Box Score GENEVA, N.Y. – The Sacred Heart men's lacrosse team fell 15-9 to the Hobart Statesmen Thursday in the Northeast Conference Men's Lacrosse Championship semifinals at Boswell Field.
Bryce Jurk and Julian Garritano both had two goals and two assists to lead SHU with four points each. Brian Masi had a hat trick. Nick Albanese and Jake Giaquinto both led the Pioneers with five groundballs.
Hobart (9-6) and Sacred Heart (9-6) traded goals to open the game. Justin Scott put the Statesmen ahead 1-0 at the 11:33 mark of the first quarter. Jurk tied the game 0:41 later, with an assist from Garritano, for his 100th career point. The Statesmen then went on a 5-0 run to end the quarter. Hobart got goals from five different players to take a 6-1 lead after the first.
After the Statesmen extended their lead to 7-1 early in the second quarter, SHU went on a 3-1 run to cut the deficit to four 8-4. The run started with a Masi man-up goal at the 11:12 mark, assisted by Jurk. After a Chris Aslanian goal at the 9:45 mark, Joe Saggese scored with 8:22 left in the half to make the score 8-3. Masi found the back of the net with 3:03 to go to get SHU within four, 8-4. Garritano had two chances in the final seconds of the half to cut the deficit to three, but put one shot wide and hit the post with another.
Hobart opened the second half with four straight goals, as Max Romm's second of the third quarter gave the Statesmen a 12-4 lead with 6:38 to go. The Pioneers' lone goal of the third came from Garritano, who fired a Connor O'Reilly pass over his right shoulder and into the goal with 2:44 to go to make the score 12-5. Hobart took a 13-5 lead with 2:06 to play in the third on Aslanian's fourth goal of the game. The Pioneers trailed 15-5 in the fourth quarter, but closed the game on a 4-0 run. Max Tuttle started the run with his 30th goal of the season with 5:17 to play. Jurk then scored with 1:56 to play, making the score 15-7. Forty-five seconds later, Masi finished off his hat trick. Garritano then scored with 0:47 left to make the final score 15-9.
The Statesmen outshot the Pioneers 55-39 and held a 38-31 advantage in groundballs. SHU won 14 of the 27 faceoffs. Aslanian led Hobart with four goals. Four other Statesmen had two goals. Goalie Jackson Brown made 14 saves.
The Pioneers close the 2017 season with a record of 9-6, setting a new single-season high for wins in the Division I era.
