The number-five Hopkins men’s lacrosse team had a busy spring break. Traveling up to Syracuse for a Saturday night showdown on March 19 with the number one Orange, the Blue Jays played admirably, falling to Syracuse at 5-4 in double overtime, a game in which many believed Hopkins deserved to win.
With four seconds to go in the first overtime, senior attackman Kyle Wharton drove to the net, and falling to the ground, fired a shot past Orange goalie John Galloway. The goal was called off, as diving into the crease is illegal, but it appeared as though he was pushed into the crease, which would allow the goal.
However, the referees didn’t see it that way, and Syracuse senior Stephen Keogh scored fifteen seconds into double-OT to win it. Unfazed, the Jays continued their elite level of play last weekend, defeating second-ranked Virginia at Homewood Field. Senior attackman Chris Boland, The News-Letter’s Athlete of the Week, led the way with three goals and an assist.
Although the score would indicate the opposite, the Hopkins-Syracuse matchup was an extremely exciting affair. The two teams battled back and forth evenly, led by impressive defensive play from both teams that kept goals at a minimum.
The Orange were the first to strike, as senior Josh Amidon gave ‘Cuse the early 1-0 lead 65 seconds into the game. The Jays answered with about five minutes to go in the period, as sophomore midfielder John Ranagan juked his defender up top and blew the ball past Galloway. Ranagan’s second goal of the day one minute into the second period gave the Jays a 2-1 lead. Fellow sophomore midfielder John Greeley, playing in his hometown, worked his way toward the net and flipped a nifty pass to Ranagan, who beat Galloway again.
Another sophomore, attackman Zach Palmer, made it 3-1 when he dodged his defender behind the net and beat Galloway low to the far side.
Held scoreless for 27 minutes, the Orange began to make a comeback. With two minutes to go in the half, former Hopkins-turned Syracuse attackman Tommy Palasek made a nice feed to Keogh on the crease, who one-timed the ball into the net before sophomore goalie Pierce Bassett had time to react. At the half, Hopkins held onto a 3-2 lead.
Midway through the third period, Syracuse’s Amidon’s second score of the day tied the game up at three. After four scoreless, hectic minutes, Palmer’s second goal of the day gave the Jays a 4-3 lead.
The impressive play of Bassett, who posted an astonishing 16 saves, and senior midfielder Matt Dolente, who won 10 of 14 face-offs, kept the game close, but the Orangemen forced overtime with 1:40 remaining in regulation.
Each team had opportunities to win in the first overtime, but both goalies continued to play at a high level. After Wharton’s goal was waived off, the Orangemen found a way to get the ball past Bassett, as Keogh won the game for ‘Cuse, keeping their undefeated season alive.
The Hopkins-Virginia match-up was a much different type of game, a thrilling shoot-out in which the Hopkins underclassmen had a few “growing-up” moments and upset the number-two Cavaliers. The freshmen and sophomore classes combined to score eight of the team’s 12 goals, as sophomore midfielder Lee Coppersmith had a breakout game, posting a hat-trick. Dolente had another strong performance in the face-off category, winning 14 of 24.
Many in the crowd of 3,200 at Homewood Field knew they’d be in for a wild game when sophomore defenseman Chris Lightner scooped up a loose ball and went coast-to-coast, firing a shot past UVA goalie Adam Ghitelman less than three minutes into the game.
Freshman midfielder Phil Castronova scored eight seconds later off a nice feed from Boland to give the Jays a 2-0 lead. The Jays added two more in a 66-second span at the hands of senior midfielder Mark Goodrich and Greeley at the end of the period to end the first quarter up 4-0. It was the first time all season the Cavaliers were shut out in a quarter.
Virginia’s first goal came with 9:28 to play in the half, as Matt White scored on an extra-man opportunity. Boland’s first goal of the day made it 5-1, but goals by Colin Briggs and Chris Bocklet made it 5-3 with five minutes to play in the half.
Coppersmith, filling in for an injured Greeley on the first midfield unit, scored two of his three goals toward the end of the half, and freshman midfielder Rob Guida added another to give the Jays an 8-3 lead entering halftime.
Everyone was waiting for the senior-laden Cavaliers to come back — and they did, very quickly, no less. Virginia outscored the Jays 6-1 in the third period, as Boland’s second goal with 8:33 to play in the third quarter was the only time the Jays managed to score in the period.
The Cavaliers scored four goals in all of 63 seconds, as senior Shamel Bratton scored with 1:36 remaining. Junior Steele Stanwick scored six seconds later off the ensuing faceoff. Another goal by Rob Emery 28 seconds later cut the Jays lead to one, and another Bratton goal with 33 seconds left in the third period tied the game up at nine apiece. Emery’s second of the day gave the Cavaliers their first lead of the game, leading to a frantic and wild end to the game.
In a season in which the Jays had yet to come from behind to win a game, the youthful
Hopkins squad proved they could handle adversity, as they snatched the momentum back from the Cavaliers and won the game.
Coppersmith’s third goal of the game tied the score at 10-10. Stanwick, who led all scorers with three goals and four assists, responded 62 seconds later to take the lead back. However, this was the last time Virginia would score, as the Jay defense forced poor and weak shots and Bassett refused to let anything get past him.
Guida responded to Stanwick’s goal less than a minute later on a strike from ten yards out to tie the game up at 11. With less than two minutes to play, Guida brought the ball into play from behind the net. Moving widely around the net, he fired a strike to Boland, cutting through the middle. Boland, almost always automatic from in-close, did not disappoint, firing a low shot past Ghitelman.
Virginia had possession for the final 85 seconds of the game, relentlessly trying to force overtime. The Jay defense held firm however, and Bassett made another save in this final span to secure victory. Bassett posted 14 saves in the win.
Snapping a six-game losing streak to the Cavaliers, Hopkins earned the Doyle Smith Cup, awarded annually to the winner of the JHU-UVA game. Improving to 6-2 on the season, the win launched the Jays into the nation’s top five.
The team is playing its best lacrosse right now, and they will need to continue to do so to defeat fourth-ranked North Carolina this Saturday at the Konica-Minolta Big City Classic at the New Meadowlands Stadium in N.J. Face-off is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
