BALTIMORE, MD – It was Homecoming at Johns Hopkins on Saturday as the Blue Jays welcomed Big Ten rival Ohio State to Homewood Field. Nothing unusual about that, at least at Johns Hopkins, as Homecoming is always celebrated around a home men’s lacrosse game at Homewood. The Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse team held off a second-half rally by Ohio State for a 13-12 victory Saturday afternoon. The game marked the return to the sideline for Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse coach Dave Pietramala.
That may have been the only thing that wasn’t unusual about what eventually became a 13-12 Blue Jay victory before a crowd of 3,283 Saturday afternoon.
So what was so unusual? How about the end of the game that saw Homewood Field splashed in sunlight … two hours and fifteen minutes after the national anthem was played while driving, wind-swept snow filled the air. How about the own goal the Buckeyes provided late in the third quarter, or the Buckeye offense scoring more than nine goals for the first time in more than a month.
Then there was Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala; Pietramala had missed the last four games with an infection in his lower back, but returned to the sideline on Saturday to pick up milestone win number 175 as the head coach at Johns Hopkins. Not unusual at all to see Pietramala coaching the Blue Jays, but he was forced to do so for most of the game from the unusual position of being seated on a scooter.
Despite the many twists and turns, Johns Hopkins built an 8-5 lead at the half and pushed that lead to 10-6 early in the third quarter after an extra-man goal by senior midfielder Holden Cattoni. Given another extra-man chance after a penalty shortly after the ensuing faceoff, the Blue Jays had a chance to perhaps put the game away, but Buckeye goalie Tom Carey stopped Shack Stanwick from in tight – and Ohio State pounced.
What could have been a five-goal lead was down to one a short time later as Johnny Pearson ripped one home from the wing and Chris Mahoney scored after a scramble 23 seconds later to make it 10-8. When Eric Fannell got inside a double team and scored from in tight three minutes later, the Buckeyes had all the momentum and trailed by just one.
After trading goals in a 14-second span in the next 90 seconds, the Blue Jays pushed back out to a two-goal lead at 12-10 when a Brinton Valis pass was deflected past Carey and into the goal by defenseman Robby Haus for an own goal. That cushion was short-lived as Colin Chell came from behind the goal and scored his second goal of the game.
After the teams combined for 10 goals in the third quarter, it took more than 10 minutes in the fourth for either team to break through; it was Hopkins that finally found the net as John Crawley’s extra-man goal with 4:03 remaining gave the Blue Jays a 13-11 lead.
Ohio State (5-7, 0-2 B1G) possessed the ball for nearly the enitre final four minutes and drew within a goal with 94 seconds remaining when Carter Brown slipped past a pick and scored on the run from 10 yards out to make it 13-12.
Senior Craig Madarasz cleanly won the ensuing faceoff for Johns Hopkins, but the Buckeyes regained possession when the Blue Jays were called for being in the crease after a shot. After a successful clear and timeout, Fannell shot one wide and an Austin Shanks turnover with under 10 seconds remaining ended the Buckeyes’ final attempt to force overtime.
The vastly different third and fourth quarters mirrored the first two as the opening 15 minutes ended with the game tied at 2-2 before the Blue Jays scored six times in the second quarter to build the 8-5 halftime lead. Ryan Brown and Kyle Marr both scored twice in the period for Johns Hopkins, which got goals in the final two minutes of the period from Stanwick and Cattoni to extend a 6-5 lead to 8-5.
Pearson’s extra-man goal just nine seconds into the third quarter was answered by consecutive goals by Wilkins Dismuke in transition and Cattoni’s extra-man goal that made it 10-6. Carey’s stop of Stanwick on the doorstep came a short time later and the Homecoming crowd didn’t exhale again until Shanks pass along the sideline in the final seconds went out of bounds.
Brown led Johns Hopkins (6-4, 1-1 B1G) with his 24th career hat trick and an assist for a team-high four points, while Cattoni (2g, 1a), Stanwick (2g), Marr (2g) and junior Kieran Eissler (1g, 1a) also enjoyed multi-point games. Sophomore goalie Brock Turnbaugh posted 13 saves, the second-highest total of his career, for the Blue Jays.
Pearson paced Ohio State with four goals, while Fannell and Brown both had two goals and two assists. The Buckeyes also received a tremendous effort from Jake Withers at the X as he was 18-of-28 on faceoffs with a game-high eight ground balls.
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Sunday, April 17 when the Blue Jays travel to Penn State to take on the Nittany Lions at 7 pm. That game will air on the Big Ten Network.
Notes: Johns Hopkins improved to 15-1 on Homecoming under head coach Dave Pietramala • Pietramala improved his record at Johns Hopkins to 175-66 with today’s milestone victory • Ryan Brown extended his point-scoring streak to 44 game and Shack Stanwick extended his to 28 games • Brown is now alone in third place in school history in career hat tricks with his 24 • Brown and Johnny Pearson were named the Chris Gardner Players of the Game. Johns Hopkins plays a game each year in honor of Gardner, who lost his battle with cancer in 1997. Gardner was a member of the Blue Jay lacrosse team in 1996 before being diagnosed. A dollar is added to the cost of the tickets at one game each year and that money is donated to the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in his name. Chris’s mom, Kathleen Van Haverbeke, returns each year to present the player of the game awards.