SYRACUSE, N.Y.—For 40 minutes, the 19th-ranked Hobart College lacrosse team hung with third-ranked Syracuse University. The Orange used a four-goal burst that spanned the third and fourth quarters to pull away for a 21-13 victory in the 35th annual Kraus-Simmons Trophy game.
 
The fast-paced contest featured the most combined goals in the long-running series (106 games through tonight) since SU escaped Geneva with an 18-17 win in 1995.
 
Senior Eric Holden led the Statesmen (3-1) with five points on three goals and two assists. He extended his goal scoring streak to 18 games and stretched his point streak to 24. Sophomore Jason Knox contributed a goal and two assists. Junior Ryan Archer (1-1) sophomore Derrek Madonna (2-0) and senior Justin Scott (1-1) each had two points.
 
Hobart held its own against the nation's No. 1 faceoff unit. First-year Adam Shea was 8-of-16 at the X and junior Drew Blanchard was 10-of-22 with a team-high seven ground balls. Senior goalie Sam Lucchesi made 16 saves.
 
Syracuse (4-0) had the edge in both shots (48-40) and ground balls (39-35) and a more sizeable advantage in turnovers, committing 13 to Hobart's 22.
 
The Orange jumped out to a 3-0 lead just over seven minutes into the game. At the 5:15 mark, junior Tommy Mott got the Statesmen on the board and SU was flagged for unnecessary roughness, giving Hobart an extra-man opportunity. They cashed in when Scott fed Madonna to make it 3-2.
 
SU didn't manage consecutive goals again until late in the second quarter, taking a 7-4 lead on a goal by sophomore Tucker Dordevic. He finished the game with seven points, including five in the second half, on five goals and two assists.
 
Holden scored back-to-back goals 11 seconds apart in the final minute to cut the margin to one going into halftime.
 
Less than a minute into the second half, Holden set up first-year Jack Grooms' extra-man goal, tying the game at 7. Hobart was 3-of-4 with the extra-man on the night.
 
SU gained just a bit of breathing room with back-to-back goals and then the teams traded goals for over five minutes, back-and-forth. With about four and half minutes to play in the third quarter, Grooms scored his second goal of the game, dumping home a cross-crease pass from Knox. It pulled Hobart within one, 12-11.
 
Twenty-three seconds later, SU senior Jamie Trimboli scored, kick-starting the fateful four-goal run. Just over a minute later, Dordevic gave the Orange a three-goal advantage and junior Brendan Curry scored with just under a minute left in the third for a 15-11 lead. Curry notched five goals and an assist.
 
Sophomore Chase Scanlan capped the run just over four minutes into the fourth. He finished the game with four goals and an assist.
 
Hobart continued to battle, bookending goals around a Syracuse score. First-year John Herlihy rang up his 10th goal of the season off a feed from Holden to make it 16-12. Curry scored near the midpoint of the quarter, but Blanchard won the faceoff, scooping up the ground ball and racing straight to goal, scoring with a sidearm shot as her ran past the cage on the left. His first career goal made it a 17-13 game with more than seven minutes remaining.
 
Syracuse tallied the final four goals of the night to pull away. The Orange dominated possession down the stretch, allowing Hobart just three shots in the final seven minutes.
 
Junior Jakob Phaup came into the game second in the nation in faceoff percentage, but was just 5-of-12 against the Statesmen. However, senior Danny Varello had a strong performance for the Orange, going 15-of-26 with a game-high eight ground balls. Senior goalie Drake Porter made seven saves to get the win.
 
Hobart will return home to host Binghamton Saturday, March 7 at 1 p.m.