Oct. 25, 2006

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - The #11 Johns Hopkins men's soccer team claimed its seventh regular season Centennial Conference title Wednesday night with a 2-1 win over Washington College. The win moves the Blue Jays to 16-1-0 overall and 8-0-0 in conference play. The Shoremen fall to 8-7-0 overall and 2-6-0 in the conference. Hopkins will host the 2006 Centennial Conference Tournament at Homewood Field, the weekend of November 3-5.

Sophomore co-captain Matty Carlson (Bristol, CT/Loomis Chaffee) nearly scored his first of the season off a Hopkins corner kick in the 21st minute. He ripped a shot from about 20 yards out that Washington goalie Marc Petrucci just tipped over the cross bar. Freshman Max Venker (Oldsmar, FL/Palm Harbor University High) put Hopkins on the board in the 28th minute with his fifth of the season. Sophomore Nicholas Gauna (Evanston, IL/Evantson) took a corner kick for the Jays and sent the ball to Venker at the top of the box. Venker fired a low shot to the left post that a screened Petrucci never saw.

The Shoremen had chances in the 36th and 41st minutes with free kicks just outside the box, but the Hopkins defense and senior goalie Danny Coble (Fremont, CA/Bellarmine College Prep) were up to the challenge. In the 54th minute the Blue Jays pushed their lead to two goals thanks to Gauna. Junior Mo Hamzeh (Clarksville, MD/River Hill) headed the ball into the box off a throw in and Gauna volleyed it past Petrucci for his fifth of the season.

Josh Todd put the visitors on the board in the 57th minute and ended Coble's school and conference record shutout streak at 1010:37. Todd collected a loose ball at the top of the box, quickly turned and fired the ball under a charging Coble. The Blue Jays continued to press for the remainder of the game and ended with a 2-1 win on senior night.

Coble's streak of 1010:37 is the fourth longest in NCAA Division III history. Augsburg's Pascaul Venter had a shutout streak of 1101:05 from last season to this season (929:54 this season) that ended on Sept. 29. The Blue Jays will close out the regular season on Saturday, October 28 as they travel to Lancaster, PA to take on Franklin & Marshall in a 1:00 pm game.