By Ken DeBolt, HWS Athletic Communications
AMHERST, Mass.—For a moment, University of Massachusetts goalie Matt Knote looked vulnerable. The national leader in save percentage gave up seven first half goals on 12 shots to a backs-against-the-wall Hobart College lacrosse team.
Unfortunately for the Statesmen, Knote used the halftime break to refocus. He made 11 second half saves, while allowing just two goals to lead the Minutemen to a 13-9 Atlantic 10 Conference victory. Knote finished with 16 saves. Statesmen first-year goalie Elhanan Wilson made 10 saves, including five in the first quarter.
Hobart senior attackman John Herlihy, who returned to the starting lineup for the first time since February, proved healthy enough to score a team-high three goals. Junior midfielder Chad Bach, also limited by injury this season, scored twice, marking his first multipoint game since March. Junior Anthony Dattellas and sophomore John Jude Considine each posted a goal and an assist, while sophomore Will Delano recorded a pair of assists.
Senior faceoff specialist Adam Shea, who has played through nagging injuries all season, recorded a team-high seven ground balls. He finished the season with a team-leading 118. In Hobart’s Division I era, only Matthew Pedicine’s 173 in 2019 surpasses Shea’s total.
UMass’ Mike Tobin produced a game-high five points on three goals and two assists. Caleb Hammett won 14 of 23 faceoffs and corralled a game-high 12 ground balls.
FIRST HALF FIREWORKS
- UMass began the day fourth in the nation in goals against, allowing just 9.00 goals per game.
- Just 28 seconds into the second quarter, Hobart was already more than halfway to that total.
- Junior Sam Ward scored his team-leading eighth extra-man goal of the season to tie the game at 5 seconds into the second frame. It’s the most extra-man goals in a season by a Statesman since Chuck Wilbur ’01 had 10 in 1999.
- Hobart finished the game 2 of 5 with the extra man against a UMass team that was third in the nation in man-down defense (.794).
- Five minutes later, Bach scored to give the Statesmen a 6-5 lead, their final advantage of the contest.
- Tobin scored consecutive goals to swing the Minutemen back in front, but Herlihy tied it at 7 with his second goal of the day.
- Carter Castillo scored the final goal of the half to second UMass into the break with a one-goal advantage.
DEFENSES TAKE OVER
- While the first half saw the offenses combine for 15 goals, the second half was decidedly more defensive.
- Considine tied the game at 8 with his 20th goal of the season 24 seconds into the second half.
- A minute later Mason Bregman put UMass back in the lead, this time for good.
- Tobin scored with 9 seconds left in the third quarter for a 10-8 lead and then set up Shane O’Leary’s goal early in the fourth quarter for a three-goal advantage.
- Herlihy completed his hat trick with just under six minutes remaining, but the Minutemen (8-5, 3-2 A10) scored the final two goals of the game to lock Hobart (5-8, 1-4) out of the four-team A10 tournament.
SEASON NOTES
- Hobart scored 172 goals in 13 games this season. The Statesmen’s four highest scoring Division I seasons have come in the past in the past seven years: 2019 (223 in 16 gms), 2017 (191 in 16), 2022 (183 in 13) and 2023.
- Hobart scored 23 extra-man goals this year, tied for fourth on the program’s Division I era list.