May 7, 2005

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD -- The top-ranked Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team scored the first eight goals of the second half to stretch a 4-3 halftime lead to 12-3 with midway through the fourth quarter as the Blue Jays improved to 12-0 with a 12-6 win over visiting Loyola before 7,356 at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. The Blue Jays, who complete their first undefeated regular season since 1995, improved their school-record home winning streak to 34 games with their sixth straight win over the Greyhounds. Loyola finishes the season at 5-8.

Freshman Paul Rabil's (Gaithersburg, MD/DeMatha) unassisted goal just 28 seconds into the second half ignited the 8-0 run, which included three goals in a span of less than three minutes midway through the third quarter and another three in just over three minutes midway through the fourth.

Freshman Kevin Huntley (Towson, MD/Calvert Hall) needed just 1:54 to score back-to-back goals after Rabil's tally to extend the 5-3 lead to 7-3. He scooped up a loose ball off a scramble in front of the goal and beat Loyola goalie Michael Fretwell (Annapolis, MD/St. Mary's) for the first one and then dodged from behind the goal and picked the far post on the second. When senior Joe Malo (Denver, CO/Denver East) scored an unassisted goal 90 seconds later the Blue Jays had matched their first-half scoring total in less than nine minutes of the third period.

Malo had a hand in the next two goals as well as he assisted on a Jake Byrne (Potomac, MD/Landon) tally with 3:56 remaining in the third quarter and then got the helper on Greg Peyser's (Lloyd Harbor, NY/Cold Spring Harbor) second goal of the game with 12:30 remaining in the fourth quarter. Rabil added his second goal of the game 35 seconds later and Stephen Peyser (Lloyd Harbor, NY/Cold Spring Harbor) scored his fifth goal of the season with just over nine minutes remaining to close out the scoring for the Blue Jays.

The Greyhounds added three late goals by Andrew Spack (Lafayette, NY/Lafayette), Craig Georgalas (Mahopac, NY/Mahopac) and Paul Richards (Baldwinsville, NY/Baldwinsville) to account for the final score.

The Blue Jays jumped out to a 3-1 lead at the end of the first quarter despite Loyola winning all five first-quarter faceoffs. Senior Kyle Barrie (Narberth, PA/The Haverford School) opened the scoring with an unassisted goal with 9:27 remaining before Pat Shek (Baltimore, MD/McDonogh) tied it less than two minutes later. Barrie came from behind the goal and beat Fretwell one-on-one, while Shek took a skip-pass from Chris Einhorn (Huntington Bay, NY/Hotchkiss School) and beat Hopkins goalie Jesse Schwartzman (Owings Mills, MD/Pikesville) for his fourth goal of the season. Schwartzman made five of his nine saves in the game in the first quarter as the 'Hounds came out firing.

Senior Benson Erwin (Baltimore, MD/Friends) and Greg Peyser both scored in the final seven minutes of the first quarter to push the lead to 3-1, but Loyola's Greg Leonard (Broomall, PA/Marple Newtown) sandwiched a pair of goals around Byrne's first of the game midway through the second quarter to account for the 4-3 score at the half. Loyola outshot the Blue Jays, 15-10 in the first half, but the Blue Jays took 24 of the first 26 shots of the second half to gradually pull away for their 18th straight regular season victory.

Byrne, Greg Peyser, Rabil and Huntley all scored two goals to lead a balanced scoring attack for the Blue Jays. Malo had the one goal and a career-high three assists to match his personal best of four points. The Blue Jays outshot the Greyhounds, 36-26 and won the ground ball war, 34-29. The Blue Jays also won 12-of-22 faceoffs - after Loyola had won the first five and 6-of-9 in the first half - as sophomore Jamison Koesterer (Cazenovia, NY/Cazenovia) won 4-of-5 and senior Kyle Harrison (Baltimore, MD/Friends) won 4-of-6.

Leonard was the only multi-goal scorer for Loyola, while Spack added the one goal and one assist. Fretwell posted seven saves in goal before giving way to Trae Rodgers (Towson, MD/Loyola), who posted five saves and allowed the final three Blue Jay goals.

Hopkins, which likely secured the number one seed in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth consecutive year with the win, completes its fifth undefeated regular season since the NCAA Tournament began in 1971. The Blue Jays finished the 1979, 1981, 1984, and 1995 seasons undefeated. The victory also improved Hopkins' record to 51-6 since the seniors on the 2005 team arrived for the 2002 season. The 51 wins are tied for the second-most ever by a class in Hopkins history. The 1980 and 1982 teams also won 51 games, while the class of 1981 finished with 53 victories during its four years at Homewood.

The selection show for the 2005 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Tournament will air on Sunday, May 8 between 9:30 pm and 10:00 pm on ESPN News. If Hopkins is seeded number one it would mark the second time in school history the Blue Jays have been seeded first four straight times (1983-86).

Loyola (5-8) 1-2-0-3/6

#1 Johns Hopkins (12-0) 3-1-5-3/12

Goals: L: Leonard-2, Spack, Georgalas, Richards, Shek. J: Byrne, G. Peyser-2, Rabil-2, Huntley-2, Malo, S. Peyser, Barrie, Erwin. Assists: L: Einhorn, Halip, Koppens, Spack,. J: Malo-3, Byrne, Harrison. Saves: L: Fretwell-7, Rodgers-5. J: Schwarztman-9, Smith-0, Maimone-Medwick-1. EMO: L: 2-for-4. J: 0-for-2. Attendance: 7,356.

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