BALTIMORE, MD – The 17^th-ranked Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team used a five-goal run that bridged the second and fourth quarters and standout performances from senior attackman Ian Krampf and graduate student goalie Gib Versfeld, who were both making their first starts of the season, as the Blue Jays topped Utah, 12-8, at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon.  The meeting was the first between Johns Hopkins and Utah and the Blue Jays improve to 3-2 with the win, while the Utes slip to 1-3.
 
In a back-and-forth first half that featured four ties and four lead changes, the Blue Jays rode a first quarter hat trick from Krampf to jump to a 4-3 lead at the end of the opening period.  Krampf scored the first two goals of the game in less than five minutes, then helped answer a three-goal Utah run that had given the Utes a 4-3 lead as he followed a Brendan Grimes extra-man tally with his third goal of the game off a feed from Grimes to the top of the box, where he blew home a 10-yarder.
 

1Q | 10:05
JHU 2 - 0 Utah

5 minutes in and Ian Krampf has his second of the day!#GoHop pic.twitter.com/6nMtPVr40c

— JHU Men's Lacrosse (@jhumenslacrosse) February 25, 2023

The Utes got back to-back goals from Jordan Hyde in a span of just over two minutes early in the second quarter but would then be held scoreless for more than 30 minutes until early in the fourth period.  In the meantime, the Blue Jays closed the first half with extra-man goals from Johnathan Peshko and Matt Collison – both of which were assisted by Russell Melendez – to grab a 6-5 lead at the half.
 
Collison completed a natural hat trick as he scored both Johns Hopkins goals in the third quarter.  He opened the period by spinning back to his left on the wing and scoring from five yards out less than three minutes in and went low off a feed from junior Ryan Evans with 64 seconds remaining in the period to make it 8-5.

While Collison's two goals provided the margin, the story of the third quarter was Versfeld and the Blue Jay defense.  Utah fired 15 of its 45 shots in the quarter, but Versfeld made eight saves to keep the Utes scoreless.
 

4Q | 8:30
JHU 9 - 6 Utah

Melendez with a pretty sweet recovery!#GoHop pic.twitter.com/VULX0ke3Hu

— JHU Men's Lacrosse (@jhumenslacrosse) February 25, 2023

The five-goal Blue Jays run was complete 90 seconds into the fourth quarter when Evans scored his first of the season by picking the top corner off a quick one-more from Jacob Angelus,  The teams then traded the final six goals in a nine-minute span to account for the 12-8 final.  After Evans gave Hopkins the 9-5 lead, Utah would pull within three on three different occasions on strikes from Tyler Bradbury, Colby Plotts and Carson Moyer, but Grimes answered two of those and Angelus capped his four-point day with his third goal of the season to close out the scoring.
 
Inside the Box Score – Johns Hopkins
• Krampf entered the game with one career goal but had three goals and one assist on the day.
• Versfeld made the first start of his Johns Hopkins career and posted 15 saves, including the eight in the third quarter and 12 in the second half.
• Grimes (3g, 1a) and Angelus (1g, 3a) joined Krampf with four-point days and Collison added the second hat trick of his young career.
• The Blue Jays were credited with nine caused turnovers on the day; junior Scott Smith had three of those CTs and added three ground balls.
 
 
Inside the Box Score - Utah
• Hyde and Stines led the Utes with two goals apiece and MJ McMahon collected three of Utah's six assists on the day.
• Cole Brams went 12-of-24 on faceoffs and added six ground balls.
• Freshman Colin Lenskold kept the Utes in the game with a 14-save effort that included nine first-half stops.
• The Utes' outshot the Blue Jays 45-33 with 27 of their 45 shots coming in the second half.
 
Up Next
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, March 4 when the Blue Jays welcome Saint Joseph's to Homewood Field (2 pm).