May 24, 2008

Box Score | Photo Gallery

FOXBOROUGH, MA - Senior Kevin Huntley scored a game-high four goals and sophomore Michael Gvozden matched his career high with 17 saves as fifth-seeded and fourth-ranked Johns Hopkins stunned top-seeded and top-ranked Duke, 10-9, in the NCAA Semifinals before 48,224 at Gillette Stadium Saturday afternoon. The win, which avenges a 17-6 loss at Duke earlier this season, is the eighth straight for the Blue Jays, who advance to the NCAA Championship game for the third time in four years and the fourth time in six years. The Blue Jays will meet Syracuse in the title game. The Orange defeated Virginia, 12-11, in double overtime in the first semifinal.

The Blue Jays led 7-5 entering the fourth quarter and still held a two-goal lead after Matt Danowski and George Castle traded goals in a span of 1:26 midway through the final period. Castle's goal, his second of the season, came at the 7:25 mark and gave the Blue Jays an 8-6 lead, but Duke needed all of 18 seconds to pull even. Danowski's second of the game came 12 seconds after Castle's tally and Nick O'Hara scored six seconds after that to give the Devils what appeared to be all the momentum. Both Duke goals came after the Blue Jays lost the faceoffs on procedure calls.

Hopkins took the lead for good 28 seconds after O'Hara's goal as sophomore Steve Boyle quick-sticked a shot from in tight past Duke's Dan Loftus off a nifty feed from classmate Michael Kimmel while the Blue Jays had the man advantage. Huntley tacked on his fourth goal of the season just over two minutes later when he polished off a back-and-forth sequence. After a Blue Jay turnover, Duke's Max Quinzani hit the post in transition and the Blue Jays took it the other way. Kimmel then found Huntley, who wasted no time netting his fourth of the game with 4:18 remaining.

Gvozden made two saves over the next three minutes before Brad Ross drew Duke within one with 28 seconds remaining as he fired home a 10-yarder off a feed from just behind the goal to Gvozden's left. The Blue Jays won the ensuing faceoff, but turned the ball over with 17 seconds remaining. The Devils grabbed the loose ball and set up a final play for Danowski after a timeout with 3.9 seconds remaining, but Govzden was equal to the task down low and time expired before Duke could get off another shot.

The Blue Jays dictated the tempo in the first half and led 4-2 at intermission on the strength of an efficient offense and timely goalkeeping from Gvozden. The Blue Jays opened the scoring with 6:55 remaining in the opening half when Kimmel found Huntley on a backdoor cut in transition and Huntley beat Duke's Dan Loftus from six yards out. The goal came after Gvozden registered one of his five first-quarter saves.

The 1-0 lead lasted until the 4:07 mark of the opening period when the Devils scored in transition. After a Loftus save, Duke quickly worked the ball up field to senior Matt Danowski, who found a streaking Zack Greer three yards in front of the goal and Greer slipped one past Gvozden.

Duke took its first lead of the game with 44.5 seconds remaining in the opening period when Greer threaded a pass to sophomore Quinzani on the backside of the crease and Quinzani faked high and shot low to capitalize on the only extra-man opportunity of the first half for either team.

The Blue Jays would score three straight goals in the second half to take the two-goal halftime lead. Junior Brian Christopher fired one low to the far post on an ally dodge with 9:14 remaining and sophomore Steven Boyle dodged hard from behind the goal and scored on a one-handed wrap-around to the top far corner just under four minutes later.

The Blue Jays didn't need long to push the lead to 4-2 as senior Stephen Peyser won the ensuing faceoff and found Boyle just at the edge of the box along the goal line. Boyle quickly worked behind the goal and found Huntley cutting to the goal, where he took Boyle's pass and scored a behind-the-back goal from five yards out to close out the first-half scoring.

Hopkins pushed the lead to 5-2 just 2:23 into the second half when senior Paul Rabil came down in transition and found senior Michael Doneger alone in front of the goal. Doneger quickly fired home his 19th goal of the season to give the Blue Jays the three goal lead.

Duke needed less than one minute to pull even as junior Steve Schoeffel ignited a three-goal run that took just 45 seconds as he sprinted in from the side, slipped inside his defender and scored from in tight. Quinzani netted his second of the game 38 seconds later and Terrence Molinari capped the lightning-quick three-goal run seven seconds later when he was at the back end of a nifty tic-tac-toe off the faceoff after Quinzani's goal.

The Blue Jays answered with 7:27 remaining when Rabil blew a left-handed laser past Loftus on an ally dodge and Huntley beat the third-quarter horn when he grabbed a loose ball and went low-to-high from six yards out with two-tenths of a second remaining in the period. That set the stage for the wild fourth quarter, which saw Gvozden make seven of his 17 saves, including the one at the horn that preserved the victory.