GENEVA, N.Y.—The Hobart College lacrosse team will host Sacred Heart University on Saturday, April 28, on Boswell Field at the Caird Center for Sports and Recreation. Prior to the noon start of the Northeast Conference showdown, the Statesmen will honor the program's 15 seniors.
 
The Class of 2018—Cole Bardawill, Mason Burr, Connor Flood, Matthew Knight, William Locke, Henry Mann, Riley McTague, D. Bennett Moore, Dominic Padula, Spencer Passmore, Jake Sawyer, Owen Smith, Jonathan Spaan, J. Andrew Spallanzani and Christopher Willman—have guided the Statesmen to a 30-30 record, three NEC Tournament appearances, the 2016 NEC Tournament Championship, the 2017 NEC regular season championship and a berth in the 2016 NCAA tournament.
 
The pregame celebration begins at 10:30 a.m. with a tailgate in the Bristol Field House parking lot. Food and music will be available for alumni, parents and Statesmen Athletic Association members. The tailgate will continue through the William Smith lacrosse game which starts at 3 p.m.
 
Inside the stadium, food trucks from Macarollin, Chef's Catering, and Abbott's will provide concessions.
 
Saturday's game will also help decide which team will earn the fourth and final spot in this season's NEC Tournament. The Pioneers enter the final weekend of the regular season with a 6-7 overall record and a 2-3 mark in NEC play. SHU will earn the No. 4 seed with a win. If Hobart (4-9, 1-4) beats Sacred Heart, the Statesmen would tie the Pioneers for fourth and would get the last spot in the tournament based on the head-to-head tie breaker. However, Mount St. Mary's (4-9, 1-4) could also finish 2-4 by beating Wagner (4-9, 0-5) tomorrow. In the event of a three-way tie between the Statesmen, Pioneers and Mountaineers, the final playoff spot will be decided by goals allowed in the games between the tied teams and if that doesn't break the tie, then goals allowed in NEC play is the next tie breaker.
 
Hobart leads the series with Sacred Heart 3-2. This will be the third straight season that the Pioneers have made the trek to Geneva. The Statesmen posted a 15-10 regular season win in 2016 and earned a 15-9 win in the NEC Tournament semifinals last season.
 
While Hobart will celebrate its seniors on Saturday, a pair of juniors will be chasing significant milestones.
 
Faceoff specialist Matthew Pedicine is sixth in the nation with a .657 winning percentage. That's well ahead of the Statesmen Division I era season record of .649 set by Bobby Dattilo '12 in 2011. Pedicine also leads Hobart with 91 ground balls. No Statesman has collected 100 ground balls in a season since Alex Mitchell '99 had 100 in 1997. Over the past five games, Pedicine is averaged 10.2 ground balls.
 
Classmate Chris Aslanian leads the Statesmen with 47 points this season. His 23 goals and team-leading 24 assists have him three points away from becoming just the sixth Division I Statesman to record 50 points in a season.
 
Sacred Heart is led by USILA Player of the Year candidate Max Tuttle. The junior midfielder leads the team with 41 goals and 58 points. Junior attackman Joe Saggese is right behind him with 57 points on 38 goals and a team-high 19 assists. In goal, sophomore Brooks Dutton is 6-6 with a 12.21 goals against average and a .476 save percentage.
 
Following the Hobart-Sacred Heart game and prior to the start of the William Smith-Skidmore lacrosse game, the Colleges will hold a celebration of Statesmen and Heron scholar-athletes.