Hopkins Slips Past Mnt. St. Mary's, 12-5
from press releases
EMMITSBURG, Md. - Sophomore attackman Kyle Wharton
scored four goals and junior attackman Chris Boland added two goals
and a career-high four assists to lead the eighth-ranked Johns
Hopkins men's lacrosse team to a 12-5 win over host Mount St.
Mary's before a Waldron Family Stadium record crowd of 1,258 on
Monday evening. The win is the fifth straight for the Blue Jays,
who improve to 8-4 with the win. Mount St. Mary's had a modest
two-game winning streak snapped and slips to 5-9.
The Blue Jays jumped to a quick 2-0 lead in the first six minutes
of the game, only to have Mount St. Mary's battle back to knot the
game at 2-2 at the end of the first quarter. Senior Brian
Christopher found junior Chris Boland alone on the doorstep and
Boland beat Mountaineer goalie T.C. DiBartolo in tight less than 90
seconds into the game and senior Josh Peck took a nifty skip pass
from sophomore Mark Goodrich and dropped down from six yards out
just over four minutes after Boland's goal to make it 2-0.
The Mount withstood the early assault and scored back-to-back goals
in transition in a six-minute span to make it 2-2. After nearly
turning the ball over on a clear attempt, Cody Lehrer came up with
a ground ball near the top of the Blue Jays' defensive box and
found Christian Kellett alone in front of the goal, where he easily
beat JHU goalie Michael Gvozden. DiBartolo jump-started another
transition opportunity six minutes later as he made a nice save and
the Mount cashed in at the other end when Mike Adkins polished off
a feed from Brendan Harrison with 1:37 remaining in the period.
DiBartolo made several highlight reel saves in the first 10 minutes
of the second quarter and the Mount grabbed a 3-2 lead when Eric
Ososki found Geery Grant alone seven yards in front of the goal and
Grant quickly found the back of the net. Both goalies were on over
the next several minutes as DiBartolo robbed Michael Kimmel and
Boland on back-to-back shots with 4:30 remaining, only to have
Gvozden match him less than a minute later when he stoned Harrison
on a breakaway.
The Blue Jays hopped back in front for good with back-to-back goals
in a 19-second span late in the quarter as they were able to keep
the pressure on the Mountaineer defense. Kyle Wharton finally broke
a 21-minute scoreless drought for the Blue Jays when Boland hit him
from behind the net and he picked the far corner with 2:45
remaining. Boland was on the back-end of a nifty cross-crease pass
from Peck off the ensuing faceoff and he wasted little time beating
a defenseless DiBartolo to account for a 4-3 halftime score.
The Blue Jays pushed the one-goal halftime lead to two goals by the
end of the third quarter as they outscored the Mountaineers 3-2 in
the period. Kimmel worked down the ally before slipping a pass back
to Christopher at the top of the box and Christopher blew a
12-yarder past DiBartolo to make it 5-3 less than two minutes into
the second half, but the Mount answered back less than four minutes
later as Anthony Golden capped a long possession when Ryan Shewell
found him alone at the top of the box and he fired a 10-yarder past
Gvozden.
Hopkins pushed the lead to 7-4 with an extra-man goal by Wharton
with 9:14 remaining in the third and a nifty split dodge goal by
Christopher two minutes later, but the pesky Mountaineers wouldn't
go away and sliced the deficit to 7-5 when Lehrer found Grant
curling around a screen eight yards in front of the goal and Grant
one-time a shot home to account for the 7-5 score at the end of the
third.
Any hopes for a Mountaineer comeback were dashed in the first six
minutes of the fourth quarter as the Blue Jays got a pair of
extra-man goals from Wharton and Peck in the first 4:08 of the
period and Boland found Max Chautin alone in front and Chautin
scored from the doorstep to make it 10-5 with 9:20 remaining. The
Blue Jays added a Wharton goal off a scramble in front with 4:59
remaining and a late goal by freshman Will McCance to account for
the final scoring.
In addition to Boland and Wharton's exploits, the Blue Jays got two
goals and two assists from Christopher and two goals and one assist
from Peck. Gvozden posted six saves the Blue Jays held advantages
in shots (42-19) and ground balls (38-19).
DiBartolo was spectacular in goal as he posted 15 saves before
departing with just over nine minutes remaining. Grant's two goals
paced the Mountaineers offensively.
