Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD -- Entering Saturday's game, exactly one spot separated the Johns Hopkins and Loyola men's lacrosse teams in the USILA national rankings. After Saturday's game, the seventh-ranked Blue Jays and eighth-ranked Greyhounds are still separated by just one, but it was Loyola that came out with the extra goal in a 9-8 win before a crowd of 4,868 at the Ridley Athletic Complex.

For the Blue Jays (1-1), a 6-4 advantage in the second half wasn't quite enough to overcome a 5-2 halftime deficit. Johns Hopkins drew within a goal four times in the second half, but Loyola had an answer each time and a save by Grant Limone on Pat Fraser shot with 52 seconds remaining sealed the victory for the `Hounds.

"They're a good team -- you can't make the mistakes we made did," Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala noted in the post-game press conference. "They are going to capitalize on those and that's what you saw. I was proud of our effort in the second half, but I'd like to see more of that in the first half. We kept clawing back, but we could never get over the hump. We just didn't do what we needed to do to win this game."

Despite the three-goal halftime deficit, the Blue Jays were within one less than four minutes into the third quarter as Wilkins Dismuke got free inside and scored off a nifty feed from Shack Stanwick and John Crawley dodged from behind the goal and scored just over two minutes later to make it 5-4.

Hopkins had a golden opportunity to pull even a short time later when Loyola's Zach Davilakos was called for slashing, but the Blue Jays turned it over and Loyola capitalized. Just 50 seconds after the penalty expired it was Zach Herreweyers taking a cross-crease pass from Pat Spencer and firing into an open goal to make it 6-4.

It was 7-6 at the end of the third quarter after Kyle Marr's first career goal and a Fraser tally were wrapped around a Jeff Chase dodge and score for Loyola. Fraser's goal came with just 12 seconds left in the period and appeared to give the momentum to the Blue Jays entering the final period.

That momentum was gone 122 seconds into the fourth quarter as Herreweyers' rebound goal and a Brian Sherlock laser to the top shelf from nine yards out gave the `Hounds a 9-6 lead.

Marr's second of the game, off another nice feed from Stanwick while the Blue Jays were up a man, pulled the Blue Jays within 9-7 with 11:19 to play and Crawley came from behind the goal to score again less than three minutes later to make it 9-8.

Hopkins had several chances late, including a shot off the cross bar from senior Ryan Brown, a skip pass from Marr to a wide open Brown that didn't quite connect and Fraser's last-minute blast, but Loyola was able to maintain the one-goal lead and hold on for the victory.

Loyola had a big statistical advantage in the opening quarter, but led just 3-2 after the first 15 minutes as Brown answered Loyola tallies in the first eight minutes before Johnny Giuffreda netted his first career goal with 3:49 left in the period.

Chase and Spencer added second-quarter goals for Loyola, which didn't win a faceoff in the period, but got four saves from Limone to keep the Blue Jays scoreless. For his part, Johns Hopkins goalie Brock Turnbaugh matched his five-save first quarter in the second to keep the Blue Jays close.

Craig Madarasz, who won 7-of-9 first-half faceoffs, won the opening draw of the third quarter and Dismuke's tally came 71 seconds into the period. From there, neither team would score more than two in a row, but the three-goal halftime margin was just enough for the `Hounds to lock up the victory.

Turnbaugh finished with a career-high 16 saves, while Madarasz finished 13-of-21 on faceoffs and added six ground balls. Brown (2g, 1a) and Stanwick (3a) paced the Blue Jays with three points apiece, while Crawley and Marr added the two second-half goals.

Loyola's nine goals were coupled with six assists for 15 points and Herreweyers (3g, 1a) and Spencer (1g, 3a) combined for eight of those 15. Chase (2g) was the only other multi-goal scorer, while Limone finished with 10 saves, including four big ones in the fourth quarter.

Johns Hopkins will return to action on Sunday, February 28 when the Blue Jays welcome North Carolina to Homewood Field for the first of four straight home games for JHU. The home whites will be a welcome site for the Blue Jays, who played their eighth straight game dating back to last season away from Homewood Field today.

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