Fright Night: Hopkins Survives Towson in OT
from press release
TOWSON, Md. - It seemed like a simple thing.
Johns Hopkins junior Michael Kimmel picked up a ball that went out
of bounds on the side and prepared to restart with 7.2 seconds
remaining in the second overtime of Wednesday night's game at
Towson. Before the restart, senior midfielder Brian Christopher
came and took the ball from him and needed just six of those 7.2
seconds to net his third goal of the game and second career
overtime game-winner as he dodged to the middle of the field, spun
inside his defender and bounced a tricky shot inside the near post
to lift the Blue Jays to an 11-10 victory before a crowd of 3,509
at Unitas Stadium.
In winning a game they never led while the clock was moving, the
Blue Jays improved to 7-4 and ran their winning streak to four
games overall and 14 games against the Tigers. Towson slips to 6-8
with the loss.
Towson controlled the tempo from the outset, led by as many as
four and carried a 9-6 lead into the fourth quarter before the Blue
Jays rallied. Hopkins had trailed by scores of 7-3 and 8-4 in the
third quarter before back-to-back goals by Chris Boland and Kyle
Wharton sliced the deficit to 8-6 with still more than four minutes
remaining in the third period.
Towson got what appeared was a crushing goal with 2.8 seconds
remaining in the third quarter when Matt Lamon found Justin
Schneider with a cross-field pass from the top of the box to the
back-door for any easy goal in tight. But after scoring nine goals
on 26 shots in the first 45 minutes, the Tigers would find the net
just once on 15 shots in the final 23 minutes.
Senior Mark Bryan started the Blue Jay comeback as he worked a
nifty face-dodge 10 yards from the goal and beat Towson goalie Rob
Wheeler from six yards out to make it 9-7.
The Tigers efficiently worked their offense over the next eight
minutes and Hopkins failed to convert twice after forcing turnovers
- once on a failed clear and again when Wheeler stopped Andrew
Miller on a breakaway. But for all of their possession time, the
Tigers couldn't regain the three-goal lead.
Hopkins finally drew within one for the first time since late in
the second quarter when senior Josh Peck one-timed a pass to the
crease from Steven Boyle for an extra-man goal with 5:02 remaining.
Kimmel forced the first tie of the game 70 seconds later when he
scored from a tough angle on an ally dodge, but the tie was
short-lived as Bill McCutcheon got free in a scramble situation
after a save by Michael Gvozden and blew a shot home just 32
seconds after Kimmel's tally.
Christopher scored what would prove to be the overtime-forcing
goal with 2:12 remaining as he swept across the top of the box and
cut to the inside before beating Wheeler from 10 yards with a
high-to-low shot on the run.
Both teams had possession in the final two minutes, but Gvozden
intercepted a pass behind the goal and Kimmel's pass to the in
front of the goal with just under 20 seconds remaining was batted
down and time expired before either team could get off a shot.
Gvozden and Wheeler both came up with big saves in the first
overtime - Gvozden's was of the kick-save variety just 40 seconds
in and Wheeler stoned Boyle on the crease with 1:25 left. The
Tigers cleared successfully after Wheeler's save, but turned the
ball over in the final seconds before getting off another shot.
A frantic second overtime, which featured nine combined shots,
five combined saves and a failed extra-man opportunity by the Blue
Jays (Peck hit the post from two yards out) came down to Gvozden
and Christopher.
Gvozden came up with a big save with just over a minute to play,
only to turn the ball over on the ensuing clear attempt. He went
low 10 seconds later to take one away from Schneider and the Blue
Jays came up with the loose ball and cleared the ball. After a
timeout, Wharton backed up a shot that went wide and out of bounds
on the sideline. Six seconds later Christopher had his third goal
of the game, the Blue Jays had won their fourth straight and
Hopkins had won a game it never led until the clock stopped for the
final time with 1.2 ticks left in the second overtime.
The Tigers crafted a 5-3 halftime lead on the strength of goals by
five different players. Tim Stratton and Lamon scored back-to-back
goals in a span of less than a minute late in the second quarter,
but Wharton scored off an assist from Kimmel with 26 seconds
remaining in the opening half to account for the 5-3 halftime
score.
When Randall Cooper and Pat Britton scored in the first seven
minutes of the third quarter the Tigers had their 7-3 lead and when
McCutcheon answered the first of Kimmel's two goals less than 90
seconds later it was 8-4. Boland and Wharton's goals quickly
followed before Schneider's goal as the third quarter wound
down.
31 shots, 11 saves from Gvozden and two Christopher goals later
and the Blue Jays had come from four goals down to win for the
first time since erasing a 7-1 deficit at Syracuse on March 18,
2005.
