The Hoyas have yet to play on campus this season, but they have been at home digging their way out from first-half deficits on the road.

For the third time in as many games, the No. 5 Georgetown men’s lacrosse team mounted a second-half rally to win, edging out league foe No. 16 Hobart for an 11-9 victory Saturday afternoon at Geneva, N.Y.

“It’s not anything you want to make a habit of,” Head Coach Dave Urick said. “But we played well late and got ourselves out of it.”

Georgetown, down 6-2 at the intermission, outscored Hobart 6-1 in the third quarter to take a narrow 8-7 advantage into the final frame. Junior attack Sean Denihan tallied his seventh goal of the year 41 seconds into the fourth quarter to give the Hoyas their largest lead of the afternoon.

The Statesmen responded with two straight goals, just 28 seconds apart, to retie the game at 9-9 with 11:31 to go.

Nearly half the quarter went by before either team could get on the board again. This time sophomore attack Trevor Casey beat Hobart senior goalie Dan Valente for the go-ahead score with just under six minutes to play.

Denihan, who notched a game-high three goals, tallied his final score for insurance at 2:39.

The Hoya offense put plenty of pressure on Valente and Hobart’s defensive core, firing off 49 shots, including 21 during the third-quarter rally. Despite the barrage, Valente managed 17 saves in the losing effort.

In the opposing crease, senior Rich D’Andrea had 10 saves, reaching double digits for the third straight outing. Senior defenseman Brodie Merrill tied a personal season-high with 13 groundballs.

Georgetown held a narrow edge in faceoffs, winning 12 of 23. Senior midfielder Andy Corno won 7 of 11 while junior midfielder Wes Trice and sophomore midfielder Christian Truunz combined to go 5 of 12 in the rest.

As they did against Delaware last Wednesday, the Hoyas scored within the first two minutes to take an early lead before their opponent mounted a run. The Statesmen reeled off a 6-0 stretch, led by senior attackmen Nate Hill and Daryl Veltman. During the run Hill had two goals and an assist while Veltman tallied one goal and assisted on two others.

Hobart held Georgetown scoreless for 27 minutes until senior midfielder Nick Miaritis ended the drought, recording the first of two goals on the afternoon.

He scored again early in the third quarter, starting the Hoyas on their second-half spurt. Freshman attack Brendon Cannon added his first collegiate goal to close the margin to 6-4 midway through the quarter.

Georgetown tied the contest in impressive fashion, as Merrill scored his third goal of the season to bring the Hoyas within one. Truunz picked up the ensuing faceoff and fed it to Denihan, who beat Valente to tie the game with 3:41 left in the third.

The Statesmen momentarily regained the lead when sophomore midfielder Chris David scored just a minute later. The Hoyas ended the third quarter with two more goals to take an 8-7 lead into the final period.

With the win, Georgetown improved to 4-1 on the year, including 2-0 in ECAC play. It was the first loss of the season for Hobart, who dropped to 4-1 overall and 0-1 in league matches.

The Hoyas have their first home contest of 2005 on Saturday, playing host to the No. 3 Duke Blue Devils (7-0, 2-0 ACC) at 1 p.m. on North Kehoe Field.

“It’s a good thing for us that we’re home,” Urick said. “There’s no doubt that our players were mentally and physically weary from playing five games on the road.”

Duke defeated Maryland, Georgetown’s only loss this season, by a 10-8 margin on March 5, but the Hoyas have prevailed in their last four meetings with the Blue Devils.

Urick said he was glad to have a week to prepare for Duke after playing three games in eight days.

“We were watching film on Hobart Friday night for the first time,” he said. “We need the time to prepare and get ourselves back on the regular routine.”