BALTIMORE, MD – The Johns Hopkins men's soccer team continued its late-season push with its third consecutive 1-0 victory, this one over visiting McDaniel in the first round of the Centennial Conference Tournament at Homewood Field on Tuesday night.  With the win, the fourth-seeded Blue Jays advance to Friday's semifinals, where they will meet second-seeded Gettysburg (5 pm).
 
In a game featuring just 15 shots and four corners, great chances were at a premium as both defenses were able to limit the scoring opportunities throughout.
 
Johns Hopkins (7-6-6) had the two most dangerous chances of the opening 40 minutes as Brendan Listzwan's header off a free kick in the 28^th minute was turned away by a nice diving save from McDaniel's Tate Roth and Connor Wilkes had a nice touch off a service from Liam Bridges 10 minutes later, but his offering drifted over the crossbar.
 
The Blue Jays broke through in the 41^st minute as they built out of the back with Bridges pushing forward on the wing before he found classmate Jackson Shapiro near the top of the area to Roth's left.  Shapiro was able to collect Bridges' feed and quickly chip a pass to sophomore Alex Gardner cutting through the middle; Gardner was able to quickly settle possession, turn and send a rocket to the top of the goal to give the Blue Jays the one-goal lead.
 
The Green Terror (8-5-4) had a golden chance to pull even just under two minutes later as they nearly capitalized on a free kick.  Noah Rodriguez sent his offering from near midfield into the middle of the box, where Carver Neary was able to flick it to a charging Evan Rigg, who was able to get a good foot on it just outside the post, but Blue Jay goalie John Ghanem had him played perfectly and smothered McDaniel's most dangerous chance of the opening 45 minutes.
 
Both goalies were tasked with making just one save apiece in the second half as just six collective shots were fired.  Wilkes redirected a free kick right in on goal that Roth was equal to in the 49^th minute and Gardner had a golden chance in the 70^th minute as he worked his left foot free near the top of the box, but his shot drifted just wide of the far post.
 
Ghanem and the Blue Jay defense sealed the Blue Jays' third consecutive shutout by limiting the Terror to two shots in the final 43 minutes, neither of which was on frame.
 
Johns Hopkins held a slight advantage in shots (8-7) and took three of the four corners in the game.  Ghanem posted five saves, including four in the first half, while Roth had a pair of saves on the night.
 
With the win, the two-time defending conference-champion Blue Jays improve to 21-10-9 all-time in the Centennial Conference Tournament, including 3-0 against McDaniel with wins in 2003, 2004 and tonight.
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