The Hopkins Men’s Lacrosse team travelled up to The Big House in Ann Arbor, Mich. to face off against their Conference rivals the University of Michigan Wolverines last Saturday.
The tenth-ranked Blue Jays came out on top with 19-13 to clinch a spot in next week’s Big Ten tournament at Homewood Field. The win brings Hopkins to 8-4 on the season and 3-1 in Conference play.
The Blue Jays fell behind at the beginning of the game. The Wolverines gained an early 2-0 lead by the 8:20 mark in the first quarter. Hopkins would soon come roaring back, however, picking up the game’s next seven goals. Just two minutes after Michigan’s second goal, the Jays would answer with three in a 90 second span, with senior midfielder Holden Cattoni, sophomore attackman Shack Stanwick and freshman attackman Kyle Marr picking up the goals for Hopkins. Junior attackman Wilkins Dismuke and sophomore midfielder Patrick Fraser added a pair of goals to give the Jays a 7-2 lead at the 12:47 mark in the second quarter.
The Blue Jays would eventually build this halftime lead to 11-5, with a goal each coming from Stanwick and freshman midfielder Robert Kuhn and two from senior attackman Ryan Brown.
Hopkins received a boost from a strong faceoff performance by senior Craig Madarasz, who was 11-17 at the draw on the half.
The Wolverines would not go down quietly, however, and opened the second half on a two-goal run to cut the deficit to four. The teams would then trade goals for the remainder of the period, bringing the score to 14-10 going into the fourth quarter. Hopkins’ goals came from sophomore midfielder Brinton Valis, Brown and Marr.
Michigan quickly cut the lead to three to open the final quarter with a goal by freshman Decker Curran, but Cattoni would quickly answer back. The Wolverines would again cut the deficit to three on a goal by senior Kyle Jackson with 11:25 left to play. The score remained 15-12 until just less than six minutes remaining in the game. The Blue Jays then closed out the victory by scoring three goals in under a minute, coming from junior midfielder Cody Radziewicz, Dismuke and Cattoni. Michigan would add a consolation goal courtesy of Curran, but Dismuke would answer that by capping off his hat trick and sealing a 19-13 victory in the game’s final minute.
The win was Coach Dave Pietramala’s 200th of his career, bringing his all-time record to an impressive 200-83. Brown notched his 150th career goal in his storied time at Hopkins, and Stanwick picked up his 100th point in his young career.
Next, the Blue Jays face off against their archrival, University of Maryland, at Homewood Field at 2 p.m. this Saturday. Hopkins will look to continue their hot streak by gaining a win in the season finale and will then prepare to host the Big Ten tournament next week to try and secure an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Even if the Jays do not emerge victorious as the champions of the Big Ten, it is very likely that the team will qualify for the NCAA D-I Tournament.
The Jays will be looking to make a deep run in the bracket once again and avenge last year’s heartbreaking loss to Maryland in the national semifinals.
That defeat remains fresh in the mind of the Jays, adding another layer of intrigue to an already heated match between two historically dominant teams. It should be thrilling to watch and will be a preview of future clashes between the two teams in the Big Ten and possibly beyond.
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