BALTIMORE, MD – Stop us if you've heard this one before.  The Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team used a late surge to pull away for a victory.
 
On Saturday afternoon at Homewood Field, the seventh-ranked Blue Jays scored the final three goals, five of the last six and eight of the last 10 to fuel a 16-12 Big Ten victory over ninth-ranked Rutgers.  The win, the fifth straight for Johns Hopkins, runs the Blue Jays' record to 9-3 overall and 2-0 in the Big Ten. The Scarlet Knights, who trailed 7-3 early and led 10-8 midway through the third quarter, slip to 7-3 overall and 0-2 in the B1G.
 
Rutgers had used a 7-1 run of its own to turn the early 7-3 deficit into the 10-8 lead with just under 10 minutes remaining in the third quarter.  When Justin Kim struck for the second of his own back-to-back tallies to open the third quarter, the Scarlet Knights had the two-goal lead and, at that point, had held the Blue Jays to just one goal in a span of more than 22 minutes.
 
From the 9:52 mark of the third quarter on, it was the all-too-familiar script of surging late that powered the Blue Jay victory.
 
After netting just the one goal in 22+ minutes, the Blue Jays answered Kim's second strike with three goals in just under four minutes to grab an 11-10 lead.  Casey McDermott and Brendan Grimes bookended the spurt with unassisted goals and Brooks English added a nifty goal on a two-man game with Jacob Angelus.

Q4 | 5:03
JHU-14 , RU-12

Angelus barrels it in for his 11th goal of the season #GoHop pic.twitter.com/3BTFhQsjon

— JHU Men's Lacrosse (@jhumenslacrosse) April 1, 2023

 
The teams traded goals in the final four minutes of the third quarter with a Noah Daniels goal for Rutgers evening things at 11 before Johnathan Peshko gave Hopkins the lead for good when he scored from in tight with 2:12 remaining in the period.
 
After Kim matched a Garret Degnon strike midway through the final quarter, the Blue Jays scored the final three goals of the game to pull away for the four-goal victory.  Angelus weaved his way through the defense and stuck a five-yarder on the run at the 5:03 mark and Ryan Evans picked the corner on the run 65 seconds later to make it 15-12.
 
Rutgers had one final chance to trim the margin to two as the 'Knights went man-up with 1:44 remaining, but Blue Jay goalie Tim Marcille came up with a big save and junior Brett Martin scored on a laser from midfield with Rutgers in a 10-man ride to close out the scoring with just under a minute to play.
 
An electric first quarter saw the teams combine for 12 goals on 26 shots.  Rutgers scored twice in the opening 90 seconds to grab an early 2-1 lead, but the Blue Jays responded with a 6-1 run to grab the 7-3 lead late in the period.  Six different players scored during the run for the Blue Jays, including short stick defensive middies Martin and Jakson Raposo and close defenseman Scott Smith, who scored after scooping up a ground ball on a faceoff.

Q1 | 5:20
JHU-6 , RU-3

Smith with the snipe off the face-off #GoHop pic.twitter.com/h7oBP6xKXj

— JHU Men's Lacrosse (@jhumenslacrosse) April 1, 2023

 
As quickly as Hopkins had built the four-goal lead it was gone as Daniels ignited a 4-0 run that bridged the first and second quarters and made it a 7-7 game with just under six minutes on the second-quarter clock.  Shane Knobloch scored twice during the spree for the Scarlet Knights, who would then answer an Evans tally for the Blue Jays with another Knobloch strike to account for an 8-8 tie at halftime.
 
Kim then needed just 40 seconds to open the second-half scoring and added his second goal at the 9:52 mark to give the 'Knights the 10-8 lead.  As it turned out, the script for this game had one more twist, one Blue Jay fans have seen before.
 
Inside the Box Score – Johns Hopkins
• A season-high 11 different players scored goals for the Blue Jays and 14 different players had at least one point.
• Angelus had a team-high five points (2g, 3a) and English added a three-point game (2g, 1a) of his own.
• The Blue Jays' second midfield of Evans (2g), McDermott (2g) and English (2g, 1a) combined for six goals and one assist.
• Smith had one goal, two ground balls and one caused turnover and held Rutgers' Ross Scott to just one goal, which came just 15 seconds into the game.  Scott entered the game with 22 goals and seven assists on the year.
• Degnon's goal was the 100^th of his career and extended his goal-scoring streak to 24 games.  He is the 22^nd player in school history to reach the 100-goal mark.
• Marcille posted 14 saves and had four ground balls and one caused turnover.
• Tyler Dunn went 8-of-15 on faceoffs with two ground balls and one assist.  His fifth faceoff win of the day was the 200^th of his career.
• Martin scored twice and added two caused turnovers in the win.  His two CTs give him 25 in his career, which is good for third in school history among non-long sticks.
 
Inside the Box Score - Rutgers
• Knobloch had a team-high five points on three goals and two assists.  It is his second straight three-goal, two-assist game against Johns Hopkins.
• Kim added his first career hat trick and one assist, while Daniels chipped in with two goals.
• Jonathan Dugenio went 17-of-30 at the X and added one goal, one assist and seven ground balls.
• Antony Palma relieved Kyle Mullin in goal at the end of the first quarter and posted nine saves while allowing nine goals in 45 minutes of action.
 
Notes of Interest
• During their five-game winning streak, the Blue Jays have outscored the opposition 17-4 in the final 10 minutes of those five games.
• Johns Hopkins' five-game winning streak is its longest since a seven-game run in 2018.
• The Blue Jays' five-game winning streak is tied for the fourth-longest active winning streak in the nation.
• JHU improved to 14-1 all-time in games played on April 1
 
Up Next
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, April 8 when the Blue Jays travel to Penn State to take on the Nittany Lions (7 pm).  The game will air live on BTN.