April 21, 2007

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - The seventh-ranked Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team got a combined six goals from junior midfielder Paul Rabil and freshman midfielder Michael Kimmel and junior Stephen Peyser polished off the effort of the Blue Jays' first midfield by winning a career-high 14-of-17 faceoffs in a 10-9 victory over ninth-ranked Navy Saturday afternoon at Homewood Field. The win is the 33rd straight for Johns Hopkins against the Midshipmen and the fourth straight by one goal. The Blue Jays improve to 6-4 with their second straight win, while the Midshipmen fall to 9-3 and have lost three of their last four (all by one goal).

Navy built a 5-4 halftime lead and had a golden opportunity to push the lead to 6-4, but Hopkins' Jesse Schwartzman stuffed Navy's Ian Dingman on the doorstep and the Blue Jays scored four of the next five goals to take an 8-6 lead early in the fourth quarter. Kimmel pulled the Blue Jays even when he scored off an assist from freshman Steven Boyle with 9:42 remaining in the third period. The Blue Jays had possession for over three minutes and fired five shots at Navy's Colin Finnegan before Kimmel finally beat him with his second goal of the game.

Navy answered 90 seconds later with an opportunistic goal. The Blue Jays had possession, but misfired on a pass in the Navy defensive end of the field. The ball shot through to midfield, where JHU's Eric Zerrlaut briefly had control while retreating towards his own goal. However, he quickly lost possession and Navy's Tim Paul deflected the bouncing loose ball past Schwartzman to make it 6-5. That lead was gone by the end of the third quarter as sophomore Brian Christopher scored off a dodge from behind the goal and senior Jake Byrne beat Finnegan with a seven-yard bouncer through the five-hole with 2:11 remaining in the third period.

The Blue Jays had all the momentum when Kimmel fired home his third goal of the game 92 seconds into the fourth quarter to give the Blue Jays an 8-6 lead, but Billy Looney's second goal of the game 75 seconds later and Tommy Wallin's tally just over four minutes after that drew the Midshipmen even at 8-8.

Rabil took over down the stretch with his 14th and 15th goals of the season in a span of just under three minutes. It took him just 50 seconds to answer Wallin's goal as he surprised the Navy defense with a quick dodge and shot just inside the near post in an unsettled situation. A quick split dodge from the top with 4:20 remaining found him alone eight yards in front of the goal and he picked the right corner to give the Blue Jays what appeared was a safe 10-8 lead.

The Blue Jays milked a good part of the final four minutes off the clock, but Navy made things interesting when Paul scored off a failed Blue Jay clearing attempt with 24 seconds remaining. However, Peyser won the ensuing faceoff the Midshipmen didn't gain control again until less than five seconds remained as Hopkins secured its second straight one-goal win of the season.

Kimmel opened the scoring 81 seconds into the game when he spun inside a defender and beat Finnegan with a sidearm shot from 10-yards out. Navy scored three times in a span of just under six minutes midway through the first period to take its only two-goal lead of the game (3-1). William Wallace, Basil Daratsos and Looney all scored during the spree for Navy, which quickly saw the lead evaporate when Kevin Huntley scored late in the period and Byrne punched one home early in the second.

Rabil gave the Blue Jays a 4-3 lead midway through the second quarter with the first of his three goals, but Navy carried the 5-4 lead into halftime as an extra-man goal by Dingman with 4:46 remaining in the period and the first of Paul's three goals provided the Midshipmen with the one-goal edge. Dingman's chance to increase the lead came early in the third quarter, but Schwartzman's big save ignited the 4-1 spree that was just enough for Hopkins to extend its winning streak against the Midshipmen.

The three goals match Kimmel's career high, while Rabil's three goals push his career point total to an even 100. Byrne scored the two goals and is just behind Rabil with 99 career points, while Peyser bettered his previous career highs of 13 faceoffs won, 16 faceoffs attempted and eight ground balls (he had 11 today). The Blue Jays held advantages in shots (34-21) and ground balls (34-29) and won 15-of-23 faceoffs against a Navy team which entered the game ranked ranked fourth in the nation in faceoff winning percentage.

Paul entered the game with five goals to his credit, but punched up a career-high three to lead Navy. Looney added the two goals on three shots and Nick Mirabito added three assists. Finnegan made seven saves in goal for Navy, which forced 15 Blue Jay turnovers, but failed on 9-of-19 clearing attempts to offset that advantage.

Navy (9-3) 3-2-1-3/9
Johns Hopkins (6-4) 2-2-3-3/10

Goals: N: Paul-3, Looney-2, Wallin, Daratsos, Dingman, Wallace. J: Kimmel-3, Rabil-3, Byrne-2, Huntley, Christopher. Assists: N: Mirabito-3, Wallin. J: Boyle, Bryan. Saves: N: Finnegan-7. J: Schwartzman-15. Shots: N-21. J-34. EMO: N: 1-for-2. J: 0-for-1. Attendance: 6,856.