It certainly wasn’t as pretty as some may have hoped, but the second ranked Hopkins men’s lacrosse team held off 18th ranked Loyola’s furious comeback to win its homecoming game last Saturday in front of a crowd of 5,727 people. The team came out firing on all cylinders, building a 6-3 lead at halftime, but was outplayed by the Greyhounds in the second half before holding them for the Jays’ sixth win in a row to improve to 11-2 on the year. The Blue Jays snapped Loyola’s five-game winning streak as the team fell to 8-4.
The first goal of the game didn’t come until almost seven minutes in as both teams’ defensive squads looked sharp and both goalies made impressive saves. With 8:14 to play in the first, Loyola’s Chris Palmer got the ball past sophomore goalie Pierce Basset on a running bounce shot.
That would be the only lead the Greyhounds held in the game as the Blue Jays immediately responded less than a minute later when sophomore attackman Zach Palmer received a nice feed from sophomore midfielder John Greeley and fired a shot on the crease past Greyhound goalie Jake Hagelin. The Jays took their first lead of the game 70 seconds later when sophomore midfielder John Ranagan cut down the left lane and ripped a high shot past Hagelin.
Loyola, though, tied the game back up with a little less than three minutes to play in the period on a freak play where a pass bounced off the stick of Loyola’s D.J. Comer and into the Hopkins net.
The Jays won the game in the second quarter when they outscored the Greyhounds 4-1 and took a 6-3 lead into the half. Greeley’s 11th goal of the season made it 3-2 less than two minutes into the decisive period. Loyola’s only goal of the quarter came four minutes later when Davis Butts drove down the left lane and beat Bassett high.
In the next five minutes, the Greyhounds had two extra man opportunities, but failed to capitalize on either one of them. Ranagan’s second goal of the day gave the Jays the lead for good as Loyola never managed to tie it up again.
With 3:17 to play in the half, the lead grew to two when freshman midfielder Rob Guida fired a high heater into the back of the net, driving from the left side and creating separation from his defender. Sophomore midfielder Lee Coppersmith made it 6-3 with just over a minute to play in the half, dodging his defender from the top of the box and ripping it.
Both teams added one goal each in the third quarter. With just under nine minutes to play in the third, Loyola’s Matty Langan fired a right-handed shot off the post and in to make it 6-4. With 6:50 to play, senior attackman Chris Boland scored his team-leading 27th goal of the season, as he scooped up a loose ball off a save and beat Hagelin high.
Senior attackman Kyle Wharton gave the Jays their largest lead of the game with 10:23 to play in the game. Freshman midfielder Eric Ruhl delivered a nice pass to Wharton who beat Hagelin low, stretching the score to 8-4.
For the last 10 minutes of the game, however, the Greyhounds looked like the better team. Loyola held advantages in shots (9-1), ground balls (8-6), had fewer turnovers (3-5) and won three of the five face-offs in the period. Wharton’s goal was the only shot the Jays had in the period, and the Greyhounds got to work quickly after it.
68 seconds later, Loyola’s Chris Palmer’s goal kicked off a three-goal run that brought Loyola to within one. Comer’s second goal of the day less than 90 seconds later made it 8-6, and a goal by Mike Sawyer made it 8-7 with 1:53 to play.
Reliable all season long, senior face-off specialist Matt Dolente won the ensuing face-off for Hopkins, but an errant Jay pass gave Loyola another chance to tie it up. Sophomore defenseman Tucker Durkin blocked a shot by Sawyer with 47 seconds to go, giving possession back to the Jays. A failed clear attempt, however, gave the Greyhounds one last chance.
Fortunately, the only good look Loyola had went wide, and the Jays held on for the 8-7 victory.
“That’s a good win against a good team," said head coach Dave Pietromala after the game. “I thought we did a good job in the second quarter, but quite honestly the disappointing part is that we didn't play for 60 minutes. In the second half, I don't think we were very sharp.”
Ranagan and Greeley led the Jays with two points apiece while Bassett posted seven saves in net. Per usual, Dolente had a strong outing, finishing 10-of-17 on face-offs while also scooping up a game-high eight ground balls.
Despite the win, the Jays faded one spot in the national polls to third, having been leapfrogged by newly top-ranked Syracuse after the Orange took down Notre Dame 11-8 last weekend. With the NCAA tournament quickly approaching, there seem to be four teams that are playing a cut above the rest: the Jays, Irish, Orange and Cornell Big Red.
Hopkins will have one last crack at the regular season this Friday night, as the team travels up to West Point, N.Y. to take on Army at 7:00 p.m. On Sunday, May 8th, the NCAA tournament bracket will be revealed live on ESPNU. From then on, the Jays season will be single-elimination.
