May 21, 2011

Box Score

HEMPSTEAD, NY - Sixth-seeded Denver used two long scoring runs and held off a second-half rally by third-seeded Johns Hopkins to fuel a 14-9 win over the Blue Jays in the NCAA Quarterfinals at Hofstra's Shuart Stadium Saturday afternoon. The win is the 12th straight for the Pioneers (15-2) and propels them into next week's NCAA Semifinals, where they will take on seventh-seeded Virginia. Johns Hopkins had its eight-game winning streak snapped and ends the season at 13-3.

The Pioneers led 7-3 at the half and still held an 8-4 advantage after and extra-man goal by Paul Danko early in the third quarter before the Blue Jays rallied with consecutive goals by Marshall Burkhart, Chris Boland and Phil Castronova in a span of just under five minutes to pull within 8-7 with 7:16 remaining in the third quarter.

That would be as close as the Blue Jays would get as Todd Baxter's third goal of the game with 4:47 left in the period ignited a 5-0 Denver run that extended the Pioneer lead to 13-8 and put the game away.

Baxter's goal was followed 34 seconds later by a strike from Henry Miketa and an Eric Law goal in the final minute of the third quarter.

Any hopes for a Johns Hopkins comeback were dashed in the first five minutes of the fourth period when Jermey Noble scored off a dodge from the wing with 12:35 on the clock and then assisted on an Andrew Lay goal two minutes later to make it 13-7.

Kyle Wharton and Chris Boland sandwiched late goals around another tally by Noble to account for the final scoring.

"They beat us today, it's that simple," Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala stated in the post-game press conference. "They were better than us today and they deserve to be moving on."

The Blue Jays had opened the scoring just over two minutes into the game when freshman Rob Guida blew home a left-handed eight-yarder on the run, but the Pioneers struck for three straight over the next six minutes to take a 3-1 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Mark Matthews took a pass on the move along the goal line and slipped inside his defender before beating JHU's Pierce Bassett from in tight 40 seconds after Guida's goal and Baxter gave Denver its first lead just under three minutes later when he scooped up a loose ball in the crease after a Bassett save and shoveled home his 29th goal of the season. When Cameron Flint got inside his defender at the top of the box he beat a late slide to the crease and went top shelf from in tight to make it 3-1 with 6:13 remaining in the first quarter.

The Pioneers extended the lead to 6-1 with three goals in the first five minutes of the second quarter as Flint and Baxter sandwiched tallies around a Chase Carraro goal to give Denver the five-goal lead. Flint and Carraro's goals were both on unassisted dodges to the goal, while Baxter was on the back-end of some nifty passing and quick-sticked home a shot from the doorstep. Baxter's goal was assisted by Alex Demopoulos, who came from behind the goal and drew a defender before slipping a pass to Baxter on the crease.

Hopkins, which went more than 18 minutes without scoring after Guida's goal, got back-to-back goals in a span of 43 seconds to slice the five-goal deficit to three. John Ranagan bounced home a 12-yarder from the top and Wharton blew one home off a pass from the goal line from Boland.

The Pioneers didn't need much time - 40 seconds to be exact - to strike back as Flint completed his first-half hat trick with a simple ally dodge that got him free and he picked the far corner on the run to make it 7-3.

The Blue Jays nearly made it 7-4 late in the first half, but a Boland goal as wiped off after he landed in the crease on a push. The Blue Jays failed to capitalize on the ensuing extra-man chance and the Pioneers carried the 7-3 lead into halftime.

Wharton and Danko exchanged the two early goals in the third quarter before Burkhart's goal ignited the three-goal run for the Blue Jays that drew them within one midway through the period. Before Castronova's tally, a rebound goal by Palmer was wiped out after he landed in the crease while shooting. For all of their effort the Blue Jays could never draw even and the Baxter goal that followed Castronova's ignited the run that ultimately decided the game.

"At the beginning of the year nobody thought we'd be here today - nobody thought we'd even make the playoffs," Pietramala added. "This is just a bad ending to a great year."

#4 Denver (15-2) 3-4-4-3/14
#3 Johns Hopkins (13-3) 1-3-4-2/9

Goals: D: Flint-3, Baxter-3, Noble, Matthews, Lay, Law, Carraro, Miketa, Danko. J: Wharton-3, Boland-2, Ranagan, Burkhart, Guida, Castronova. Assists: D: Noble-3, Matthews-2, Demopoulos. J: Boland-4, Palmer, Ranagan. Saves: D: Faus-8. J: Bassett-8. Shots: D-29. J-36. EMO: D: 2-for-2. J: 0-for-1. Attendance: 13,447. - 30 -