March 6, 2004

Box Score

BALTIMORE, Md. -- Junior midfielder Kyle Harrison (Baltimore, MD/Friends) scored a career-high four goals and added one assist and senior attackman Conor Ford (Timonium, MD/St. Paul's) added four goals to lead top-ranked Johns Hopkins to a 14-5 victory over fifth-ranked Princeton in front of 6,386 fans at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. The win is the 21st straight at home for the Blue Jays, who improve to 2-0. The Tigers slip to 1-1.

The Blue Jays led 6-2 late in the second quarter before Princeton jumped back in the game with a two-goal run. Peter Trombino's (Huntington Station, NY/St. Anthony's) goal with 1:12 remaining in the second quarter made it 6-3 and Tigers were right back in it just 30 seconds into the third quarter when Drew Casino (Setauket, NY/Ward Melville) scored his fourth goal of the season to make it 6-4.

However, the Blue Jays have made a living on game-turning runs in recent times and Casino's goal was followed by an 8-0 Johns Hopkins run that sealed Hopkins' third straight regular season victory over the Tigers. Ford pushed the lead to 7-4 with a goal just eight seconds after Casino's as Harrison won the ensuing faceoff and quickly found Ford, who beat Princeton goalie Matt Larkin (Severna Park, MD/Severn School). Senior Kevin Boland (Jessup, MD/Gilman) tallied an unassisted goal 37 seconds later and Ford pushed the lead to 9-4 with his second goal of the game at the 12:22 mark.

The score remained 9-4 for the next seven minutes before Harrison's fourth goal of the game made it 10-4. Freshman Jake Byrne (Potomac, MD/Landon) and junior Matt Rewkowski (Bethpage, NY/Bethpage) sandwiched goals around two more Ford tallies in the fourth quarter to give the Blue Jays a 14-4 lead. Freshman Scott Sowanick's (Bethesda, MD/Bullis) second goal of the game with 1:56 remaining closed the scoring.

Sowanick had given Princeton a 1-0 lead when he scored off an assist from Trombino less than three minutes into the game, but Harrison answered less than three minutes later with the first of his four goals to tie the game at 1-1. That score stood until the 5:11 mark, when Rewkowski found Boland alone inside and Boland beat Dave Law (Englewood, CO/Kent Denver) to give the Blue Jays the lead for good. Sophomore Greg Peyser (Lloyd Harbor, NY/Cold Spring Harbor) and Harrison added goals in the last four minutes of the first quarter to give JHU a 4-1 lead. A Jason Doneger (Hewlett, NY/Lynbrook) goal was answered by Rewkowski and Harrison in the second quarter, setting the stage for Princeton's two-goal run that was followed by Hopkins' second-half explosion.

Harrison had previously scored a career-high three goals in an overtime win at North Carolina last season. He also won 4-of-7 faceoffs on the day and grabbed six ground balls. Ford is making the most of his move back to attack as he has seven goals and three assists in two games there this season. Rewkowski and Boland both added two goals and one assist as the Blue Jays registered their largest win against Princeton since a 20-8 victory in 1990.

Sophomore Scott Smith (Wilton, CT/Wilton) played a strong game in goal for the Blue Jays as he registered a career-high nine saves and allowed just four goals before giving way to freshman Jesse Schwartzman (Owings Mills, MD/Pikesville), who played the final 4:21 and made two saves while allowing one goal. Smith had five of his nine saves in the second quarter, when the Tigers outshot the Blue Jays, 13-4, but couldn't get any closer than two goals.

Sowanick and Trombino were the only players who registered more than one point for the Tigers. Sowanick had the two goals and Trombino had one goal and one assist. Law and Larkin both registered six saves in goal for Princeton, but Johns Hopkins won 17-of-23 faceoffs in the game, won the ground ball war, 32-21 and outshot the Tigers, 39-25. The Blue Jays also excelled in specialty situations as the extra-man unit converted on 2-of-3 opportunities and the man-down unit killed 4-of-5 chances.

Johns Hopkins will return to action on Tuesday afternoon when the Blue Jays host Albany at 3:00 pm. Princeton plays at Virginia next Saturday.

#5 Princeton (1-1) 1-2-1-1/5

#1 Johns Hopkins (2-0) 4-2-4-4/14

Goals: P: Sowanick-2, Trombino, Doneger, Casino. J: Harrison-4, Ford-4, Rewkowski-2, Boland-2, Peyser, Byrne. Assists: P: Boyle, Trombino. J: Harrison, Dowd, Rewkowski, Boland, Peyser, Barrie. Saves: P: Law-6, Larkin-6. J: Smith-9, Schwartzman-2. Shots: P-25. J-39. EMO: P: 1-for-5. J: 2-for-3. Attendance: 6,386.

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