PHILADELPHIA—Hobart College senior attackman
Ryan Archer produced a team-high five points against Saint Joseph's University, but the Hawks, who are receiving votes in all three national polls, held serve on their home field, winning 16-12. Archer matched his career-high with four goals and added an assist moving from fourth place to second place on Hobart's Division I era career points list.
Bradley Simas also scored four goals for Hobart, matching his career high that he set just last week against Bryant. Senior attackman
Tommy Mott had a goal and an assist. Faceoff specialist
Adam Shea was 12-of-30 at the X with a team-high seven ground balls, a solid performance against the No. 1 faceoff player in the country. Goalie
Kevin Holtby made nine saves.
Midfielder Tucker Brown paced Saint Joseph's with a career-high six goals, including an empty-net tally in the final minute. Austin Strazzulla notched four points on two goals and two assists and Carter Page scored three times. Zach Cole, who came into the game leading the nation with a .762 faceoff winning percentage, was 19-of-30 (.633) with a game-high 13 ground balls. Goalie Robbie Seeley made 11 saves to earn the win.
Archer netted a pair of goals in the first quarter as the Statesmen battled the Hawks to a 5-all draw through 15 minutes. That gave him 74 career goals, tying him with Mike Conklin '06 and Chris David '07 for 11th on the DI era goals list, while also raising his point total to 160, matching Alex Love '15 in third place.
While faceoffs (SJU 6-4) and shots (SJU 11-10) were nearly even in the first quarter, the Hawks won five of the six faceoffs in the second and enjoyed an 11-6 advantage in shots. Saint Joseph's used the extra possessions to outscore the visitors 5-0 in the frame for a 10-5 halftime lead. Brown and Levi Anderson each scored twice in the second quarter.
Brown's fourth goal of the game opened the second half scoring and gave the Hawks an 11-5 lead thanks to seven straight goals. Archer stopped Hobart's scoring drought at just over 20 minutes with his third goal, taking sole possession of 11th place on the goals list and third place in points. Strazzulla made it a 12-6 lead for the home team less than a minute later, but Archer fired home his fourth to make it 12-7 before the second half was three minutes old. That goal raised his point total to 162, tying Daryl Veltman '08 for second place.
The tally also sparked a five-goal run, all unassisted, by Hobart. Bach scored next, running by his defender out of the box and scoring on a 5-yard shot. Simas then netted back-to-back goals, scoring on a restart from behind the cage where he beat his defender to the front of the net and then on a quick restart from midfield, where the SJU defense didn't move to defend him until he was 5-yards out. Mott made it a one-goal game with 2:03 left in the third quarter, losing his defender behind the cage on a pick set by
Jack Grooms, and scoring on a shot right on the doorstep.
In the fourth quarter, as in the second, Robbie stepped up. He recorded four saves in both even numbered quarters allowing his team to pull away. Page and Brown both scored twice in the fourth quarter, giving the Hawks (8-2, 3-0) a comfortable 16-11 lead with 38 seconds left.
Simas closed out the day's scoring, converting on an assist from Archer. It was the latter's 87 career assists, moving him seven away from Chris Aslanian's three-year-old record. It also gave him his 163rd career point, a total surpassed by only Aslanian (98-94-192) since Hobart moved to Division I in 1995. The assist was Archer's 23rd of the season, tying him with
Kevin DeWall '00 (1997), Nate Hill '05 (2002), Cam Stone '14 (2014) and Aslanian (2017) for 10th place on the program's DI era season list.
Hobart (2-5, 0-3) will finish its regular season with three of its final four games at home starting on Saturday, April 9, when Wagner visits Boswell Field at Urick Stadium.
