Down 7-2 to #4 Maryland at halftime, things looked grim for the #2 Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse team. The offense wasn’t scoring goals, the defense hadn’t been able to prevent scoring opportunities and the Terps won most face-offs; seven of 11, had more shots, 15-11, more saves, 5-4 and forced more turnovers, 8-5.
That all stopped with 8:22 to play in the third period, as freshman midfielder Eric Ruhl ignited an 8-1 run to give the Blue Jays an 11-9 lead with 5:43 to play in the game. Goals by Maryland’s Ryan Young and Joe Cummings forced overtime, but senior attackman Kyle Wharton came up big for the Jays, scoring his 18th goal of the season to give Hopkins the victory in the 107th matchup between the Jays and the Terps. The win just might be the all-time best matchup between the two teams.
The Terps looked like the better team in the first half. Cummings scored his first of many goals on the day to give the Terps the early 1-0 lead, and another Maryland goal eight seconds later quickly made it 2-0. Ruhl’s sixth goal of the season cut the deficit in half with 5:12 to play in the first quarter, but a goal from Drew Snider gave Maryland a 3-1 at the end of the first quarter.
As the rain in College Park came down harder, the Terps began to pile it on. Cummings’s second of the day gave Maryland a 4-1 lead with 13:41 to play in the second quarter.
A heads-up play by sophomore attackman Zach Palmer made it 4-2 when he intercepted goalie Niko Amato’s pass and launched the ball towards the goal from almost 40 yards out, rolling into the net. From here on out though, it was all Maryland. Just over two minutes later, Jake Bernhardt made it 5-2 when he fired a low shot past Jays goalie sophomore Pierce Bassett.
Senior face-off specialist Matt Dolente struggled in the first half, going 4-11 in the first two quarters, and the Terps won the ensuing face-off and scored nine seconds later to make it 6-2. Cummings’s third goal ended the scoring in the half and the Jays went into halftime with a five goal deficit.
Throughout the course of the season, the young Jay team has proved that they are capable of making comebacks (vs. Virginia, UNC), but the team had never faced a deficit this large after 30 minutes of play.
After senior attackman Chris Boland and Maryland’s Grant Catalino exchanged goals early in the third quarter, the Jays found themselves down 8-3 with 12:00 to play in the third quarter. What followed was a thing of beauty. When it rains, it pours, and this time it was the Jays’ turn to pour it on as the rainstorm raged. For the next 21 minutes, Hopkins looked like a completely different team.
Ruhl’s second of the day made it 8-4. Freshman midfielder Phil Castronova found Boland open right next to the net, who turned and shot. 8-5. Boland deflected Amato’s pass into the net. 8-6. Sophomore midfielder John Greeley found Wharton open on the right. He rocketed a shot past Amato. 8-7. Boland got past defender Max Schmidt and scored. 8-8. The Terps managed to get one past Bassett, retaking the lead 9-8. Palmer fired a stunning behind-the-back shot from six yards out. 9-9.
“Astonishing,” said junior midfielder Marshall Burkhart in regards to Palmer’s dazzling goal. Subsequently, Burkhart gave the Jays their first lead, cutting inside and firing a shot past Amato. 10-9. Boland’s fifth goal of the day made it 11-9. “We just had to settle down and get on the same page,” said Boland.
Things only got more interesting as the game progressed. Down by two with 5:43 to play in the game, Maryland decided to wake up, as Young’s only goal of the day and Cummings’s fourth made it 11-11 with 2:40 to play. Both teams frantically tried to score throughout the game’s final two minutes, but neither was successful and the two teams prepared for overtime.
Overtime was, expectedly, wild. Bassett stopped a Bernhart shot from point-blank range, a shot by Cummings went off the post and a Greeley shot with 1:50 to play sailed wide.
With time running out in the first overtime period, Greeley scooped up an errant Maryland pass around midfield. The ball eventually made its way to Wharton, who faked a defender, took a step inside and rocketed the ball past Amato, completing the comeback, giving the Jays the 12-11 victory.
The team was nearly speechless in regards to the dramatic and unlikely comeback they pulled off. “Incredible,” said senior midfielder Mark Goodrich. “Absolutely incredible,” added fellow senior Mike Maydick.
Boland’s five goals led all scorers and other top scorers for the Jays included Wharton (2g, 2a), Palmer (2g, 1a) and Ruhl (2g, 1a). Bassett added eight saves to his impressive total on the season.
The Jays welcome the Midshipmen of the Naval Academy for a Saturday night showdown on April 23rd. Face-off is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.
