March 18, 2006

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - Sophomore attackman Kevin Huntley (Towson, MD/Calvert Hall) tied his career highs with five goals and six points and sophomore midfielder Paul Rabil (Gaithersburg, MD/DeMatha) matched his personal best with four goals as the 13th-ranked Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team knocked off 10th-ranked Syracuse, 14-9, at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. The Blue Jays, who won fir the sixth time in their last eight games Orange, improve to 3-2 with the victory while the Orange fall to 1-3.

The Blue Jays wasted little time jumping on the Orange as Rabil and Huntley sandwiched goals around a Jake Byrne (Potomac, MD/Landon) tally before the game was four minutes old to give the Blue Jays a quick 3-0 lead. Rabil and Huntley's goals were both unassisted, while Huntley assisted on Byrne's tally, which came just 17 seconds after Rabil had staked the Blue Jays to a 1-0 lead.

The first of Mike Leveille's (Delmar, NY/Albany Academy) three goals temporarily stopped the run, but Rabil and Huntley added two more goals apiece in a seven-minute span before the first quarter was over to give the Blue Jays a 7-1 lead at the end of the first period. The seven goals were just one less than the Blue Jays had scored in the first quarter of their first four games combined.

The Blue Jays led 8-1 after a Brian Christopher (Springfield, PA/Springfield) goal midway through the second quarter before the Orange began their inevitable rally with back-to-back goals by Dan Hardy (Tully, NY/Tully) and Brett Bucktooth (Onondaga Nation, NY/Lafayette) late in the second quarter to make it 8-3 at the half. Byrne punched home his second of the game off an assist from junior Drew Dabrowski (Syracuse, NY/West Genesse) just 2:10 into the third quarter and Dabrowski scored on a rebound four minutes later to give the Blue Jays what appeared to be a comfortable 10-3 lead.

Syracuse, as it has so many times in the past, rallied quickly and pulled within 10-7 with a four-goal flurry late in the third quarter. Back-to-back goals by Leveille - both of which were assisted by Joe Yevoli (Massapequa, NY/St. Anthony's) - made it 10-5 before an extra-man goal by Bucktooth and an unassisted goal by Yevoli in a span of 70 seconds trimmed the lead to three.

The Blue Jays finally halted the run with a goal off a successful ride late in the third period. Under heavy pressure, Syracuse goalie Peter Coluccini (South Salem, NY/John Jay Cross River) turned the ball over in front of his own goal, where Huntley scooped up the loose ball and fired into an open net to push the lead to 11-7. A Brian Crockett (Yorktown, MD/Yorktown) goal trimmed the lead to11-8 before senior Greg Peyser (Lloyd Harbor, NY/Cold Spring Harbor) and Huntley scored to push the lead back to five at 13-8. Peyser's side-armed 12-yard into the top far corner was assisted by Christopher, while Huntley drove to the goal from the side and beat Coluccini to the near post. Another Yevoli goal was matched by Rabil's fourth goal of the game with less than two minutes to play as the Blue Jays reached a season-high for goals.

Huntley, who has notched five goals in two of his last three games, pushed his team-leading totals to 16 goals and six assists, while Rabil matched his four-goal effort of a year ago today in a 12-11 overtime victory at Syracuse. In addition to the one goal, Peyser won 12 of 16 faceoffs and grabbed a team-high eight ground balls. The Blue Jays won 18-of-26 faceoffs on the day as junior Jamison Koesterer (Cazenovia, NY/Cazenovia) won 6-of-10 as well. Junior goalie Jesse Schwartzman (Owings Mills, MD/Pikesville) posted nine saves for the Blue Jays, who also held advantages in shots (34-32) and ground balls (44-40).

Leveille led the Orange with three goals and one assist, while Yevoli matched Leveille's four point showing with two goals and two assists. Bucktooth added two goals and one assist, while Coluccini added 11 saves in goal for Syracuse.

Johns Hopkins will travel to Charlottesville to play Virginia next Saturday, while Syracuse will next in action on March 28 when the Orange host Hobart.

#10 Syracuse (1-3) 1-2-4-2/9
#13 Johns Hopkins (3-2) 7-1-3-3/14

Goals: S: Leveille-3, Yevoli-2, Bucktooth-2, Crockett, Hardy. J: Huntley-5, Rabil-4, Byrne-2, Dabrowski, Peyser, Christopher. Assists: S: Yevoli-2, Bucktooth, Crockett, Hardy, Leveille. J: Huntley, Dabrowski, Christopher. Saves: S: Coluccini-11. J: Schwarztman-9. EMO: S: 2-for-4. J: 1-for-2. Attendance: 2,836.