ANN ARBOR, MI – Host Michigan broke an 8-8 tie with three straight goals in a five-minute span on the back half of the fourth quarter as the 19
th-ranked Wolverines topped visiting Johns Hopkins, 11-8, at UM Lacrosse Stadium Saturday afternoon. The win improves Michigan's record to 6-4 overall and 2-0 in the Big Ten, while the Blue Jays slip to 6-4 overall and 0-2 in the league.
Johns Hopkins dug itself out of a four-goal halftime deficit to pull even at 8-8 on the first career goal for freshman
Liam Burke with 10:30 on the fourth-quarter clock. Burke also drew a one-minute extra-man opportunity for the Blue Jays when he was hit late after releasing the shot he scored on. Michigan was able to kill off the man-down situation and grabbed the lead for good just over two minutes later when
Emmett Houlihan took a backdoor pass, spun up field and rifled home what proved to be the game-winning goal.
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The Wolverines added a
Lukas Stanat extra-man goal just under three minutes later and sealed the win with 2:22 on the clock when
Aidan Mulholland polished off a three-goal performance when he worked his way through a pair of defenders and scored on the run.
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The game-ending run bookended the victory for the Wolverines, who jumped out to an early 3-0 lead as Mulholland blew one home from 12 yards out just 61 seconds into the game and
Alex Lobell stuck a pair in span of 79 seconds before the game was six minutes old.
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The three-goal cushion held through the first quarter in large part due to the play of Blue Jay goalie
Oran Gelinas, who posted six of his seven first-half saves in the opening 15 minutes with a pair of point-blank stops mixed in.
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The Wolverines would lead 6-2 at the break as they answered a pair of second-quarter
Hunter Chauvette goals for the Blue Jays with 40-yard open-net strike from Pace Billings and the third of the day for Lobell.
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Johns Hopkins made its push in the third quarter as they outscored the Wolverines 5-2 to pull within one at 8-7 with 15 minutes remaining.Â
Dylan Bauer and
Jimmy Ayers scored back-to-back goals in a 44-second span to trim the deficit to 6-4 before the third quarter was three minutes old. Bauer scored off a quick feed to the crease from
Charlie Iler with the defense hung and Ayers got to the goal from the wing after
Logan Callahan won the faceoff following the Bauer goal.
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After Michigan's
Bo Lockwood scored in an unsettled situation a short time later, the Blue Jays ended the third quarter with a 3-1 spurt to account for the 8-7 score after three quarters. Back-to-back
Matt Collison goals and a nifty score on a dodge by sophomore
Chuck Rawson that answered a
Ryan Cohen goal for Michigan closed out the third-quarter scoring. Collison had a golden chance to pull the Jays even late in the period, but he rang one off the pipe as Michigan nursed the one-goal lead into the fourth quarter.
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What was once the four-goal deficit was gone just 4:30 into the final period when Burke dodged from the top and stuck his goal to beat the shot clock and draw the extra-man chance for the Blue Jays. The penalty kill and Houlihan's goal two minutes later ignited the game-ending spurt for the Wolverines.
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Callahan went 16-of-22 at the X and added 14 ground balls while Gelinas posted 10 saves for the Blue Jays. Collison (2ga), Chauvette (2g), Iler (2a) and Rawson (1g, 1a) all registered multi-point games for Johns Hopkins, which held a 38-35 advantage in shots.
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Mulholland (3g, 1a) and Lobell (3g) both registered hat tricks and
Hunter Taylor posted 12 saves for Michigan, including four in the final period when the Wolverines outscored the Blue Jays 3-1.
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Up Next
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, April 5 when the Blue Jays welcome Ohio State to Homewood Field (2 pm / ESPNU) for Homecoming. As part of the tradition of Homecoming, Johns Hopkins will honor the 1975 men's lacrosse team, which is celebrating its 50
th reunion. In addition, the Blue Jays will also celebrate Champions Day with the 1980, 1985 and 2005 NCAA Championship teams being honored at halftime.
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