April 22, 2006

Box Score |

BALTIMORE, MD - The streak would come to an end, that much was certain. The fourth-ranked Navy men's lacrosse team led 12th-ranked Johns Hopkins 7-5 at the end of the third quarter and the Mids held commanding leads in virtually every category on the stat sheet. Navy, looking to snap a 31-game losing streak against the Blue Jays, had a partisan crowd of 13,857 on its side and 15 minutes was all that separated the Midshipmen from their first win over Johns Hopkins since 1974.

Fortunately for the Blue Jays, games aren't decided on a stat sheet and Hopkins is used to playing in front of large crowds. Sparked by two goals in the first 90 seconds of the final period, an exceptional effort by junior goalie Jesse Schwartzman (Owings Mills, MD/Pikesville) and inspired play on faceoffs by junior Jamison Koesterer (Cazenovia, NY/Cazenovia) down the stretch the Blue Jays pulled off a 9-8 upset by outscoring the Midshipmen 4-1 in the fourth quarter to improve to 6-4 on the year. Navy had a modest two-game losing streak snapped and falls to 9-3. The one-goal win is the third straight for Hopkins against Navy and its fifth consecutive one-goal win at Navy's Marine Corps Stadium. The Blue Jays also improved to 22-4 in one-goal games under head coach Dave Pietramala.

Navy sprung to its third and final two-goal lead of the game with back-to-back goals in the third quarter to take the 7-5 lead. Senior Jon Birsner beat Schwartzman from a tough angle on a move from behind the goal and found sophomore Nick Mirabito cutting to the goal seven minutes later to give Navy the two-goal cushion.

That lead held, though just barely as Navy's Billy Looney hit the post as the third quarter expired, until a three-goal Hopkins run early in the fourth quarter have JHU an 8-7 lead. Junior Jake Byrne's (Potomac, MD/Landon) spinning, highlight-reel behind-the-back shot from six yards beat Navy goalie Matt Russell to the near post just 15 seconds into the fourth quarter and freshman Tom Duerr (Manasquan, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) scored from 10 yards out just eight seconds later after coming up with a ground ball off a scramble on the faceoff after Byrne's goal.

Sophomore midfielder Paul Rabil (Gaithersburg, MD/DeMatha) gave the Blue Jays their first lead of the game four minutes later when he dodged from the top and beat Russell with a knee-high left-handed shot just inside the far post. Mirabito and Birsner hooked up again just over three minutes later when Birsner found Mirabito cutting down the middle and Mirabito beat Schwartzman one-on-one on the doorstep to force the fifth and final tie of the game.

It took just 69 seconds for the Blue Jays to take the lead for good as Rabil found Kevin Huntley (Towson, MD/Calvert Hall) five yards above the goal line to Russell's left and Huntley handled the low pass and dribbled one past Russell for his 23rd goal of the season.

Schwartzman, who posted 10 saves for the Blue Jays, including several of the point-blank variety, came up with the only fourth-quarter save he needed a short time later when he stopped Geoff Leone's uncontested 10-yard shot in transition. Navy went offside on the ensuing clear attempt and the Blue Jays ran off over two minutes of clock time before Navy finally forced a clock stoppage with 1:07 remaining. Hopkins killed all but the last 34 seconds before turning the ball over and Navy got off just one shot after that - a 12-yarder from the top by Looney that sailed wide with 10 seconds. Birsner tried to force a pass into attackman Ian Dingman on the restart, but the pass was knocked down and kicked to the sideline and the clock expired before either team could gain possession.

Navy, which had picked up dramatic one-goal wins over rivals Maryland and Army in the previous two weeks, struck quickly as Looney staked the Mids to a 1-0 lead just 43 seconds into the game as he beat Schwartzman to the near post with a left-handed shot on the run. Byrne tied the score at the 10:45 mark when he dodged in from the side of the goal and beat Russell up high under heavy pressure. The remainder of the first quarter was scoreless with Schwartzman making the first of his point-blank saves on a five-yard shot by Mirabito with 5:20 remaining in the period.

Navy took the first of its three, two-goal leads on back-to-back goals by Taylor Harris early in the second quarter. Birsner notched the assist on both as he fed him for an extra-man goal with 13:21 remaining in the period and again three minutes later. A Greg Peyser (Lloyd Harbor, NY/Cold Spring Harbor) goal less than a minute after Harris' second goal made it 3-2 and Huntley scored his first goal of the game just over four minutes later on a roll dodge from Russell's left.

Birsner and Matt Bitter both scored late in the second quarter and the Mids appeared well on their way to carrying the 5-3 lead into halftime, but Stephen Peyser (Lloyd Harbor, NY/Cold Spring Harbor) sprinted hard from the top and beat Russell low to the far post with a 10-yard left-handed shot just 16 seconds before intermission to make it 5-4 Navy at the half. Freshman Brian Christopher (Springfield, PA/Springfield) ran his goal-scoring streak to a team-best seven games with an unassisted goal just 92 seconds into the third quarter to knot the game at 5-5 to set the stage for a thrilling finish in front of the largest regular season lacrosse crowd to see any game this season.

Huntley and Byrne both finished with two goals and Rabil added one goal and one assist to lead the Blue Jays. Koesterer won 9-of-11 faceoffs, including all six of his attempts in the second half. Schwartzman's 10 saves improve his career total to 303 and he becomes just the 12th goalie in school history to amass 300 or more career saves.

Birsner had two goals and four assists to lead the way for Navy, which also got two goals and one assist from Mirabito and the two goals from Harris. Russell posted six saves and Navy held advantages in shots (49-28) and ground balls (27-21).

Johns Hopkins will host Towson next Saturday (2:00 pm), while Navy will participate in the Patriot League Tournament. The site of the tournament will be determined by the outcome of the Colgate-Bucknell game on Sunday.

#12 Johns Hopkins (6-4) 1-3-1-4/9
#4 Navy (9-3) 1-4-2-1/8

Goals: J: Huntley-2, Byrne-2, Rabil, G. Peyser, S. Peyser, Christopher, Duerr. N: Birsner, Harris, Mirabito, Looney, Bitter. Assists: J: Rabil. N: Birsner-4, Higgins, Mirabito. Saves: J: Schwartzman-10. N: Russell-6. EMO: J: 0-for-1. N: 1-for-5. Attendance: 13,857.