GENEVA, NY - Hobart College junior Marco Ronning scored in the 30th minute to guide the Statesmen to a 1-0 Liberty League victory over Union on Cozzens Field this afternoon. Hobart improves to 8-4-1 overall and 2-2-0 in conference play, while the Dutchmen fall to 5-7-1 and 1-4-0 in the Liberty League.

The Statesmen controlled play for the majority of the first half. Just four minutes in, junior Zico Gaeffke banged a shot off the right post. Then in the 30th minute, after some quick back and forth passing between Ronning and first-year Nick Dosky inside the box, Ronning took his shot from deep on the left side, bending it into the far right corner of the goal to give Hobart a 1-0 advantage. Ronning leads the Statesmen with 14 points on four goals and six assists.

The Statesmen defense held strong and junior goalie Tyler Serafine made a couple big stops in the second half to preserve the one goal lead for the win. Serafine, who played the entire 90 minutes, finished with four saves. It was his third win in goal this season and second shutout.

One of Union's best scoring chances came in the 64th minute. Ethan Strauss took a pass inside the box from Carl Faber. Strauss blasted a shot on goal, but Serafine came running out of the goal to punch the ball away. Sam Hunter came inches away from tying things up for the Dutchmen in the 69th minute, when he banged a shot off the post. With just under four minutes remaining, Union earned a free kick from just outside the box. Nicholas Hall-Risko sent the ball into the box to find Faber right out in front, but his shot went just over the crossbar.

Hobart finished with an 11-10 edge in shots and a 6-3 advantage in corners. It was the Statesmen's sixth shutout this season. Ryan Carter played all 90 minutes in goal for the Dutchmen and made two saves.

Union is at SUNYIT on October 14 at 7 p.m.