March 20, 2004

Box Score

BALTIMORE, Md. -- The top-ranked Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team got four goals and one assist from senior attackman Conor Ford (Timonium MD/St. Paul's), won 20-of-24 faceoffs and used a stunning 13-1 run that started in the second quarter and ran well into the fourth to fuel a 17-5 victory over third-ranked Syracuse at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. The win improves Hopkins' record to 5-0 and is the 23rd consecutive victory at home for the Blue Jays. Syracuse slips to 3-1 with the loss.

Hopkins dominated the first quarter statistically, but carried just a 3-2 lead into the second quarter. Freshman Jake Byrne (Potomac, MD/Landon) and junior Kyle Barrie (Narberth, PA/The Haverford School) sandwiched goals around Ford's first of the game to stake the Blue Jays to a 3-0 lead less than eight minutes into the game. Back-to-back goals by senior Brian Nee (Cockeysville, MD/Boys' Latin) made it 3-2 at the end of the first quarter despite the Blue Jays holding an 18-5 shot advantage.

The Blue Jays have built a 19-2 record over the last two years on the strength of game-turning runs and a 7-0 spree in the second quarter helped push the lead to 10-3 at the half. Junior Kyle Harrison (Baltimore, MD/Friends) ignited the run with his seventh goal of season at the 10:07 mark off an assist from senior Kevin Boland (Jessup, MD/Gilman). Ford tallied his second goal of the game, also off an assist from Boland, just 42 seconds later and a Greg Peyser (Lloyd Harbor, NY/Cold Spring Harbor) goal just over a minute after that made it 6-2. Barrie, junior Matt Rewkowski (Bethpage, NY/Bethpage), Ford and Byrne all scored late in the quarter before sophomore Brian Crockett (Yorktown, NY/Yorktown) finally stopped the run with his team-leading 14th goal of the season off an assist from Nee with just three seconds remaining in the second quarter for Syracuse.

The Blue Jays led Syracuse 8-2 last year during the regular season before SU hopped back in the game with a quick three-goal run late in the second quarter of what would become a 15-14 come-from-behind victory. Hopkins made sure there would not be a similar rally by the Orangemen this season by scoring the first six goals of the second half to push the lead to 16-3 early in the fourth quarter. Third-quarter goals by Ford and Peyser were sandwiched around back-to-back goals by sophomore Kyle Dowd (Northport, NY/Northport) to make it 14-3 at the end of the third quarter and Boland and Barrie scored early in the fourth quarter. Alex Zink (Rowayton, CY/Darien) and Kevin Dougherty (Syracuse, NY/Corcoran) scored midway through the period for Syracuse and Rewkowski added his second extra-man goal of the game for Hopkins to close the scoring.

While the Blue Jay offense has gotten most of the headlines since the beginning of the 2003 season, it was the play on faceoffs and in the goal that may have been the biggest difference in the victory. The Blue Jays won 20-of-24 faceoffs as a team and sophomore Scott Smith (Wilton, CT/Wilton) made 10 saves in goal before giving way to freshman Jesse Schwartzman (Owings Mills, MD/Pikesville) midway through the fourth quarter. Smith made a pair of one-on-one saves on Syracuse standout Mike Powell (West Carthage, NY/Carthage) to highlight his effort. The Blue Jay defense held Powell, who entered the game averaging 6.3 points per game, scoreless. The five goals for Syracuse are the fewest for the Orangemen since a 10-3 loss to North Carolina on March 9, 1991.

Ford led a balanced attack with his four-goal, one assist effort, while Boland added one goal and four assists. Barrie added three goals, while Peyser tied his career-high for points in a game with two goals and two assists. Rewkowski and Byrne added two goals and one assist each. Harrison was dominant on faceoffs as he won 10-of-11 and had 14 ground balls, while Peyser won 6-of-8. The Blue Jays outshot Syracuse, 50-23 and held a commanding, 47-28 advantage on ground balls. The Blue Jays also extended their streak of consecutive games holding the opposition to less than 10 goals to 15 games.

Nee and Crockett were the only multi-point scorers for the Orangemen as Nee had two goals and one assist, while Crockett added a goal and two assists. Jay Pfeifer (Towson, MD/Gilman) made eight saves in goal for Syracuse and allowed 12 goals before giving way to senior Nick Donatelli (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott), who played the last 25 minutes and made six saves while allowing five goals. The Orangemen were held scoreless on four extra-man opportunities, while the Blue Jays cashed in on 3-of-7 chances with the extra-man.

Johns Hopkins returns to action next Saturday at Virginia, while Syracuse travels to Princeton next Saturday.

#3 Syracuse (3-1) 2-1-0-2/5

#1 Johns Hopkins (5-0) 3-7-4-3/17

Goals: S: Nee-2, Crockett-, Dougherty, Zink. J: Ford-4, Barrie-3, Rewkowski-2, Peyser-2, Dowd-2, Byrne-2, Boland, Harrison. Assists: S: Crockett-2, Nee-, Lykudis. J:Boland-4, LeSueur-2, Peyser-2, Rewkowski, Dowd, Ford. Saves: S: Pfeifer-8, Donatelli-6. J: Smith-10, Schwartzman-3. EMO: S: 0-for-4. J: 3-for-7. Attendance: 6,519.

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