, the Hobart lacrosse program joined an elite fraternity in the men’s lacrosse world. The Statesmen joined Johns Hopkins and Syracuse universities as the only collegiate men’s lacrosse teams to post 700 wins.

A journey that began with a 2-1 victory over Cornell way back in 1898, captured 16 national championships along the way, and culminated with that historic win is now ancient history for the latest edition of the Purple and Orange.

Head Coach Matt Kerwick and his charges are focused squarely on the 2007 schedule—the program’s 105th season—and the slate of foes that includes four 2006 NCAA Tournament teams. Hobart’s players and coaches are approaching each game as if it were a championship game.

“We want the guys to think of every game as a championship game,” Kerwick, who is entering his sixth season at Hobart, said. “We’re not going to play up games more than others, because they’re all so competitive now that you have to be ready to play each game. We’ve got to go out and play our best each week.”

The 15-game schedule begins Feb. 18, in the Carrier Dome, the site of the Statesmen’s biggest triumph in 2006. Hobart reclaimed the Kraus-Simmons Trophy for the first time since 1986 thanks to a 9-8 victory over the Orange.

Kerwick knows SU, which rebounded from a slow start to reach the national semifinals, will be a big early season test.

“We know that we don’t have time to relax and try to ease into our schedule because we’re going to play one of the top four teams in the country. It’ll be a good barometer for us.“

After the team’s showdown at Syracuse the Statesmen will play Bucknell in Baltimore, then be at home for eight of its next 11 games, including four in a row between March 13 (Marist) and March 31 (Fairfield).

With the quality of competition at an all-time high in Division I lacrosse, Hobart’s home-game heavy schedule could be a key factor in the Statesmen’s success this season.

Here’s a position-by-position look at the Statesmen:

ATTACKMEN