BETHLEHEM, Pa.—For the first 21 minutes of the Hobart College lacrosse team's game at Lehigh University, the Statesmen looked poised to run away with the non-conference contest. However, over the final eight minutes of the first half and throughout the second half, the Mountain Hawks controlled the action, earning a 19-13 victory.
 
Bradley Simas led the Statesmen with five points on three goals and two assists. Will Delano added two goals and two assists as well as four ground balls. Adam Shea won 17-of-35 faceoffs and corralled a team-high seven ground balls. In goal, Loukas Sotiropoulos recorded a career-high 17 saves.
 
For Lehigh, the starting attack did most of the damage, combining for 12 goals and four assists. Christian Mulé (5-1) and Scott Cole (4-2) each finished with six points to pace the Mountain Hawks. Mike Sisselberger was 17-of-33 at the X and grabbed a game-high 11 ground balls. Goalie Nick Pecora made 12 saves to earn the win.
 
FIRST QUARTER

• Simas gave Hobart the early lead, scoring an unassisted goal in the game's first minute.
• James Greene doubled the Statesmen advantage before Mulé netted his first to make it a 2-1 game six minutes in.
• Hobart scored four of the next six goals to build a 6-3 lead by the end of the first quarter.

 
SECOND QUARTER

• Mulé opened the second quarter scoring with an extra-man goal, but the Statesmen answered with a four-goal burst in under four minutes.
• Simas completed his hat trick to start the run.
• Shea won the ensuing faceoff and 18 seconds later Alex Rosa finished a feed from Marcus Trujillo.
• Just after the 11-minute mark, Sam Ward tacked on an extra-man goal that was set up by Delano.
• Delano capped the run, assisted by Simas, to make it 10-4 Hobart with 9:30 remaining in the opening half.
• Lehigh finished the half with a four-goal run of its own to go into the break trailing 10-8.

 
THIRD QUARTER

• Rosa opened the second half scoring, but the Mountain Hawks put together another 4-0 run to take a 12-11 lead on Mulé's goal at the 3:31 mark.
• Lehigh put the game away with a 5-0 run that spanned the third and fourth quarters.

 
TEAM TOTALS

• The final team statistics were very similar with one notable exception. Lehigh was able to generate 19 more shots than Hobart (54-35), including a 17-3 advantage in the fourth quarter.

COACH'S CORNER

"We need to become more mature as a team," Head Coach Greg Raymond said. "A mature team finishes the game better than they start. We aren't there yet. This is on the coaches. We need to prepare our team better to make their best decisions down the stretch."

 
UP NEXT

• The Statesmen will face another Patriot League opponent when they return to action on Saturday, Feb. 25. Hobart and Colgate will faceoff in Hamilton, New York at noon.