On an emotional Saturday afternoon, the Hopkins men’s lacrosse season began with a victory, the celebration of the life of a beloved teammate, and a historic win for its head coach.
Freshman Jeremy Huber was honored on the field in the form of a painted “#19” in front of the team’s bench while each player sported the number on both their jerseys and helmets.
“We will never forget our fallen brother Jeremy Huber,” said senior Michael Pellegrino, lacrosse team captain. “This season is for him, and we remain 19 strong.”
His memory remains with the team and fueled an offensive rout for the fifth-ranked Blue Jays.
The historic 16-4 Hopkins victory over UMBC was the first of the season as well as the first for Hopkins since they joined the Big 10 conference. The win was also the 159th victory of head coach Dave Pietramala’s career and allowed him to top the list in Hopkins history, surpassing Hall of Famer Bob Scott.
“I’m so happy for coach Petro. Bob Scott was a legendary coach and this is such an amazing accomplishment,” Shack Stanwick, freshman attack and star of Saturday’s game, said.
Pietramala is now 159-55 overall and 67-9 against teams from the state of Maryland over 15 years as head coach.
The offense took no time to heat up, scoring four unassisted goals in the opening 10 minutes of the season, including two by the aforementioned Stanwick, a heralded freshman who will hopefully provide a youthful spark all season.
“My first game was pretty awesome,” Stanwick said. “Playing a college game on Homewood Field was everything I expected it to be. Coming away with a historic win like that made it that much better.”
The rookie finished the day with a hat trick and an assist in his first official college game.
Also leading the way early for the offensive attack was junior Ryan Brown, who went on several multi-goal sprees, totaling seven on the day. His first put his goal streak at 17 consecutive games. He netted two while sophomore Wilkins Dismuke and junior Connor Reed added unassisted goals, rounding out the six unanswered points in the opening period.
Overwhelmed by the attack, UMBC tried to rebound in the second period with a goal of their own from Dylan McDermott, but solid goal play from captain Eric Schneider and aggressive Hopkins defense allowed the offense to keep piling on, with freshman Joel Tinney finding the net for his first career goal.
Two-time captain Michael Pellegrino got in on the action, and Brown continued his dominance with another pair of goals separated by less than two minutes. UMBC struck last to end the half but found themselves down 10-2 with little hope in sight.
The opening of the third quarter was defined by yet another pair of Ryan Brown goals separated by an unassisted goal from sophomore Cody Radziewicz.
The persistent Hopkins defense kept UMBC quiet for yet another scoreless and period, and at the start of the final period, Hopkins led 13-2.
The Retrievers showed life in the fourth quarter, as junior midfielder Pat Young became the team’s only player with multiple goals putting two past goal, but Brown and Stanwick made sure to quiet any hopes of a miraculous comeback with their last goals in phenomenal offensive efforts. Freshman Patrick Fraser scored the first goal of his Hopkins career and later added his first assist to put the final score at 16-4.
On the offensive performance, Pellegrino is optimistic that the team can maintain its success throughout the year.
“Our season is going to be determined by our team chemistry,” Pellegrino said. “Our offense thrives off of those guys knowing where to be and when to be there, and our defense can only be successful if we can trust each other out there. Chemistry is key, and this is the closest team I have been a part of in my four years here, so I’m extremely excited to see what the rest of the year holds for us.“
Hopkins remains undefeated against UMBC, notching their 13th straight win in the rivalry while Wells Stanwick moved up to the 10th spot on the career assist list in team history. The team made a short trip to Towson to face the Tigers on Tuesday and lost 5-7.
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