Box Score March 27, 2010
Box Score
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - The top-ranked Virginia men's lacrosse team broke open a close game in the second quarter with a five-goal run that bridged the first and second halves and later scored four straight in a five-miunte span as the Cavaliers went on to a 15-6 victory over 12th-ranked Johns Hopkins in front of an overflow crowd at Klockner Stadium. The Cavaliers move to 9-0 on the year with the victory, while Johns Hopkins dropped its third straight and slips to 4-4 with the loss.
The Cavaliers jumped out to a 3-1 lead at the end of the first quarter and pushed the lead to 4-1 on a goal by Colin Briggs just under four minutes into the second quarter before the Blue Jays hopped back in the game with a three-goal run that took less than two minutes. Sophomore Tom Palasek picked up where he left off last week against Syracuse as he netted the first two goals in the three-goal flurry. After scoring on the backend of a possession off an assist from senior Steven Boyle, he dodged hard to the goal and beat Virginia goalie Adam Ghitelman from in tight to make it 4-3. When freshman John Ranagan scored on an ally dodge 70 seconds later the Blue Jays drawn even and appeared to have grabbed the momentum.
Any hopes of pulling off the upset were dashed over the next 11 minutes as the Cavaliers went on one of their patented runs - this one a five-goal spree that gave them a 9-4 lead early in the third quarter. The run included a pair of goals by junior Rhamel Bratton and one each by Chris Bocklet, Matt White and Brian Carroll.
A Kyle Wharton goal for the Blue Jays five minutes after Carroll's goal halted the run, but Carroll answered just under three minutes later and George Hugeuly and Shamel Bratton scored in the final three minutes of the period to push the lead to 12-5 at the end of the third quarter and the outcome was never in doubt in the final period.
Freshman Lee Coppersmith added the first goal of his career in the fourth quarter for the Blue Jays, but the Cavaliers got another goal from Shamel Bratton and strikes by Matt Whiteand Nick O'Reilly to account for the final scoring.
Carrol (2g, 3a) and Shamel Bratton (3g, 2a) led the Cavaliers with five-point games and Rhamel Bratton added three goals to help pace an offense that scored at least three goals in each quarter. Ghitelman posted 10 saves for the Cavaliers, who held advantages in shots (43-32) and ground balls (36-22) and forced 18 Blue Jay turnovers.
Palasek was the only multi-goal scorer for the Blue Jays and Ranagan (1g, 1a) was the only other player who posted more than one point for Hopkins. Michael Gvozden posted fives in goal before being lifted with just under 19 minutes remaining. Freshman Pierce Bassett played the final 18:41 in goal and posted four saves while allowing five goals.
#12 Johns Hopkins (4-4)1-3-1-1/6
#1 Virginia (9-0) 3-4-5-3/15
Goals: J: Palasek-2, Ranagan, Kimmel, Wharton, Coppersmith. V: S. Bratton-3, R. Bratton-3, White-3, Carroll-2, Bocklet, Huguely, Briggs, O'Reilly. Assists: J: Boyle, Ranagan V: Carroll-3, Bratton-2, Bocklet, Huguely, Stanwick. Saves: J: Gvozden-5, Bassett-4. V: Ghitelman-10, Eimer-1. Shots: J-32. V-43. EMO: J: 0-for-4. V: 1-for-4. Attendance: 6,366.
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