Hobart Announces 2009 Lacrosse Captains

Hobart Sports Information

First-year Hobart College Lacrosse Head Coach T.W. Johnson recently announced team captains for the 2009 season. Seniors Jeff Colburn (CNS/Liverpool, N.Y.), Ricky Evans (Immaculate Heart/Watertown, N.Y.), Justin Hager (Salamanca/Salamanca, N.Y.), Sam Orr (Avon Old Farms/Simsbury, Conn.), and Matt Smalley (Avon Old Farms/Cumberland, R.I.) will lead the Statesmen through their 107th varsity season.

"It gives me great pleasure to announce our captains for the 2009 season," Johnson said. "Being a captain for one of the oldest programs in the country requires character, responsibility, and work ethic and I commend their teammates for their selections. As a first-year head coach at Hobart, I could not have asked for a better group of leaders."

An attackman, Colburn is Hobart's top returning scorer after producing 17 goals and 11 assists in 2008. A two-year starter, he begins his final season with 73 career points (43g, 30a). Colburn is tied for 10th in career assists on Hobart's Division I list and is seeking to become the seventh Statesman to reach the 100-point plateau since the program left Division III in 1995.

Evans and Hager are two thirds of the team's starting close defense. Last season, Hobart's D ranked 15th in the nation in scoring defense and posted a 7.71 goals against average, the lowest since the Statesmen made the jump to DI. Evans is a two-year starter with 58 career ground balls to his name, while Hager made his debut in the starting lineup last season and has 14 GBs.

Orr is a midfielder with 12 career games under his belt. He has scored three goals and assisted on a fourth.

Smalley is Hobart's top returning midfielder. Used almost exclusively as a d-middie during his first two seasons on campus, he expanded his role in the offense last season to the tune of five goals and four assists. Smalley has led the team in ground balls in each of the past two seasons and brings 198 career GBs into his final campaign.

The Statesmen are coming off an 8-6 season that included a 4-3 mark in the ECAC Lacrosse League. Hobart will welcome back 30 lettermen from that squad, including five starters.