Box Score GENEVA, N.Y.—Neither a blast of wintery weather, nor the Saint Joseph’s Hawks could stop the Hobart lacrosse team from picking up its second win of the season on McCooey Field this afternoon. The Statesmen prevailed 8-3 on a cold and rainy day better suited for indoor sports.

Hobart (2-1) outshot Saint Joseph’s 54-15, held a 39-34 ground ball edge, and rode the visitor’s mercilessly. The Hawks (0-5) failed on 20 of 32 clearing attempts.

St. Joseph’s three goals are the fewest scored by a Statesmen opponent since Hobart limited Butler to just three tallies on Feb. 23, 2003.

Senior attackman Jamie Kirk (Salisbury School/Orangeville, Ontario) led the attack with two goals and two assists, while senior midfielder Sean Murphy (Bishop Timon-St. Jude/Buffalo, N.Y.) scored twice and sophomore midfielder Mike Lazore (Immaculate Heart/Carthage, N.Y.) contributed two assists. First-year long-stick midfielder Alex Caton (Bridgton Academy/Rochester, N.Y.) collected a team-high six ground balls.

Senior attackman Steve Varga (Strath Haven/Wallingford, Pa.) was the only Hawk with more than one point, logging a pair of assists. Junior defenseman Tom Wengenosky (Holy Trinity/Mineola, N.Y.) matched Caton’s game-high with six GBs of his own.

Murphy opened the scoring midway through the first quarter with a shot that just trickled across the goal line after junior goalie Erik Hotaling (Bishop Ludden/Syracuse, N.Y.) caught just enough of the shot to slow it down. Hotaling finished with 18 saves, including eight in the second quarter.

Saint Joseph’s pulled even five minutes later on a goal by senior midfielder Steve O’Brien (Loyola Blakefield/Timonium, Md.).

Hobart got some breathing room in the second quarter, scoring three unanswered goals. Kirk finished a feed from Lazore at the 10:24 mark, putting the Statesmen in front for good. Thirty seconds later, Murphy finished a feed from Kirk to double Hobart’s lead. Senior midfielder Nick Currie (Corning East/Corning, N.Y.) sent the Statesmen into halftime with a 4-1 lead thanks to a set up by junior attackman Jeff Colburn (CNS/Liverpool, N.Y.).

Kirk and first-year Ryan Liebel (Avon Old Farms/Longmeadow, Mass.) sandwiched goals around a tally by Hawks’ first-year attackman Scott Cullinan (West Chester East/West Chester, Pa.) to up Hobart’s lead to 6-2 through 45 minutes.

Sophomore attackman Kevin Curtin (Corcoran/Syracuse, N.Y.) gave the Statesmen a five-goal edge early in the fourth quarter. Saint Joseph’s first-year attackman Dean Bellos (Garnet Valley/Garnet Valley, Pa.) answered with the only extra-man goal of the contest at the 8:47 mark. SJU was 1-for-7 with the man advantage, while Hobart was 0-for-3.

Colburn closed out the afternoon’s scoring, intercepting an SJU clearing pass in the middle of the field and beating Hotaling one-on-one.

Sophomore goalie Max Silberlicht (New Hartford/New Hartford, N.Y.) earned the win for the Statesmen with six saves.

The Statesmen are back in action at 1 p.m. on March 15 when the Statesmen open ECAC play at Georgetown.