NORTON, MA – Second-ranked Johns Hopkins jumped out to an 8-1 lead and didn't look back en route to a 26-7 win over host Wheaton on Saturday morning in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) action. The Blue Jays improve to 16-5 overall and 5-0 in conference play, while the Lyons fall to 1-14 and 1-4 in the MPSF.
Daniel Palfi opened the scoring just 24 seconds into the game to spark a 5-0 run in the game's opening four minutes and 10 seconds. After an
Andrew Lee scored at 6:10, Palfi notched an even-strength goal to tally his 200
th career point.
Max Blecher and
Phillip Long scored 54 seconds apart to cap the opening run.
Michael Ruemelin got Wheaton on the board at the 2:58-mark to make it 5-1. The Blue Jays answered with goals from Long,
Brody Mars and Lee to push out to an 8-1 lead just 71 seconds into the second quarter. Ruemelin scored again for the Lyons, but Palfi responded with his third of the game to spark a 12-2 Blue Jay run. The run spanned more than 12 and a half minutes, saw eight different players score and pushed Hopkins' lead out to 20-4.
Spyros Rapsomanikis and Hudson Kosiba halted the run with a pair of goals just 62 seconds apart early in the fourth.
Matthieu Giauque then scored a five-meter goal to ignite one last JHU run. This one lasted just three minutes and 41 seconds and saw the Blue Jays' lead balloon to 26-6 with 36 ticks on the clock. Nic Boyer had one final say for the Lyons, scoring with 10 seconds left to account for the 26-7 final.
Long led Hopkins with four goals and two assists and now has 96 goals in his career. Mars (3g, 1a), Palfi (3g) and
Ethan Babel (3g, 2a) all notched hat tricks.
Gavin Brooke and
Ben Lucas finished with four points (1g, 3a) each, while
Patrick Rooney (1g, 2a) and
Owen Bartlett (2g, 1a) had three points apiece.
Kyle Pearson totaled 16 saves and two assists in the cage.
Hopkins returns to the pool on Saturday versus Washington & Jefferson. The MPSF contest is scheduled for a 5:30 pm start.
