BALTIMORE, MD – The eighth-ranked Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team outscored host Michigan 7-1 in a 15-minute span from late in the third quarter until late in the fourth as the Blue Jays pulled away for a 15-11 win in the Big Ten opener for both teams Saturday night at UM Lacrosse Stadium. The win is the fourth straight for Johns Hopkins, which improves to 8-3 overall and 1-0 in the Big Ten. Michigan slips to 4-4 overall and 0-1 in the Big Ten.
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Trailing 9-8, junior
Brendan Grimes jump-started the game-deciding spree with 4:15 remaining in the third quarter when he scored on the run right out of the sub box. The goal was the third of the game for Grimes, whose game-tying goal was followed 50 seconds later by a
Russell Melendez goal off a dodge from the wing to give the Blue Jays a lead they would never relinquish.
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The two-goal run was a four-goal spurt less than four minutes into the fourth quarter as the Blue Jays grabbed a 12-9 lead.Â
Garrett Degnon turned a caused turnover on a Michigan clear into his fifth of the night and Grimes bounced home his fourth of the game 72 seconds later to give the Blue Jays a the three-goal lead with 11:33 to play.
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Michigan broke a scoreless drought of more than 11 minutes just over a minute after Grimes' goal when Bryce Clay scored off a feed from Josh Zawada, but the Blue Jays answered with three straight in a span of just over three minutes midway through the period to put the game away. Back-to-back Melendez goals and a
Patrick Deans strike on the run after he intercepted a pass at midfield gave the Blue Jays a 15-10 lead with 4:31 to play; Peter Thompson closed the scoring with a goal for the Wolverines with 2:02 on the clock.
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The Blue Jays led 2-0 early, but Michigan answered by scoring five of the next six goals to grab a 5-3 lead midway through the second quarter. Five different players scored during the spree for the Wolverines, who grabbed their two-goal lead on a an unassisted Thompson goal with 7:55 remaining in the first half.
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Johns Hopkins answered with a three-goal run that was bookended by a pair from Degnon, the second of which gave the Blue Jays a 6-5 lead with less than two minutes remaining in the first half. Michigan was even at the half on a late Zawada strike and he gave the Wolverines a one-goal lead early in the second half after a crazy back-and-forth flurry.
The teams traded two-goal runs over the next nine minutes with a Clay extra-man goal and a Jake Bonomi step-down giving Michigan the 9-8 lead with 6:50 on the third-quarter clock. Grimes' fourth goal of the game just under three minutes later ignited the 7-1 run that eventually gave Hopkins the 15-10 lead.
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Inside the Box Score – Johns Hopkins
• Degnon scored a game-high five goals and pushed his career total to 99. The five goals are one shy of his career high.
• Melendez had a career-high seven points as he tied his career best with four goals and added three assists.
• Grimes added career bests of four goals and five points and scored on four of his six shots.
• The Blue Jays won the ground ball battle, 34-27, and collected 10 caused turnovers in the victory. Hopkins also harassed the Wolverines into a 12-of-19 clearing performance.
• During the four-game winning streak, the Blue Jays have outscored the opposition 14-3 in the final 10 minutes of those games.
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Inside the Box Score – Michigan
• Zawada led the Wolverines with three goals and one assist, while Thompson (2g, 1a) and Clay (2g) also had multi-goal games.
• Justin Wietfeldt (13-of-18) and Nick Rowlett (6-of-12) combined to win 19-of-30 faceoffs and grabbed 10 ground balls.
• After scoring on 6-of-13 first-half shots, the Wolverines scored on just 5-of-19 in the second half.
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Up Next
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, April 1 when the Blue Jays welcome Rutgers to Homewood Field (3 pm). The game will air live on ESPNU.
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