Last Friday evening, the Hopkins men’s lacrosse team took on in-state rival University of Maryland, Baltimore County at Homewood Field. The Jays came out hot, grabbing a 5-0 lead and then later initiating a 5-1 run to secure the victory. The Retrievers fell to the Jays, 13-7, as eight different players scored for Hopkins. The win pushed the Jays to 5-1 on the year, and improved their program record to 11-0 against the Retrievers. Meanwhile, the Retrievers slipped to 1-4 on the season.
Head coach Dave Pietramala commented on the team’s pair of victories after their recent loss to Princeton.
“Sometimes when you lose a game the best thing for you is to get right back on the horse again. The guys did a good job on Tuesday and to come out tonight and get another win, get two wins in one week, I was proud of that.”
Hopkins spared little time in taking control as the Jays scored twice in the opening four minutes before building a five-goal cushion in the opening quarter. Both senior John Greeley and freshman Ryan Brown netted extra-man goals around senior Zach Palmer’s first score to give Hopkins a 3-0 lead. Palmer scored the second of his three goals, along with junior Greg Edmonds to finish off the scoring for the first period. Palmer’s impressive behind-the-back finish brought the fans to their feet with 40 seconds remaining.
Fast starts are becoming routine for the Hopkins’ lacrosse team, which has now outscored its opponents 27-7 in the opening quarter.
“Really happy with the play of our short sticks, I thought our middies did a good job today. I had been a little critical of them and their play defensively,” Pietramala said. “I thought we were pretty sound fundamentally tonight on the defensive end. I thought Tucker Durkin and Robbie Enright did a really good job on the interior.”
The Retrievers reversed their luck at the end of the second quarter, scoring back-to-back goals in just under two minutes. David Campbell ripped one off, coming from a nice feed from Joe Lustgarten. The goal was the first for the Retrievers, putting them on the board with 5:55 left in the opening half. Pat Young continued the scoring run by splitting a double team to net his sixth goal of the season with 4:03 remaining in the half. The finish put UMBC within in three goals.
Hopkins quickly responded, notching three more within a three minute span to put themselves up, 8-2. Senior John Kaestner snagged a tough pass in traffic to unleash a shot from the crease for his third goal of the season. Palmer capped off his hat trick with a goal 63 seconds left before halftime. At the start of third period, senior John Ranagan dashed across the box and netted an impressive left-handed goal past UMBC goalie Wes DeRito. The 8-2 advantage was the largest lead of the game for the Blue Jays.
The ensuing scoring was a back and forth affair, with UMBC scoring three of the next five goals. Retriever senior Scott Jones blasted back-to-back extra-man goals to make the game 10-5 early in the fourth quarter. Hopkins responded by scoring three of the next four goals to make it 13-6. Ranagan, Brown, and junior Wells Stanwick all notched their second goals of the game during the scoring run.
Stanwick credited the coaching staff to much of his success.
“Coach Benson keeps putting us in the right spots to play our best. He’s done a great job of that all year and the guys have been canning their shots all year,” Stanwick said. “It makes it pretty easy when guys are throwing it around on the outside and somebody hits a shot from out there.”
Along with his two goals, Stanwick distributed a career-high four assists, while Palmer added a pair of assists to his first half hat trick. Senior Mike Poppleton once again dominated the face offs with a 12-19 showing. Senior goalie Pierce Bassett tallied ten saves on the day.
Pietramala applauded his seniors on the evening.
“Pleased with the play we got in the goal. [The team] didn’t do a great job in the first half, in particular the second quarter,” Pietramala said. “Poppleton did a great job of answering the bell in the second half which allowed us to go on a run.”
Regardless of his coach’s compliments, Bassett appears anything but complacent.
“It makes you excited to get back on the field as a senior and prove something. I thought I played okay, left some saves out there on the field,” Basset said. “They’re a pretty good team. I thought our defense did a good of following the game plan and pushing them to their weak hands. I still think I left a few out there, probably could’ve done better.”
Despite winning the game, the Blue Jays lost the ground-ball battle (28-34) and were also outshot, 35-33.
Pietramala commented on moving forward as Hopkins heads up north to face off against long-time rival, Syracuse University.
“The work we put in was good. And now it’s over and it’s on to another big boy. Hopefully we’ll put our best foot forward this time heading up to the dome,” Pietramala said. “It’s an exciting place to play and I think the guys are looking forward to it.”
The head coach also commented on reversing the team’s shortcomings on the ground for Saturday’s match.
“We’ve already told them we’re going to get to work on ground balls. In a game like that you can’t afford to lose the possession battle,” Pietramala said. “It’s never easy when you travel up to the dome. It’s a different kind of place, you’re playing with a different background.”
The 12th-ranked Orangemen are coming off of hard fought wins against sixth ranked Virginia and St. Johns. The road trip, the first for Hopkins outside of Maryland, signifies another pivotal matchup as the Jays look for their first win against a top ranked opponent.
“We’ll have our hands full. It’s an exciting place to play, our guys enjoy the atmosphere,” Pietramala said. “They’ve got a couple kids at the attack who’ve found their niche so we will be challenged.”
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