The 106th renewal of The Rivalry – Maryland versus Johns Hopkins in men’s lacrosse took place in a steady rain at Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium in front of 9.343 loud and enthusiastic fans. Maryland fans left disappointed as Johns Hopkins survived an early Maryland blitz coming from three goals down to win 15-12.
Charlie Raffa saw the field for the first time in three games for Maryland and, on the opening faceoff looked as though he hadn’t missed a day popping the ball back to Matt Neufeldt. Joe LoCascio had a good look and Jay Carlson had a close look that was a bit forced and allowed Hopkins’ goalie Eric Schneider to make an easy save.
The Terps forced a turnover on the first Blue Jays possession and Matt Rambo got inside his defender to put Maryland up 1-0. Rambo would score again just 41 seconds later on an extra man opportunity (EMO) called on Hopkins faceoff man Drew Kennedy taking a quick pass from Bryan Cole.
After a Maryland turnover, Hopkins cut the lead in half on an unassisted goal by Joel Tinney. Maryland needed just 16 seconds to score using great ball movement off the faceoff with Neufeldt making a cross field pass to LoCascio who crossed the ball back to Carlson for an open look against a shifting JHU defense.
Raffa improved to a perfect 5-5 on faceoffs and Maryland capitalized again with the same duo hooking up for the score. The Blue Jays put an end to any thoughts of a possible Terrapins rout when Hunter Moreland, replacing Kennedy at the ‘X’ won JHU’s first faceoff of the quarter and John Crawley scored for the Blue Jays.
The visitors quickly cut the lead to 4-3 when the Terps failed to clear after Garino won a faceoff back to Casey Ikeda and Tinney rang up his second of the game. Kyle Bernlohr nabbed his first save of the game on a shot by Wells Stanwick and Cole found LoCascio in space and the senior rifled home a bullet that gave Maryland a 5-3 lead they would carry to the end of the quarter.
The second quarter opened with some sloppy play by both teams but Hopkins would crack the net first with Stanwick scoring just over five minutes in. Maryland picked up their second EMO goal 30 seconds later. The ball went from Cole to LoCascio for Cole’s career high third assist and LoCascio’s second score of the game.
Once again, the 6-4 advantage didn’t last long as Ryan Brown scored the first of his eight goals on the night scoring for a 22nd consecutive game. The Blue Jays won the next faceoff and, after a long possession got the equalizer with 6:07 to play in the half. Shack Stanwick drew a slide and found brother Wells open in front of the crease and the older brother bounced one past a defenseless Bernlohr.
Maryland recaptured the lead on a wicked sidearm shot by LoCascio from 15 yards straight on. Isaiah Davis-Allen gave the Terrapins an opportunity to open the lead further picking up the ground ball on the faceoff but an unforced turnover by Connor Kelly gave the Blue Jays another possession.
Hopkins squandered that chance with ill-advised shots by Brown and Shack Stanwick. Maryland returned the favor on a long low bouncer that Schneider easily saved and Brown made the Terps pay with a one timer from 18 yards that bounced past Bernlohr. The Blue Jays got the final possession of the half but were unable to get a shot off and the teams went to the locker room tied at seven.
While the Terps dominated at the faceoff ‘X’ with a 10-6 edge, they negated that advantage with seven turnovers. One failed clear completely negated the faceoff edge. Additionally, I remarked to several colleagues in the press box, that I thought the score favored Hopkins as I did not think Maryland had the firepower to maintain that pace. The second half would prove me right.
SECOND HALF
Maryland had an immediate advantage to open the second half when Raffa won the faceoff and Hopkins picked up a second illegal cross body check giving the Terps a 60 second EMO. But another sloppy turnover allowed Hopkins to take possession and kill off the penalty.
The Terps defense stiffened and created a turnover of their own. On Maryland’s possession, Tinney checked the ball from Henry West but Schneider came out of the crease to pick up the ground ball. Carlson made the check and found Colin Heacock in an easy one on one with Schneider and Maryland had an 8-7 lead.
Once again, Brown saw to it that the lead didn’t last long putting a heavily contested bouncer past Bernlohr. Bobby Gribbin gave Maryland the lead back at 9-8 with a bullet from the left alley but another Maryland turnover led to the first EMO for the Blue Jays and Brown made the Terps pay.
Carlson then fulfilled his coach’s description of being good for at least one highlight reel play per game. After a 360 degree spin, he unleashed a sidearm top shelf shot to the far post that provided Maryland a 10-9 lead to take into the fourth quarter.
The early fourth quarter was the property of Ryan Brown. As Hopkins went three for three on faceoffs to start the quarter, Brown scored twice in the first minute to give the Blue Jays their first lead of the game at 11-10 and that extended to 12-10 Holden Cattoni’s dodge from behind the goal.
After Hopkins won yet another faceoff, Bernlohr made a save on a shot by Shack Stanwick and had clear control of the ball when Matt Dunn committed an unnecessary shove away from the play giving the ball back to the Blue Jays and Brown scored his seventh of the game and 50th of the season.
Trailing 13-10, Maryland continued to unravel as Casey Ikeda fouled Brown on his shot and picked up a one minute penalty. Although Maryland’s defense caused the turnover, another rushed shot was easily deflected and Tinney scored on a rebound of Brown’s shot to extend the Hopkins lead to 14-10.
Maryland got the ball back trailing by four with under six minutes to play and displayed considerable considerable desperation launching shots willy nilly before Tillman called timeout with 3:01 to play. Zack Wholley had an apparent goal waved off with just over two minutes to play for being in the crease. Brown then scored his eighth of the game.
Cole scored with 1:31 to play and Henry West added another with 29 seconds and after winning the final faceoff, Johns Hopkins sealed the 15-12 win and claimed the first Rivalry Trophy.
Maryland coach John Tillman and his players gave Johns Hopkins ample credit after the game. Said Tillman, “The second half didn’t really go our way and give our opponent their due. There were a lot of 50-50 grounders and give them credit I thought they came up with a lot of them.” Added defender Matt Dunn, “Give credit to Ryan (Brown) tonight. He had an outstanding game and he shot the ball very well.”
However, I write a sports blog and I can make comments and observations that players and coaches can’t. I will say this, whether it became intentional or simply a part of the game, Hopkins inflicted three vicious hits on Charlie Raffa one of which happened with him on his knees. Two of them resulted in one minute penalties but their collective weight limited his effectiveness and may have kept him from the game.
In a game where possession is critical, Maryland won 12 of the 20 faceoffs when Raffa was on the field and only 2 of 10 when he was not. Therein lies a tale.
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