April 14, 2007

Final Stats

COLLEGE PARK, MD - Twice this season the Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team has needed a game-winner in overtime. For the second time this season it was junior midfielder Paul Rabil who provided the heroics in extra time as he fired home a 10-yard left-handed runner 43 seconds into the first overtime to lift the ninth-ranked Blue Jays to an 8-7 victory at seventh-ranked Maryland at rain-soaked Byrd Stadium Saturday night. The win snaps a three-game losing streak for the Blue Jays, who improve to 5-4. Maryland slips to 8-4 with the loss.

The win is also the 100th career victory for Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala, who improved to 100-36 overall and 77-19 at Johns Hopkins. He also tied Tony Seaman for third place on JHU's career coaching victories list with the win and the Blue Jays moved their mark to 12-2 in overtime on his watch. JHU has won eight straight overtime games.

Hopkins won the faceoff to start overtime, but was nearly finished in less than 20 seconds as an errant clearing pass by senior goalie Jesse Schwartzman nearly resulted in a second straight overtime win for the Terps. Senior Ryan Clarke intercepted Schwartzman's outlet pass to Matt Bocklet and fed Thomas Alford in transition 10 yards in front of the goal. Alford mishandled the pass, but Clarke came up with the loose ball on a scramble and fired a behind-the-back shot just wide. The Blue Jays backed up the shot, successfully cleared and called timeout with 3:28 remaining.

Off the restart the Blue Jays worked the ball to Rabil at the top of the box and he drove immediately to his left past a defender and picked the far post cleanly - just as he had in a 7-6 double-overtime win against Princeton earlier this season. The goal was Rabil's first of the game and 12th of the season.

The Blue Jays held a 4-2 lead at the half, but Maryland needed less than nine minutes of the third quarter to take a 5-4 lead. The first of Chris Feifs' three second-half goals just under two minutes into the second half made it 4-3 and a Michael Phipps goal after a failed Blue Jay clear just over two minutes later tied the game. The Terps grabbed what seemed to be all the momentum with a Feifs extra-man goal with 6:23 remaining in the third, but the momentum was short-lived as Alford drew an unsportsmanlike penalty celebrating the goal and the Blue Jays needed just 20 seconds to draw even as Kevin Huntley took a pass to the right of the goal from freshman Steven Boyle and flipped a backhander past Brian Phipps to make it 5-5.

Sophomore Brian Christopher gave the Blue Jays a 6-5 lead late in the third quarter as he beat a defender with a sweeping dodge from the top and rifled a shot inside the far post to just beat a late slide. Both teams had chances late in the third quarter and early in the fourth, but it was Huntley who would push the lead to 7-5 when he cut backdoor as Rabil drove from the opposite side and beat Phipps with a couple fakes in close for Hopkins' second extra-man goal of the game after taking a quick pass from Rabil on the run.

The Blue Jays won the ensuing faceoff and had several good chances on what turned out to be a three-minute possession, but Maryland forced a turnover and Jeremy Sieverts beat Schwartzman with a left-handed shot from a tough angle and Feifs added his third goal just 2:26 later to knot the game at 7-7.

Alternating possessions found Maryland with the ball with 2:08 remaining and the Terps tried to milk the clock for one final shot, but Hopkins' Andrew Miller forced a turnover and the Blue Jays quickly worked the ball to Stephen Peyser, who raced into the offensive end and fired a shot off Phipps' shoulder with two seconds remaining to send the game to overtime. That set the stage for Rabil's overtime heroics that sealed the Blue Jays' third overtime win against Maryland in the last six meetings.

Maryland needed just 1:45 of the first quarter to get on the board as the Terps came up with a loose ball after a Michael Kimmel shot and quickly worked the ball down the field in transition. Freshman midfielder Bryn Holmes carried the ball into the Blue Jay zone and worked his way to a spot 10-yard from goal before beating Blue Jay goalie Jesse Schwartzman with his second goal of the year.

It took just over 13 minutes for the Blue Jays to get the equalizer as Rabil dodged across the field at the top of the box and drew a double team before flipping a nifty pass to Huntley, who quickly picked the far post for his seventh goal of the season.

The Hopkins defense held Maryland to just four shots in the first quarter, but the Terps managed to take a 2-1 lead 1:24 into the second quarter when Adam Sear scooped up a loose ball in front of the goal and slipped a shot past Schwartzman from four yards out.

Sophomore midfielder Austin Walker, who scored his first career goal two weeks ago at North Carolina, netted the next two goals for the Blue Jays to give Hopkins a 3-2 lead midway through the second quarter. Given an opportunity to dodge from the top, he blew past a defender and rifled a left-handed shot past Brian Phipps from 11-yards to tie the game and needed just two quick steps from eight yards out to beat him in the same spot just over five minutes later to give Hopkins its first lead of the game.

Hopkins matched Maryland's goal in transition just over a minute later when Schwartzman came up with a save on a 10-yarder from Dan Groot and quickly outlet the ball to Kimmel, who carried into the Maryland zone, where he found Peyser cutting alone at the top of the box. Peyser quickly found senior attack Jake Byrne five yards from the goal to Phipps' right and Byrne picked the far post with a quick release to give the Blue Jays a 4-2 lead that would hold through the half. Typical of recent Hopkins-Maryland games, that first half was just the feeling-out stage in a game the Blue Jays took 43 seconds into overtime on Rabil's game-winner.

Huntley led the Blue Jays with his season-high three-goal effort, while Walker's two crucial goals were a career-high. Rabil netted the game-winner and added two assists, while senior Jamison Koesterer won 8-of-13 faceoffs and grabbed six ground balls. Schwartzman had six saves in goal for the Blue Jays, who held advantages in shots (31-25) and ground balls (35-30).

Feifs matched Huntley's three-goal effort and Michael Phipps (1g, 2a) and Max Ritz (2a) each added multi-point games. Brian Phipps had eight saves for the Terrapins.

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