In a tradition that started more than 10 years ago, the Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse team scrimmaged the Cornell Big Red in preseason action. It was the second scrimmage for both teams, as Cornell played Colgate last week and the Jays traveled up to Penn State last Saturday.
The two teams battled back and forth evenly, with the Big Red taking a 4-1 halftime lead before the Jays dominated the second half to bring the score to 8-7. Including a ten-minute period played after the fourth quarter, the Jays outscored Cornell 9-8 on the day.
The Jays’s top performers on the afternoon included sophomore midfielder John Greely and sophomore goalie Pierce Bassett, who made some amazing saves, stopping Cornell attackmen from point-blank range on several instances.
For Cornell, player of the year candidate Rob Pannell played a great game, scoring three goals and dishing two assists despite being covered by sophomore defenseman Tucker Durkin.
Hopkins’s offense got off to a slow start, scoring just one goal in the first quarter and failing to score at all in the second. Cornell, on the other hand, wasted little time as Pannell put the first goal on the board less than two minutes into the game.
The next 10 minutes were a standstill with both teams finding reasonable shots on goal, but each was unable to find the back of the net.
With just under three minutes to go in the quarter, Greely found sophomore Zach Palmer open and buried the shot past Cornell goalie A.J. Fiore. Bassett continued to make great saves in the period, but with less than 25 seconds to play in the quarter Cornell managed to get one past Bassett to take a 2-1 lead into the second quarter.
The second quarter was more-or-less the same. Bassett continued to stop shots and the defense forced turnovers, while the Jays’s offense was stagnant and failed to score. Hopkins’s defense did successfully kill a penalty early in the period, though.
Midway through the period, in an impressive display of force, sophomore midfielder John Ranagan steamrolled three defenders en route to a successful clear before an illegal body check on junior midfielder Marshall Burkhart gave Cornell an extra man opportunity with 1:46 left in the half. This time, Cornell capitalized, taking a 3-1 lead with 1:25 to play. Cornell won the ensuing face-off and scored again, taking a 4-1 lead into the intermission.
A different Jay team came to play in the second half. The offense dominated time of possession which created many more opportunities, and, in turn, more goals.
Hopkins’s goalie play continued to be top-notch behind the aggressive, relentless style of play by the Jay defense which forced turnovers and eliminated Cornell’s scoring chances.
The two teams traded two goals apiece to begin the period, with Greely scoring twice, his first on an extra-man opportunity at 10:45 and his second a few minutes later.
Down 6-3 with three minutes left to play in the period, the methodical, fluid Hopkins offense continued to work as Burkhart set up freshman attackman Brandon Benn who ripped a top right shot past Fiore to cut the lead to two. After facilitating the previous goal, Burkhart scored a goal of his own to end the quarter. At the end of three, Cornell hung on by a thread at 6-5.
After making 10 impressive saves on the day, Bassett was replaced by junior Steven Burke for the fourth quarter who played at an elite level as well.
Less than a minute into the final stanza, freshman Rob Guida scored a goal to tie the game at six apiece. Soon after, on an extra-man opportunity, senior attackman Chris Boland found Guida wide open next to the net, who buried the point-blank attempt. Boland was the offense’s facilitator on the day, setting up many scoring opportunities.
Two quick goals by Cornell less than two minutes apart gave them an 8-6 lead with 10:30 to play. The next 10 minutes rapidly moved thanks to few stoppages in play alongside a sudden goal drought. With 30 seconds left in the period, freshman attackman Kevin Interlicchio scored to bring the score to 8-7 at the end of regulation.
In the 10 minute extra period, Hopkins’s reserve players appeared much more organized and aggressive compared to Cornell’s. Freshman goalie Eric Schneider did not allow a goal and goals by sophomore attackman John Kaestner and Benn gave the Jays a 9-8 lead.
Hopkins ended the game on a high note, as the Jay defense successfully defended a two-man advantage.
“We worked hard, but we need to play games the way we played in the second half,” said junior defenseman Andrew Blasko. “We’ll be ready to play next week.”
The regular season begins next week at nearby Towson. Face-off is scheduled to begin at noon.
