May 11, 2008
by Clare Lochary, Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff
BALTIMORE- This time around, things were different between Johns Hopkins and Hofstra.
On March 8, the Pride upset the top-ranked Blue Jays, 8-7, in overtime in Hempstead, N.Y. It was the beginning of Hopkins' unprecedented five-game slide that seemed to doom the team's postseason ambitions.
On Sunday, however, the fifth-seeded Blue Jays beat Hofstra, 10-4, to claim a NCAA Division I men's lacrosse tournament first-round victory at Homewood Field and extend their winning streak to six games.
"The bothersome part was not losing to Hofstra. The bothersome part was how we lost. We were outworked," said Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala. "Today I saw a good solid offense, and that's the best defense."
Last time, the Pride's short-stick midfielder Kevin Unterstein shut out Blue Jays senior captain and Tewaaraton Trophy finalist Paul Rabil. This time, Rabil finished with four goals, one of which sparked a 6-0 run in the second and third quarters that put the game out of reach.
"I worked on a lot of dodges this week. You dodge a long pole differently than you dodge a short pole," said Rabil, who was in classic form against Hofstra. The senior midfielder ripped outside shots past Pride sophomore keeper Danny Orlando.
"A player like Paul, he's always going to have a good day every day. It's very rare that he has an off day," said Orlando, who tied a season high with 14 saves.
"I knew it was coming, and I knew it was going to happen. He was going to get his shots, and his shots were going to be Paul Rabil-esque. He had a great day, and I had trouble stopping the ball."
Rabil's success came at the expense of the Huntley family. The senior, who has 101 career goals, broke the previous school record of 99 career goals by a midfielder set by Dave Huntley from 1976 to 1979. Dave Huntley is the father of Hopkins attacker Kevin Huntley, who entered the game as the Blue Jays' leading scorer but was shut out by the Pride in an 0-for-8 performance.
Rabil now has a slight points edge (37 points) over Huntley (34 points) among season leaders.
Even with Huntley silenced, Hopkins found ways to score. Steven Boyle connected three times with Michael Kimmel, and Michael Doneger contributed two goals.
Stephen Peyser (1g) was dominant at the 'X,' winning 10 of his 14 faceoffs and blanking Hofstra faceoff specialist Joe Montemurro on four contests in the third quarter. In the teams' last meeting, Montemurro won seven of 10 faceoffs in the first quarter to spark a 6-3 run that the Pride rode to victory.
When Hofstra did have possession, Hopkins' trademark team defense was there to squelch it.
"By the end of the third quarter, I think I'd only seen four or five shots," said Blue jays goalie Michael Gvozden. "I love those guys."
Hofstra head coach Seth Tierney, a Hopkins graduate and former Blue Jays assistant, spoke with emotion at the conclusion of what seemed March 8 to be a promising season for his team.
"I hope they win a national championship now that we're out. The only hard part is saying goodbye to a couple of seniors that have given everything they had to a program that's been through an awful lot. To lose a young man...it's a tough one," said Tierney, alluding to former defender Nick Colleluori, who died of non-Hodgkins lymphoma in November 2006.
"If we couldn't go on, then I wish them well. I wish the Blue Jays the very best in getting another national championship. And if they played the way they played today, they'll do a great job."
