COLLEGE PARK, MD – The third-ranked Maryland men's lacrosse team scored the final three goals of Friday's game against Johns Hopkins as the Terrapins pulled away for an 11-8 win in the 128^th renewal of the greatest rivalry in college lacrosse.  The win locks up the number two seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament for Maryland, which improves to 10-2 overall and 3-2 in the Big Ten.  Johns Hopkins slips to 6-7 overall and 0-5 in the Big Ten.
 
While the Terps never trailed after taking the lead late in the second quarter, they also couldn't put the Blue Jays away and Hopkins found itself even early in the fourth quarter after using a 5-2 spurt that bridged the second and fourth periods to knot things up at 8-8.
 
After Maryland's Braden Erksa and Jack Schultz sandwiched third-quarter goals around an unassisted strike from Hopkins' Chuck Rawson in a seven-minute span midway through the period, the Blue Jays scored two straight to force the fourth tie of the night.
 
Sophomore Hunter Chauvette beat the shot clock with just under two minutes remaining in the third quarter to make it a one-goal game with the one-goal deficit preserved by a point-blank save by Hopkins' Oran Gelinas late in the period.  The save was one of six in the quarter for Gelinas, who turned in a spectacular performance in his first-ever appearance in The Rivalry game.
 
Chauvette's goal and the big late save by Gelinas were followed by a Charlier Iler equalizer just 54 seconds into the final period - Iler spun past a pair of defenders and stuck his second goal of the game from five yards out to force the fourth and final tie of the game.

The 8-8 score held for just over four minutes before Daniel Kelly bounced one home on the run from the wing with 10:01 on the clock and Erksa scored in transition with 7:44 remaining to double the lead.  A Zach Whittier strike with just over three minutes remaining sealed the win for the Terps, who held the Blue Jays scoreless after Iler's goal early in the period.
 
In a game that had all the ingredients of a low-scoring affair, and eventually ended with just 19 goals scored, the offenses came out firing as the teams combined for seven goals in the first 11:12 and the Terps carried a 4-3 lead into the second quarter.
 
The Blue Jays led 2-1 lead after back-to-back strikes from Iler and Rawson in a 33-second span before the game was five minutes old, but Maryland would score three of the final four goals of the period to grab the one-goal lead after 15 minutes.
 
Maryland pushed the lead to 6-3 with the first two goals of the second quarter in a span of just two minutes.  Matthew Keegan found Erksa alone on the backdoor and he slipped one into an open net and Whittier blew one home from 10 yards out to give the Terps the three goal cushion with 11:11 on the second-quarter clock.
 
That score held due in large part to the effort Gelinas, who followed up a five-save first quarter with a six-save second period that included several stops from point-blank range and he kept the Terps off the board for the final 11:11 after Whittier's goal.
 
With Gelinas standing tall, the Blue Jays crept back into the game with back-to-back goals of their own in the final six minutes of the half as Erik Chick found Matt Collison alone on the doorstep with 5:49 on the first-half clock and Collison threaded pass to Liam Burke in the slot that Burke handled and slipped home with 1:51 remaining before the half.
 
The second-quarter goals from Collison and Burke jump-started the 5-2 Blue Jay run that Iler capped with his second of the night early in the fourth quarter, but Kelly's goal four minutes later ignited the game-ending three-goal run for the Terrapins.
 
Gelinas finished with a career-high 20 saves, the first 20-save game for Johns Hopkins goalie since Tim Marcille rang up 21 saves at Syracuse early in the 2023 season.  Logan Callahan was excellent again at the X as he was 13-of-20 with six ground balls to his credit.  Iler (2g, 1a), Rawson (2g), Collison (1g, 1a) and Chick (2a) all punched up multi-point games for the Blue Jays.
 
Erksa paced the Terrapins with four goals and one assist, while Whittier (2g, 1a) and Kelly (2g) added multi-goal games.  Logan McNaney registered eight saves in goal for the Terps, including five in the second half when Maryland outscored Johns Hopkins 5-3.
 
Notes of Interest
• Callahan's 13 faceoff wins push him past 400 for his career (404).  He is the eighth player in Johns Hopkins history to reach 400 career faceoff wins.
• Collison's two points boost his career total to 99 (68g, 31a).
• Tonight's game marked the 10^th game (of 13) this season for Johns Hopkins that was decided by three goals or less.
• 24 players appeared in the game tonight for Johns Hopkins; 14 of the 24 were playing in the Hopkins-Maryland game for the first time.
 
Up Next
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, April 26 in the Big Ten Quarterfinals.  The Blue Jays will play at Penn State or Ohio State with the opponent and time of the game to be determined by the result of the game between Ohio State-Michigan (April 19).  An Ohio State win sends the Blue Jays to Penn State, while a Michigan win sends Johns Hopkins to Ohio State.