On a cold, blustery Saturday afternoon at Homewood Field, the 11th-ranked Hopkins men’s lacrosse team streaked past fellow Maryland rival Towson by a final score of 15-8. The win marked the second win of the season for the Jays to keep them undefeated and 62-8 all-time against teams from Maryland under head coach Dave Pietramala. While the mighty Jays got off to a slow start throughout the first half, a seven goal surge in the third quarter put the Tigers behind for good.
Several Blue Jays had career days against the Tigers, including sophomore Ryan Brown, senior Brandon Benn and rising freshman star John Crawley, who scored four goals a piece. In addition, junior Wells Stanwick led the Hopkins attackmen with six points on the day, including a highlight reel goal to go along with five assists. “It was a very good win,” Coach Pietramala said in a press conference after the game. “It was a good win against a team that made the playoffs last year and returned a lot of guys. We (the coaching staff) were pleased overall. It was great to see so many guys contribute tonight to a great team win.”
The opening minutes of the first quarter were uneventful until Crawley swiftly dodged around a Towson defender to rip a shot into the top corner to give Hopkins the 1-0 lead. Just a couple of minutes later, Crawley struck again to swing the momentum in favor of Hopkins. Towson responded quickly with a well-placed goal from about 15 yards out, but Benn quickly retaliated to give the Jays a 3-1 lead. After making a couple of saves, senior goalie Eric Schneider was bested by Towson’s Justin Mabus to cut the lead back to one at the end of the first quarter.
The start of the second quarter was without a doubt the toughest stretch for Hopkins on the day. Towson controlled the ball and got several scoring chances off, only to miss the net or to be thwarted by Schneider. However, a determined effort by Towson midfielder Greg Cuccinello propelled the Tigers from being down by one to in front by two as he completed the natural hat trick. Cuccinello stifled the Jays defense over and over again, hitting the top left corner of the net on two of his three goals before completing the hat trick with a roll dodge past a Hopkins defender. The Towson rally forced Pietramala to take a timeout and talk over the Jays defensive strategy.
The timeout marked the turning point in the game for the Jays as they notched the next three goals before halftime. Brown scored the first of his four goals under a minute after the timeout to cut the Towson lead to 5-4. Stanwick followed with his lone goal of the day to knot the game briefly before Brown fired his second goal of the game, a missile that hit the top right corner after he streaked past two defenders. As the two teams headed into their respective locker rooms, Hopkins held onto the 6-5 lead.
After discussing strategies in the locker room, the Jays came out with new life as they looked to extend their lead and close the door on the Tigers. Unfortunately, Max Siskind brought Towson back to level as he fired a shot from just inside the box to tie the game at 6-6. It appeared that the game would continue to go back and forth between the two rivals.
And then the Blue Jays offense quite simply erupted. Brown completed his hat trick just one minute after to give the Jays the common one goal advantage. Crawley continued his career day by completing his hat trick on the following offensive possession. After a solid display on stone wall defense and a great stick save by Schneider, the Jays controlled the ball again and Crawley found another seam to finish off his four-goal day. “I’ve had a very easy time getting into this offense because the guys surrounding me are very good,” Crawley said after the game. “Maybe tonight it was me getting four goals, but it honestly could be anyone in any game. I just worked hard and made the most of my opportunities tonight.”
Now holding a 9-6 advantage, the Jays continued to soar throughout the rest of the third quarter. Ironically, it was the second consecutive week where Hopkins dominated in the third quarter. After scoring six goals in the third in their triple-overtime victory last week against Ohio State, Hopkins notched seven goals in the third against Towson. Brown added his fourth and final goal on the day to extend the Blue Jays lead to four and was followed by fellow sophomore Holden Cattoni who bull-dodged a defender and tucked in a bounce shot past a sprawling Towson goaltender to give Hopkins an 11-6 lead.
Benn added his second goal of the day before freshman Kieran Eissler fired a sidearm bullet into the top left corner just inside the top of the box to cap off an inspired, historic stretch for the Blue Jays. Eissler’s goal marked the first of his young career at Hopkins.
The deficit proved too much for the Tigers to overcome. Cuccinello scored his fourth goal of the day for Towson and was without a doubt the most impressive player on the offensive side of the ball for the Tigers. However, Benn scored two more goals in the fourth to cap off another four-goal performance. Midfielder Mike Lowe scored the final goal of the game for Towson to cut the Hopkins lead to seven but this was the closest the Tigers would get before the final buzzer. The Jays celebrated boisterously as the crowd at Homewood cheered on the Black and Blue.
The game highlighted a number of individual and team achievements for the lacrosse program. Brown totaled six points on the day, adding two key assists to his four goals while Stanwick notched five assists for the second game in a row. Benn’s four-goal game was the eighth of his career as a Blue Jay.
The Blue Jays will look to improve in the first half and continue to dominate in the second half as the team looks forward to facing off against fellow Big 10 opponent Michigan this upcoming weekend. The game is set to start at 12 p.m. at Homewood Field. This will be the Jays last home game before going on the road for three straight games.
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