PRINCETON, NJ – Senior attackman Michael Sowers rang up two goals and seven assists to lead 10^th-ranked Princeton to an 18-11 win over visiting Johns Hopkins Saturday afternoon.  The Tigers improve to 4-0 on the year with the victory, while the Blue Jays slip to 1-3 with the loss.
 
The Tigers jumped to a 9-6 lead at halftime and took control by scoring eight of the first 10 goals of the second half to fuel the victory.
 
After the teams traded goals to open the third quarter, the Tigers scored three straight and seven of eight over the next 16 minutes to turn a 10-7 lead into a 17-8 advantage.  Sowers had two assists during the spree, but it was Connor McCarthy doing a lot of the damage for the Tigers as he scored three times to fuel the run that put the game away.
 
Johns Hopkins scored first – as it has in all four games this season – as Evan Zinn found the back of the net on an alley dodge just 66 seconds into the game.  The lead lasted less than a minute as McCarthy scored his first of the game 53 seconds later off the first of Sowers' seven assists in the game.
 
The McCarthy goal jump-started a four-goal run for the Tigers that gave Princeton the lead for good.  Sowers assisted on three of the four goals, which came in a span of less than six minutes.
 
Johns Hopkins had deficits of 4-1 and 5-2 down to 5-4 after back-to-back extra-man goals from Owen Murphy and Joey Epstein in a span of 35 seconds early in the second quarter, but Princeton answered with a Sowers goal and Alexander Vardaro added one of his four on the day four minutes later to make it 7-4.
 
Twice the Blue Jays had the deficit down to two at 7-5 and 8-6 as Epstein and Brett Baskin wrapped goals around another tally from Sowers, but Vardaro completed his first-half hat trick with 29.8 seconds remaining in the first half to account for the 9-6 Princeton lead at the half.
 
The Blue Jays had a golden opportunity to slice the deficit to 9-7 just 35 seconds into the third quarter, but Princeton goalie Erik Peters robbed Connor DeSimone on the doorstep to keep it a three-goal game.  The teams traded the next two with McCarthy scoring on a 12-yard step-down and Luke Shilling adding an extra-man goal for Johns Hopkins before an Alex Slusher goal ignited the 8-2 game-deciding run.
 
Murphy's first career hat trick led the way for Johns Hopkins, which also got two goals and two assists from Epstein and two goals from Zinn.  Kyle Prouty and Matt Narewski combined to win 21-of-33 faceoffs for the Blue Jays.
 
Sowers' nine points led the way for Prinecton, which got a combined nine goals from McCarthy (5) and Vardaro (4).  Peters posted 15 saves in goal for the Tigers.
                                                                                                                                                                                                            
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, March 7 when the Blue Jays welcome Syracuse to Homewood Field (1 pm).
 
Notes:  Epstein's first goal of the game was the 50^th of his career and came in his 19^th career game.  He is just the sixth Johns Hopkins player to reach 50 goals in less than 20 career games (Terry Riordan-16, Bill Morrill16, Mike O'Neill-17, Jerry Schmidt-17, Jack Thomas-18) • The Blue Jays were 4-of-5 on extra-man.