Statesmen Out of Gas, Syracuse Cruises By

By Kerry Bretti 

GENEVA, N.Y.- Hobart hosted No. 10 Syracuse in a battle for the Kraus-Simmons Trophy Wednesday night and Orange outlasted Hobart 13-6, putting an end to the team’s three-game losing skid. One key change in the Syracuse starting lineup proved to work in its favor. Evan Molloy made his first start of the season in goal for the Orange, replacing Warren Hill.

Molloy saved seven of 13 shots on goal, including two momentum-changing stops. Hobart trailed Syracuse 7-2 late in the first half but the Statesmen quickly found light and went on a 4-0 streak to pull within one goal of the Orange. Molloy, who had only made one save during the scoring streak, made two huge saves to prevent the tie game including one with the shooter right on the crease.

“I think I let in six in a row to be honest so we really needed that save," Molloy said. "The defense was playing great all day and they kind of broke down there and they needed me and they were playing well for me all day so I had to get a save for them. You get kind of deflated when a team goes on a run like that. I think that save just got the energy back up.”

After the saves Syracuse went on a 6-0 run to end the game and ultimately win 13-6. Seven different players scored for the Orange, led by Jordan Evans with four goals. Sergio Salcido finished with six points on two goals and four assists while Dylan Donahue and Nick Mariano finished with two goals and one assist each. Syracuse’s offense took more than double the number of shots that the Statesmen did, 43-21, due largely in part to possessions won by Syracuse's Ben Williams at the faceoff X.

“It was a little one-sided from a possession standpoint,” Hobart Coach Greg Raymond said. “We thought that coming into this game Ben had been a little bit off in terms of who he was last year versus who he is this year and he was his normal self today. If you look at the first quarter and the fourth quarter of this game today Syracuse had the ball the entire time.”

Williams won 13 of 21 faceoffs for the Orange. Hobart’s J Andrew Spallanza won six of 13 and Matthew Pedicine won two of seven. Ben Bechter went 0-1 against Williams at X.

Hobart’s scoring was led by Frank Brown who had two goals for the Statesmen followed by Gavin Llewellyn who added one goal and one assist. Goalie Jackson Brown played the full 60 minutes and made 12 saves on 25 shots on goal.

With the win, Syracuse improves to 6-3 while Hobart falls to 5-5. Next up, Syracuse will travel to Cornell to play the Big Red on April 12 at 7 p.m.. Hobart will host Robert Morris on April 9 at noon.