As a small child, Alex Love stood in net while his older brother, Mike D’Amico, shot at him. But when Love was 5 or 6, a shot by D’Amico struck him in the throat.

“I’m never playing goalie again,” Love said.

“If you’re not going to do that, then you’re going to have to do what I do,” responded D’Amico, then about 13.

D’Amico put a stick in Love’s left hand and taught him to shoot underhand. Now, Love averages 3.2 goals per game and leads Hobart in scoring. At 6 feet 175 pounds, Love hardly cuts an imposing figure on the field, and aside from a quick first step, he is not very fast, either.

But nearly every time he takes the field, he scores. He also thinks of his brother, who taught him the underhand lefty shot Love said separates him from others to this day.

On Jan. 14, 2003, a drunk driver killed D’Amico in New Hampshire.

Today, Love is trying to figure out how to balance his elite talent with his team’s success. The Statesmen are on a four-game losing skid. Love tied the Hobart record for goals in a game with six against Canisius on March 12. But the Statesmen have lost every game since, despite Love extending his goal-scoring streak to 19 games before being shut out against Ohio State on Saturday.

If he doesn’t score, Hobart largely doesn’t score. If he, and to a lesser extent, Cam Stone, are the only focal points of the offense, the Statesmen are too easy to defend.

“We got to figure out a way to get involved and, not to get less weight off our shoulders, but to work better when we have the ball or work better when we don’t have it,” Love said.

Hobart head coach T.W. Johnson said the team’s offense is built around the kind of play in which Love excels. He can slip by defenders on quick cuts and unleash shots that make up for his lack of athletic dominance.

It’s the same skill set Love was sharpening behind the North Street School in Geneva, N.Y., when D’Amico first pointed him out to LJ Russell. It was the same talent Russell, the head coach at Geneva High School, saw when Love led Geneva to back-to-back New York State Section V titles.

Love always managed to get a shot off, even when Russell was certain Love wouldn’t beat his defender, or anyone. Watching Love now, Russell said he’s mostly the same player. He just moves around a little more, but keeps his hands free and rips his shot as hard as ever.

Russell also remembers an unspoken understanding about Love.

“It was kind of one of those things where A-Love really wanted to live up to his older brother’s expectations,” he said.

It’s why Love promised he’d always wear his brother’s No. 4 on his jersey — the same number D’Amico wore — and why he thinks about what D’Amico means to him and his family before every game.

Love said without D’Amico, he wouldn’t be where he is today, leading Hobart and racing up the program’s all-time Division-I goal-scoring chart — he’s No. 5.

He misses his brother, but his passing also forced him to grow. Without D’Amico, though, Love said he wouldn’t be the man he is today.

Said Love: “His passing was a tough time, but it also inspired me to become who I am.”

Published on April 10, 2013 at 1:09 am

Contact Jacob: jmklinge@syr.edu | @Jacob_Klinger_