Squaring off against the University of Maryland Baltimore County last Saturday at M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens, in the third game of the Konica-Minolta Face-Off Classic, the Hopkins men’s lacrosse team held the lead in the game for all but five seconds.
That was the amount of time it took for senior Matt Dolente to win the opening face-off, pass it downfield to senior Chris Boland, find senior Kyle Wharton open five yards out on the left and give the Jays a 1-0 lead.
UMBC never came close to cutting the lead, and the Jays rolled to a decisive 16-5 win.
Boland, who was named player of the game, finished with five goals and an assist. With the win, the Jays improve to 5-1 on the year, while the Retrievers fall to 1-3. In their nine all-time match-ups, UMBC has never managed to defeat the Jays.
Freshman midfielder Rob Guida made the game 2-0 with 10:00 left in the quarter, creating space between him and his defender and firing a running bounce shot to beat sophomore goalie Adam Cohen.
The Jays took a 3-0 lead after sophomore John Ranagan beat his defender up top to force the defense to slide, leaving Boland wide open next to the net. Ranagan fired a nice pass to Boland who buried the shot with 4:44 to go in the first.
UMBC managed to cut the lead to two at 1:10, but the Jays retaliated less than a minute later, with Ranagan scoring his first goal of the day off a nice power dodge.
Dolente continued to win face-offs, limiting UMBC’s possessions, and the Jays continued to score goals. The lead became four when Boland caught the ball behind the net, made a nice cut to shake his defender, and scored on a wrap-around goal early in the second quarter.
UMBC managed to find the back of the net at 10:48, but once again the Jays quickly retaliated, this time only needing nine seconds, as sophomore Zack Palmer beat Cohen off a nice feed from Ranagan, giving the Jays a 6-2 lead.
A goal by UMBC midfielder Dave Brown made the score 6-3 with 8:28 to play in the half, but this was the closest the Retrievers would be for the rest of the game.
With 7:11 to play, Cohen managed to save a shot from freshman Eric Ruhl, but left the goal wide open for senior midfielder Mark Goodrich to scoop up the rebound and put it in the net.
Ranagan’s second goal with 4:11 to go in the half made it 8-3, and not to be outdone, Wharton then scored his second goal 11 seconds later, diving into the crease to put it through the goalie’s legs to give the Jays a 9-3 halftime lead.
The Jays continued to pour it on in the second half. Dolente was his usual dominant self in face-offs, winning every face-off he took in the second half to finish a superb 15-20 in the game.
Boland’s play around the net remained top-notch, as he scored another from in-close at 9:02 in the third. Less than a minute later, Palmer scored his second of the day off another Ranagan assist.
Boland’s fourth goal of the game made it 12-3 with 4:44 to play in the third. A rip from the point from junior midfielder Marshall Burkhart made it 13-3 to cap the Jays’ 7-0 run.
Hopkins scored the first three goals of the fourth quarter to give them a 16-4 lead. Boland scored his fifth with 13:59 to play in the fourth, followed by goal by freshman attackman Kevin Interlicchio, and sophomore midfielder Lee Coppersmith ended the blue and black scoring with 6:08 to play in the game.
A UMBC goal with 2:46 to play ended all scoring in the game, and Hopkins walked off the field victorious by a whopping 11 goals.
The game’s statistics reveal a heavily one-sided affair. The Jays dominated on face-offs, winning 20 of 25. Dolente’s 15 face-off wins are a career high following his 13 for 14 face-off effort against Manhattan a week ago.
The Jays held decisive advantages in shots (44-30) and ground balls (39-24) as well.
“It was about ground balls,” said head coach Dave Pietromala.
Nine different Jays found the back of the net, led by Boland’s five. Boland credits his teammates for his performance.
“As a unit, we were really unselfish,” he said.
Ranagan’s two goals and three assists gave him a career-high five points for the game. He too, agreed with Boland.
“All six of us played well together today,” he said.
Sophomore goalie Pierce Bassett was solid as usual, posting eight saves to only four goals.
The Jays travel to upstate New York to face-off against top-ranked Syracuse this Saturday, March 19th. Face-off is set to begin at 6:00 p.m.
