Mark Williamson led Hobart past Lafayette with five goals and an assist. (Photo by k. colton/SportsPics.net)

March 27, 2004

GENEVA, N.Y.—Hobart lacrosse fans had to wait for nearly a month to see their team at home, but the Statesmen made it worth the wait. Hobart scored the first five goals of its first home game of 2004 and cruised to an 18-7 Patriot League victory over visiting Lafayette today at drizzly McCooey Field. Senior attackman Mark Williamson (Corning East/Corning, N.Y.) led the attack with five goals and an assist.

Williamson opened the scoring at the 12:21 mark of the first quarter with an unassisted goal. Six minutes later he earned the assist on sophomore attackman Mike Conklin’s (West Genesee/Syracuse, N.Y.) extra-man score. Conklin struck again just 27 seconds later, followed by another Williamson goal at the 5:13 mark. Junior midfielder Chris Scanlon (Corning West/Painted Post, N.Y.) closed the opening frame scoring with another extra-man goal.

The Leopards (1-7, 0-2 PL) seemed ready to make a game of it with back-to-back scores by sophomore midfielder Leo Stinson (Hun School/Princeton, N.J.) and first-year attackman Bart Seifert (Salisbury School/Vienna, Va.) to start the second quarter, but Hobart (3-3, 3-1 PL) responded with four unanswered to take a 9-2 lead into halftime.

Seifert finished with a goal and two assists to lead Lafayette.

Three Statesmen scored their first collegiate goal in the fourth quarter. First-year long-stick midfielder Chris Keough (Hicksville/Hicksville, N.Y.) was the first, intercepting a pass by first-year goalie Chris Rosa (West Islip/West Islip, N.Y.) near midfield and lobbing a shot into the cage 30 yards away. First-year attackman Michael Steele (New Hartford/New Hartford, N.Y.) and sophomore attackman Hunter Campbell (Landon/Chevy Chase, Md.) followed suit a short time later with their first college goals.

The Statesmen dominated this contest in every statistical category, outshooting the Leopards 57-33, holding a 55-23 advantage on ground balls, winning 21-of-29 faceoffs, and scoring on 3-of-5 extra-man opportunities, while killing all six Lafayette man-up tries.

First-year midfielder John Soden (Delbarton/Chester, N.J.) controlled the X, winning 15-of-19 restarts and picking up a game-high eight ground balls. Sophomore defenseman Matt Murphy (Haverford/Havertown, Pa.) also enjoyed a strong outing, collecting seven ground balls.

In goal for Hobart, junior Dan Valente (Mount Hebron/Ellicott City, Md.) and sophomore Mike DeSantis (Mountain Lakes/Mountain Lakes, N.J.) made seven saves each, while junior Michael Koch (Canterbury/Rye, N.Y.), senior Kevin DeVito (Cohasset/Cohasset, Mass.), and Rosa combined for 15 stops for the Leopards.

The Statesmen return to action at 7 p.m., on March 30, when Hobart takes on Syracuse in the Carrier Dome.