David Occhialini '03

Geoff Zbikowski '04

April 21, 2002

WORCESTER, Mass.—The Hobart College lacrosse team secured at least a share of its second Patriot League Championship in three seasons with a 17-6 victory over Holy Cross. The Statesmen had 18 players record at least one point, including 13 different goal scorers, paced by the career-high four-assist performance of sophomore attackman Geoff Zbikowski (C.W. Baker/Baldwinsville, N.Y.).

Hobart (6-5, 5-1 PL) was a bit sluggish out of the gate, holding a narrow 3-2 lead after 15 minutes, but a 9-0 run that spanned 28:04 closed the door on the Crusaders (1-12, 0-6). Each of the nine goals came off the stick of a different Statesman.

Top guns John Bogosian (Kent School/Massena, N.Y.) and Nate Hill (Hamburg/Hamburg, N.Y.) kick started the run with back-to-back goals two minutes apart to open the second quarter. Bogosian finished with two goals and an assist, while Hill added a goal and an assist. Hill, who leads Bogosian by three points (34-31), is trying to become the first first-year to lead Hobart in scoring since 1971.

Senior midfielder David Spratlen (Colorado Academy/Littleton, Colo.) and sophomore attackman Dan Cesere (Holderness School/Concord, N.H.) netted Hobart’s sixth and seventh goals of the afternoon to send the Statesmen into the break with a five-goal lead.

Hobart scored the first five goals of the second half, including the first tallies of the season by senior midfielder Christian Gould (Waldorf/Freeport, N.Y.) and junior defenseman Brad Neuberth (Westminster/Riverside, Conn.), to build a 12-2 advantage.

The Holy Cross attack finally broke out of its slumber with four of the next five goals to close to within seven, 13-6, but fourth quarter extra-man goals by Bogosian and junior attackman David Occhialini (Avon Old Farms/Cheshire, Conn.) put any thoughts of a comeback out the

minds of the Crusader faithful. Hobart was 3-for-3 on extra-man opportunities.

Occhialini scored again with 2:18 remaining to finish his first collegiate hat trick, and first-year midfielder Sean Reed (Waterloo/Waterloo, N.Y.) added his first collegiate goal to close out the scoring at the 1:52 mark.

Junior Mike Borsz (West Genesee/Camillus, N.Y.) turned away nine of the 11 shots he faced in the first 42 minutes, while first-year Dan Valente (Mount Hebron/Ellicott City, Md.) made six saves in relief.

Hobart’s postseason chances hinge on the outcomes of the three remaining Patriot League games involving Army (3-1 PL) and Bucknell (4-1). Should both teams win out, the League championship would be shared by all three schools and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament would be awarded to the team with the highest RPI rating (a secret formula used by the NCAA to select and seed teams in the postseason). Should either Army or Bucknell be upset in a Patriot League game, the Statesmen would earn the automatic bid in the event of a tie with Bison, but lose out to Black Knights, based on head-to-head results.

Hobart returns to action on April 27, at 10th-ranked Loyola. Faceoff is scheduled for noon.