Georgetown Victorious Over Hobart

Ruthie Braunstein/The Hoya Unlike their lapse against Stony Brook (shown above), Georgetown’s defense held firm against Hobart, allowing only five goals.

After a less than convincing win over Stony Brook, and with the upcoming NCAA tournament bid selection weighing on their minds, the Georgetown men’s lacrosse team got an important 17-5 win over No. 20 Hobart on Saturday, improving the team’s record to 9-1 and extending its home-win streak to 16 games. Senior attack Mike Henehan and junior attack Doug Staab each had four goals to lead the way for the No. 8 Hoyas.

“It was coming off a game that we won, but that we didn’t feel as good about,” Head Coach Dave Urick said. “Hobart is a good team, and we just did a lot of things well, and we came up with a real good win.”

Following an 11-9 victory over Stony Brook, the Hoyas seemed to be lacking the intensity that had gained them victories over teams such as then-No. 10 Duke and then-No. 10 UMBC earlier in the season. They allowed the Seawolves to score four straight goals in the fourth quarter, and although Georgetown managed to come away with the win, the team was disappointed with its overall performance.

Against Hobart, however, the Hoyas were able to turn things around.

“We tried to emphasize a few things this week and hoped our guys would respond, and they did. And that’s a lot of times, as coaches, all you can ask for – for players to respond to what we’re trying to work towards,” Urick said.

The Hoyas opened the game down a goal after Hobart netted one less than two minutes into the contest. But Henehan wouldn’t let the Statesmen lead for long. In a two minute period, Henehan scored on extra man offense, freshman attack Neal Goldman scored and Henehan added one more to make it 3-1. Hobart senior midfielder Jamie Breslin had his first of two goals as the Statesmen went on EMO to close out the first period at 3-2.

The Hoya offense took over in the second quarter. Senior midfielder Scott Doyle, junior midfielder Steve Dusseau, sophomore midfielder Trevor Walker and Staab had one goal each, while Hobart failed to score. The score at halftime was 7-2.

Staab broke open the second half with his second goal less than a minute into play. Hobart’s Breslin managed to get one past Hoya junior goalie Scott Schroeder before the Hoyas went on a 3-0 run, with two goals from Henehan and one from Staab. Sophomore attack Josh Bogosian scored the next two for Hobart, one at the end of the third period and one at the beginning of the second to make the score 11-5.

Bosogian’s second goal would be the last for the Statesmen, as the Hoyas scored six straight goals in the final period. Senior midfielder Tom Tamberrino started off the run with two goals. Doyle and Staab scored the next two. Then freshman attack Mike Boynton, a player who has changed positions several times due to the team’s injuries, got on the board with two and a half minutes to go. Senior midfielder Jim Conley had the last goal of the day, making the final score 17-5.

“I give the older guys and the seniors a lot of credit. I think they took to heart some of the things that we told them we had to do to play a little bit better,” Urick said.

Staab scored four of his five goals this season against Hobart and was important in compensating for the loss of sophomore attack ike Hammer, normally an important offensive contributor for the Hoyas. Hammer suffered a thigh injury against Stony Brook and is questionable for tomorrow’s game against Massachusetts.

“Staab stepped up and did a great job for us. He had four goals, and those are the kind of things you need to have happen throughout the season, because you are going to have situations where guys are going to get a little bit nicked up and people have to be ready to step in and contribute,” Urick said.

The Hoya defense also played well. Georgetown had 56 groundballs to Hobart’s 36. After the Stony Brook matchup, Urick had been worried about the defense relying too much on Schroeder, but the Hoyas seemed to remedy this against Hobart.

“Scott Shroeder continues to play well, but I think this time he got the support around him that we can provide, and that’s important,” Urick said.

Schroeder had 12 saves before being replaced with four minutes to go by senior goalie Dan Mooney, who saved the only shot he saw.

The Hoyas’ last three contests of the regular season, against undefeated No. 4 Massachusetts, No. 18 Rutgers and No. 2 Syracuse, all carry significance in terms of post season seedings. UMass and Rutgers are both conference opponents, and the winner of the conference will receive an automatic NCAA tournament. Saturday’s matchup between the Hoyas and the Minutemen will determine who holds first place in the ECAC.

“This game’s got a lot riding on it,” Urick said. “What UMass does isn’t all that sophisticated. They’re not relying on a lot of tricks or gimmicks. It’s who they do it with. They just have really a good number of strong offensive players. They just play real well together right now. They’re very unselfish. They get a lot of assisted goals. They’re going to be a handful, and I think it’s a challenge that our guys look forward to.”

Saturday’s game is at 1 p.m. in Amherst, Mass.