May 21, 2005

Box Score | Quotes | Notes

BALTIMORE, MD -- The top-seeded Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team sprinted out to a 5-2 lead at the end of the one quarter, extended the lead to 8-2 at the half and never looked back as the Blue Jays rolled past eighth-seeded Massachusetts, 19-9 in the NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Quarterfinals at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. Johns Hopkins (14-0), which tied a school record with its 14th win of the year, advances to next week's semifinals at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, where the Blue Jays will take on Virginia. The Cavaliers beat Navy, 10-8 in the other quarterfinal at Homewood Field Saturday. The Minutemen had their eight-game winning streak snapped and finish the season 13-3.

"It was important for us to get off to a quick start against UMass and never let them think they were in the game." Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala noted in the post-game press conference. "Our offense played well today and I credit much of that to the offensive coaches, Seth Tierney and Dave Allan."

Senior midfielder Kyle Harrison (Baltimore, MD/Friends) gave the Blue Jays a lead they would never relinquish just 47 seconds into the game as he beat UMass goalie Bill Schell (Mahopac, NY/Mahopac) after spinning through traffic. The goal marked the 15th time Harrison has scored Hopkins' first goal of a game in his career. The Blue Jays are now 15-0 on those games. Harrison pushed the lead to 2-0 just over three minutes later when he spun past a defender and came in from the side, where he beat Schell from seven yards out with a low show just inside the far post.

The teams traded the next four goals as Greg Peyser (Lloyd Harbor, NY/Cold Spring Harbor) pushed the lead to 3-0 when he scored off a rebound at the 8:57 mark, only to have the Minutemen tally the first of their five extra-man goals to break the ice at the 7:16 mark. Sophomore Brett Garber (Avon, CT/Avon Old Farms) took a pass from Ryan Connolly (North Andover, MA/North Andover) and beat Hopkins' Jesse Schwartzman (Owings Mills, MD/Pikesville) high for the first UMass goal.

Peter LeSueur (Garden City, NY/Garden City) and Pat Larmon (Chesterfield, MO/Desmet Jesuit) traded goals in a span of 45 seconds to make it 4-2. LeSueur took a pass from Harrison and came from behind the goal to beat Schell, while Larman scored from the side despite heavy pressure from the Hopkins defense.

A 4-0 Hopkins run, which would cover the last 16 minutes of the half, gave the Blue Jays the 8-2 lead at intermission. A diving goal by senior Kyle Barrie (Narberth, PA/The Haverford School) with 10 seconds remaining in the first quarter capped the five-goal first period for the Blue Jays, while senior Matt Rewkowski (Bethpage, NY/Bethpage), Barrie and LeSueur all scored in the second quarter to account for the 8-2 lead. The 8-2 halftime lead was the same one the Blue Jays held in the 2002 quarterfinals against the Minutemen, who came back that day to take a 10-8 lead before finally falling, 13-12 in overtime. There would be no comeback this year, although UMass kept it interesting for the first 10 minutes of the second half.

After the Blue Jays scored two of the first three goals of the second half to push the lead to 10-3, the Minutemen scored twice in a span of less than two minutes to pull within 10-5 with just over three minutes remaining in the third quarter. Senior Jeff Zywicki (Napean, Ontario/Sir Robert Borden) punched up the third extra-man goal of the game for UMass with 5:24 remaining and Sean Morris (Marshfield, MA/Marshfield) scored his first goal of the game with 3:48 left to breath life into the UMass faithful. The Blue Jays took the life away with a stunning four-goal flurry in a 78-second span in the final 90 seconds of the period.

Freshman Stephen Peyser (Lloyd Harbor, NY/Cold Spring Harbor) bookended the run with a pair of goals, while sophomore Jake Byrne (Potomac, MD/Landon) and Rewkowski also scored during the spree, which pushed the Blue Jays' lead to 14-5 entering the final period and sealed the Blue Jays' fourth straight trip to the Final Four and school-record 36th straight victory at home.

Zywicki and senior Gene Tundo (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park) sandwiched goals around Rewkowski and Benson Erwin (Baltimore, MD/Friends) tallies in the first 3:01 of the fourth period, while junior Joe Benson (Baltimore, MD/McDonogh) and freshman Kevin Huntley (Towson, MD/Calvert Hall) answered Tundo's tally with back-to-back goals in a span of 67 seconds too account for the six combined goals in the first five minutes of the final period. Chris Doyle (Putnam Valley, NY/Mahopac) and Morris scored midway through the quarter for UMass before freshman Michael Doneger (Hewlett, NY/Lynbrook) capped the victory for the Blue Jays with his fifth goal of the season in the final minute.

Rewkowski led the Blue Jays with a career-high four goals and one assist for a personal-best five points. Harrison added the two goals that jump-started the win and picked up three assists as well. Stephen Peyser scored a career-high three goals and LeSueur and Barrie added the two goals each for Hopkins, which won 17-of-30 faceoffs, outshot the Minutemen, 48-27 and won the ground ball war, 43-28. Harrison won 8-of-9 faceoffs and grabbed six ground balls.

Zywicki, Morris and Doyle all scored twice for UMass and Tundo added the one goal and two assists, but under constant pressure Schell made just 10 saves before giving way to Efosa Guobadia (Baldwin, NY/Baldwin) in the final five minutes. Guobadia allowed the final three Hopkins goals.

The seniors on the 2005 Hopkins lacrosse team end their career with a 32-0 record at Homewood Field and tied the school record for the most wins by one class with their 53rd on Saturday. Hopkins is 53-6 in the last four years with the 53 wins matching the total by the class of 1981.

The time for next Saturday's semifinal game between Johns Hopkins and Virginia will be announced on Monday.

#8 Massachusetts (13-3) 2-0-3-4/9

#1 Johns Hopkins (14-0) 5-3-6-5/19

Goals: M: Zywicki-2, Morris-2, Doyle-2, Tundo, Garber, Larmon. J: Rewkowski-4, S. Peyser-3, Harrison-2, LeSueur-2, Barrie-2, Byrne, G. Peyser, Huntley. Assists: M: Tundo-2, Connolly, Zywicki. J: Harrison-3, Dabrowski-2, Malo-2, Byrne, G. Peyser, Rewkowski. Saves: M: Schell-10, Guobadia-1. J: Schwarztman-5, Smith-3. EMO: M: 5-for-7. J: 0-for-5. Attendance: 6,504.

- 30 -