Last Saturday in the midst of a windy, drizzling Baltimore afternoon over 4,600 spectators turned out to watch the Johns Hopkins Men's Lacrosse team take on the Princeton Tigers. In a match up between two top teams, Hopkins proved their worth in a stunning 8-5 victory over the highly-touted defending national champions.
The Jays won due to a powerful defense, a balanced offense on attack and a strong effort in the goal. The Jays defense kept Princeton's all-American attack trio of B.J Prager, Sean Hartofilis and Ryan Boyle in check, with only Boyle recording a goal. Freshman Chris Watson limited Prager, while junior Michael Peyser covered Hartofilis.
"We just executed our game plan. We were working on it and studying film all week." said freshman midfielder Kyle Harrison.
The game began as a low scoring affair with both defenses containing the other team's attack. Harrison tallied the first goal of the game a mere 1:32 into the first quarter, slipping the ball past Princeton goalie Julian Gould. It was quickly followed by a Princeton goal from Mark Pelligrino. Senior captain P.J DiConza handled Boyle, Princeton's leader in points.
The Blue Jays re-captured the lead, however, when freshman Kyle Barrie scored off an assist from sophomore Kevin Boland at the 9:46 mark.
The game would be at a standstill until halftime. It would be one of the worst halves in years for the Princeton offense.
Boland added to the Hopkins lead when he provided his second assist of the day. He fed senior midfielder Matt Hanna who scored under three minutes into the third quarter to increase the Blue Jay lead to 3-1.
Not to be outdone, Princeton responded to the Hopkins goal and scored a goal of its own just under two minutes later on an extra-man goal as Brendan Tierney passed to Owen Daly to cut the Blue Jay lead to 3-2.
But after that, the Blue Jays took control of the game, scoring four unanswered goals to increase their lead to 7-2. Sophomore midfielder Conor Ford scored the first goal while junior midfielder Adam Doneger added the second before the conclusion of the third quarter.
Next, junior attackman Bobby Benson and Boland both scored in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter. They did so by taking advantage of the extra-man situation to complete the 4-0 run and to give Hopkins a commanding lead midway through the fourth quarter.
Princeton made a scoring run of its own late in the game to cut the Blue Jays' lead to 7-5 as Tierney, Brad Early in the game, the Blue Jays showed signs of life, and they remained competitive through much of the game but were never able to take control of the contest. Duke scored just under five minutes into the game, but Hopkins shot right back, as senior midfielder Christy Peterson scored an unassisted goal to even the score at 1-1. Duke pulled ahead with two more scores, but Hopkins returned the favor as Pearce scored unassisted with less than a minute before the half ended. But just as time expired, Duke added to their lead as they scored a free position Dumont and Boyle scored Princeton's three goals, the last of which came with just 58 seconds remaining in the game. But the team's offensive explosion was too little, too late and the two-goal deficit was as close as the Tigers' would get to defeating the Blue Jays. Harrison scored with 34 seconds remaining to increase the Hopkins lead to 8-5 and clinch the win.
To the Blue Jays credit, Hopkins dominated Princeton even while having four freshmen in the starting lineup. They outplayed the Tigers in most aspects of the game, out-shooting them 44-36 and also taking a 43-24 advantage in ground balls.
"The freshmen class has done a great job so far learning the system and contributing to the program." said Doneger.
In addition, Boland finished the game with two assists, as did Peter LeSueur. Ford also recorded one assist.
The Blue Jays also got outstanding performances from two key players who were both in the starting lineup for the first time. Senior Nick Murtha recorded 11 saves in goal for the Blue Jays in his first career start, but Harrison stole the show, tallying two goals and also controlling 12 of 17 faceoffs on the day that he made his collegiate debut.
"I think I had an alright day," said Harrison, "but I don't think it was really me on the face offs. Corey Harned came in and got the ball."
As a result of their victory, the Jays moved up one spot to a No. 2 ranking in the STX/USILA Poll. Syracuse, who managed to defeat two highly ranked teams, Army and Virginia, took the No. 1 ranking.
If this win over the No. 1 ranked Princeton Tigers is any indication of the rest of the season, then the Blue Jays have a fair chance at a national title.
Next week the Blue Jays will travel to Hempstead N.Y. to take on the no. 11 ranked Hofstra Pride. Last season the Jays scraped out a 7-6 win over Hofstra. Last week, Loyola managed to tally a stunning 8-7 come from behind victory.
"Its going to be a war up at Hofstra. They're coming off a loss against Loyola and will be hungry for a win," said Doneger. "Nobody expected us to beat Princeton last week. We have to go up to Hofstra and show people that we're a young but talented team.
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