ANNAPOLIS, MD – The Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team held host Navy scoreless for a stretch of 15:56 midway through the game and bookended a 9-2 spurt with a pair of four-goal runs as the Blue Jays topped the Midshipmen, 12-9, at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium Saturday night.  The win improves the Blue Jays' record 6-2, while the Mids slip to 4-3.
 
Johns Hopkins found itself in a 5-4 hole to start the second half, but a Hunter Chauvette strike off a great one-more from short stick defensive middie Patrick Hackler evened things up.  When co-captain Dylan Bauer rifled one home on the run 81 seconds later, the Blue Jays had their first lead of the game.
 
Navy would net its only two goals from early in the second period through midway through the fourth in a span of just under 90 seconds shortly after Bauer's goal as Taylor LaFar picked the far post with 10:23 on the third quarter clock and Evan Conway answered Chauvette's third of the game to force the third and final tie of the night (7-7).
 
The tie held for less than 90 seconds before Russell Melendez found Matt Collison on the wing and Colison toe-dragged past a defender and scored from five yards to spring the Blue Jays on their second four-goal run of the night.
 
By the time Navy solved first-time Blue Jay starting goalie Oran Gelinas again at the 7:39 mark of the fourth quarter, the Blue Jays had extended the 8-7 lead to 11-7 on strikes from Erik Chick, Charlier Iler and Jimmy Ayers.
 
After taking an early 5-2 lead, the two goals from LaFar and Conway were the only two goals the Blue Jay defense would allow in a span of 33:40.
 
Navy made things interesting with back-to-back goals midway through the fourth quarter as Mac Haley scored an unassisted goal with 7:39 remaining and Conway added his third of the night 81 seconds later to make it 11-9.

The 11-9 score would hold until just after the clock dripped under the four-minute mark.  With Navy pressing out, Iler stuck a highlight-reel insurance goal with 3:51 remaining; after slipping along the goal line 10 yards outside the creases, he got to his feet with a defender draped all over him and raced to the goal where he beat Navy goalie Dan Daly from the doorstep.
 
Early on, the Midshipmen jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first eight minutes and carried a 3-2 lead into the second quarter after Chauvette and Collison wrapped goals around a Jack Ponzio goal in the final 6:25 of the period.
 
Navy pushed its lead to a game-high three (5-2) with a pair of strikes in the first four minutes of the period, including the second of the night for Ponzio, but Gelinas found his groove in the period as he posted five saves in the period and the Blue Jays used back-to-back Brooks English goals, including one on extra-man to make it a 5-4 game at the half.

The two English goals jump-started the first of the two four-goal runs for the Blue Jays with the two runs bookending the 9-2 spurt that gave them a lead that they would never surrender.
 
The Blue jays held advantages at the X and in the goal in the victory.  Senior Logan Callahan won a career-high 20 faceoffs (on 24 attempts) and matched his career-high with 15 ground balls, while Gelinas finished with 14 saves in his first game action since March 14, 2023.
 
Iler paced a balanced Blue Jay scoring attack as he had two goals and two assists, while Chauvette (3g), Collison (2g, 1a) and English (2g, 1a) all added three-point nights.
 
Conway (3g, 1a), Ponzio (2g, 1a) and William Goers (1g, 1a) all registered multi-point games for Navy, which also got eight saves from Daly.
 
Notes of Interest
• Iler has played 11 full quarters since entering the lineup and has 11 points in those 11 quarters.
• The hat trick for Chauvette is his fourth of the season and the sixth of his career.
• The 20 faceoff wins for Callahan are the most by a Johns Hopkins player since Tyler Dunn won 20 against Towson (February 11, 2022).
• The Blue Jay defense has held the opposition scoreless for a stretch of 14 minutes or longer nine times this season.
• The five goals JHU scored in the third quarter tied a season high (now done three times).
• JHU is now 10-1 in its last 11 road games.
 
Up Next
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, March 29 when the Blue Jays welcome Rutgers to Homewood Field for Big Ten opener for both teams (1 pm).