March 6, 2007

Box Score

CATONSVILLE, MD - The fifth-ranked Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team jumped out to an 8-0 lead and never led host UMBC get closer than six the rest of the way as the Blue Jays eased past the Retrievers 15-6 at chilly UMBC Stadium Tuesday night. The win is the fifth straight for Hopkins against UMBC and improves the Blue Jays' record to 2-1, while the Retrievers slip to 2-2 with their second straight loss.

The win also moved Johns Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala into sole possession of fourth place on JHU's career coaching victories list as he now sports a 74-16 record at Homewood. He entered the game tied with Don Zimmerman on the all-time coaching victories list at Johns Hopkins. Pietramala played for four years at Hopkins under Zimmerman, who coached at JHU from 1984-1990.

The Blue Jays wasted little time jumping on the Retrievers as they sprinted out to a 5-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Hopkins' first midfield of Paul Rabil, Stephen Peyser and Michael Kimmel all scored unassisted goals before the game was seven minutes old to stake the Blue Jays to a quick 3-0 lead. Junior Stephen Peyser netted the Blue Jays' first first-quarter goal of the season just 52 seconds into the game when he dodged from the top of the box and beat UMBC goalie Jeremy Blevins with a low shot just inside the far post. Kimmel dodged from the top three minutes later to make it 2-0 and Rabil scored off a clear attempt in transition to give the Blue Jays their first three-goal lead of the season.

Hopkins pushed the lead to 5-0 by the end of the first quarter with back-to-back transition goals in the final four minutes. Senior Jake Byrne polished off a fast-break as he took a skip pass from junior Kevin Huntley and one-timed a shot past Blevins at the 3:55 mark, while junior George Castle punched home the first goal of his career with 1:41 remaining when he took a pass from freshman Steven Boyle 10 yards in front of the goal and beat Blevins up high.

Byrne added his second goal of the game just under two minutes into the second quarter and Kimmel and sophomore Mark Bryan scored less than two minutes apart midway through the period to push the lead to 8-0 before the Retrievers scored twice late in the quarter to trim the deficit to 8-2. Drew Westervelt broke the ice for UMBC with an extra man goal with 2:33 remaining in the period and Cayle Ratcliffe dodged from behind the goal and scored unassisted to make it a six-goal game with 51 seconds remaining before the half.

Any momentum the Retrievers gained with the two-goal spurt was short-lived as Peyser needed just nine seconds after Ratcliff's goal to push the lead to 9-2 as he scored off the faceoff to account for the seven-goal margin at the half. The nine first-half goals were two more than the Blue Jays had scored in either of their first two full games.

Westervelt added another extra man goal 3:32 into the second half, but any hopes for a comeback were dashed quickly as Hopkins scored five of the next six goals with five different players scoring during the spree to put the game away. Huntley opened the run at the 10:49 mark and the rally also included a behind-the-back goal by senior Drew Dabrowski, an extra man goal by Kimmel and even-strength goals by Boyle and sophomore Brian Christopher. Westervelt and Ratcliffe sandwiched goals around a Tom Duerr goal for the Blue Jays in the final nine minutes to close out the scoring.

In addition to the balanced scoring, the Blue Jays got 13 saves in just under 57 minutes from senior Jesse Schwartzman, who now has 30 saves while allowing just 12 goals in the last two games. Boyle (1g, 3a) and Byrne (2g, 2a) paced the Blue Jays with four points apiece, while Kimmel (3g) and Peyser (2g, 1a) added three points each. In all, 11 different players scored goals for Hopkins, which improved to 26-8 in the month of March under head coach Dave Pietramala.

Westervelt matched Kimmel with three goals, while Ratcliffe added two goals. Andy Gallagher added one goal and assisted on two of Westervelt's goals, while Blevins made 12 saves in just over 51 minutes of action.

Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday when the Blue Jays host Hofstra at noon. UMBC will host Penn on Saturday.