Hopkins Opens With Win
from press release
BALTIMORE - Junior Steven Boyle (Derry,
NH/Pinkerton Academy) and sophomore Kyle Wharton (Great Valley,
PA/Haverford School) combined for seven goals and two assists and
the Johns Hopkins defense held visiting Siena scoreless for the
final 45:50 as the fourth-ranked Blue Jays eased past the Saints,
11-3, at chilly Homewood Field Friday night. The Blue Jays, who won
for the seventh time in nine season-openers under head coach Dave
Pietramala, outscored the Saints 9-0 over the final three quarters.
The three goals are the fewest JHU has allowed in a season opener
since allowing just three against Yale in 1982.
Siena led 3-2 entering the second quarter as Brian Neufeld (Virgil,
Ontario/Niagara District) scored twice in the opening 15 minutes to
give the Saints the one-goal lead. The Blue Jays tied the game just
under eight minutes into the second period when Boyle threaded a
pass from along the goal line to senior Mark Bryan (Niskayuna,
NY/Niskayuna) on the crease and Bryan one-timed a shot past Tom
Morr (Rockville Centre, NY/Chaminade). Five minutes later Wharton
scored his second of the game off a nice cut and feed from junior
Michael Kimmel (Towson, MD/Loyola) to give the Blue Jays the lead
for good. Hopkins carried the 4-3 lead into halftime.
It took just nine seconds for the Blue Jays to extend the lead to
5-3 in the third quarter as Boyle handcuffed Morr from seven yards
out right off the faceoff and Brian Christopher (Springfield,
PA/Springfield) pushed the lead to 6-3 three minutes later when he
blew a shot past Morr from nearly the same spot as Boyle had scored
from. Bryan came up with a loose ball on the opposite side of the
field and found Christopher alone on the backside, where he wasted
little time before putting it home.
Boyle added a pair of goals - both assisted by Christopher - in the
final 6:02 of the third quarter to push the lead to 8-3. Both goals
came after some nifty passing as the Blue Jays moved ball well
against the Siena defense. Christopher found Boyle cutting from the
goal line on both goals and Boyle scored from in tight both
times.
Wharton and Boyle sandwiched fourth quarter goals around the first
career tally by freshman Marshall Burkhart (Dublin, OH/Dublin
Jerome) to account for the final scoring, but by that time the
story had turned from the Blue Jay offense to the Blue Jay defense.
Hopkins didn't allow the Saints to get off a shot in the third
quarter and Siena managed just six shots in the fourth, only two of
which were on goal.
Wharton had opened the scoring 5:30 into the game when Boyle found
him on the backside and he ripped a shot into the far top corner.
Neufeld knotted the game just over three minutes later when he
shoveled a loose ball in front of the crease into an open net.
Jordan Loftus (Watertown, NY/IHC/Onondaga CC) added a transition
goal three minutes later to give the Saints a 2-1 lead and Kimmel
and Neufeld traded goals over the final three minutes to make it
3-2 Siena at the end of one period. That lead held until Bryan's
goal ignited the 9-0 run to end the game.
Boyle's four goals tied his career high, while his six points are a
personal best. Wharton's three goals are just one less than he
scored all of last year, while Christopher's two assists and three
points both matched career highs. Junior Michael Gvozden
(Millersville, MD/Severna Park) posted eight saves in goal for the
Blue Jays, who have now held the opposition scoreless for a stretch
of 25 minutes or longer 14 times since the start of the 2007
season. In all, eight of Johns Hopkins' 11 goals were assisted.
Neufeld was the only Siena player to register a multi-point game as
his two goals led the way for the Saints. Morr posted eight saves
in goal for Siena, but the Saints turned the ball over 29 times,
were outshot 37-23 (21-6 in the second half) and lost the ground
ball battle 37-31.
Johns Hopkins will return to action next Saturday (February 28)
when the Blue Jays play Princeton in the first game of the Konica
Minolta Face-Off Classic at M&T Bank Stadium. Game time is set
for noon.
Siena (0-1) 3-0-0-0/3
#4 Johns Hopkins (1-0) 2-2-4-3/11
Goals: S: Neufeld-2, Loftus. J: Boyle-4, Wharton-3, Christopher,
Kimmel, Bryan, Burkhart. Assists: S: Whalen, Zarins. J: Boyle-2,
Christopher-2, Bryan, Dolente, Goodrich, Kimmel. Saves: S: Morr-8.
J: Gvozden-18. Shots: S-23. J-37. EMO: S: 0-for-2. J: 0-for-3.
Attendance: 1,740.
