The third-ranked Hopkins men’s lacrosse team entered halftime with a 10-0 lead and coasted to a 14-5 victory over Navy.
The team played a nearly perfect half of lacrosse, scoring at will, playing lockdown defense, scooping nearly every groundball, and dominating at the face-off X.
Top performers included sophomore attackman Zach Palmer with a goal and five assists and senior attackman Kyle Wharton, who added four goals.
With the victory, the Blue Jays extend their winning streak to five and improve to 10-2 on the year while the Midshipmen end their season at 4-9.
The Jays only needed 45 seconds to get on the board, as senior attackman Chris Boland worked off a screen to the right and fired a shot top shelf on the team’s first possession. It became 2-0 six seconds later when senior face-off specialist Matt Dolente won the ensuing face-off and found grad student longstick midfielder Ben Smith open for the goal.
Palmer’s first of his six points came with 9:18 to play in the first period on an extra man opportunity as Boland found him from the top of the box.
The starting attack was dominant in the game, combining for seven goals and seven assists in the game. Palmer’s first assist came on the next Hopkins goal as he found sophomore midfielder John Greeley who fired a shot past Navy goalie RJ Wickham.
Back-to-back unassisted goals by sophomore midfielder John Ranagan and Boland made it 6-0 at the end of the first quarter, a period in which the Jays thoroughly dominated, outshooting the Midshipmen 12-3, winning the groundball battle 10-3 and winning all six faceoffs.
The onslaught continued in the second half as the Jays continued to play superb lacrosse. Wharton’s first goal of the day made it 7-0, receiving a pass from freshman midfielder Eric Ruhl, creating space from his defender and cranking a shot past Wickham.
Ruhl added a goal to go with his assist five minutes later on a bounce shot from about 12 yards out. Freshman midfielder Rob Guida’s ninth goal of the season made it 9-0 with 2:14 to go in the half, and Wharton’s second of the day 11 seconds later on an extra man opportunity gave the Jays a 10-0 lead going into the half. Dolente was rock-solid in the first half, winning all 10 face-offs. The Jays outshot the Midshipmen in the first half 27-7.
Navy finally managed to get one past sophomore goalie Pierce Bassett with 11:37 in the third quarter, but the Jays responded with a 96-second, three-goal flurry to take a 13-1 lead.
Palmer’s fourth assist of the day came with 9:43 in the third when he found Greeley, who converted on the extra-man opportunity.
Eight seconds later, a perfectly executed fast-break off the face-off led to Boland finding Wharton for his third of the day.
Wharton added his fourth goal just over a minute later, bringing his season total to 22 goals, second only to Boland’s 26.
Palmer found him with a nice feed from behind the net for his fifth assist and sixth point of the game. Navy finally found some offensive flow and scored the next four goals to make it 13-5. Navy head coach Richie Meade played his seniors in the final period as they played their final game for the Midshipmen.
“I think he’s an outstanding coach,” said Hopkins Head Coach Dave Pietramala. “I don’t think you’ll find a guy who’s better suited for the United States Naval Academy.”
A memorable moment came at 3:22 to play in the game when Navy senior Sean Dinn scored his first career goal in his final collegiate game.
Hopkins pulled their starters as well, as many young Jays had opportunities to play. Freshman midfielder Greg Edmonds scored his first career goal as a Blue Jay to end all scoring in the game, and the Jays left Homewood Field with a 14-5 victory.
Besides the exceptional performances by Palmer and Wharton, the team received outstanding play from Boland (two goals, two assists), Greeley (two goals), and Ruhl (one goal, one assist).
Bassett was, per usual, solid in net, posting eight saves. The team held advantages in shots (41-32), saves (8-7), and ground balls (35-30). Dolente won 13 of 19 faceoffs in the game.
The Jays welcome the Loyola Greyhounds to Homewood Field for Saturday’s Homecoming game. The two teams will square off starting at 2:00 p.m.
