O'FALLON, IL – Johns Hopkins didn't show any rust after being idle for 13 days as the Blue Jays beat the host McKendree Bearcats, 20-10, Saturday afternoon. JHU, which beat Saddleback 19-10 in an exhibition earlier in the day, improves to 10-6 on the season. The Bearcats meanwhile fall to 6-12.
Hopkins jumped out to a 4-0 lead, with goals from four different scorers, in the game's opening 4:43. Jonas King got the home team on the board at 2:37, but
Owen Bartlett answered 12 seconds later and it was 5-1 Blue Jays after one.
Max Blecher scored twice in a 41-second span early in the second, followed by an exclusion goal from
Matthieu Giauque and Hopkins' lead ballooned to 8-1. Yannick Robertson then sandwiched a pair around a
Ben Lucas scored to make it a 9-3 game at the half.
Luke Mendelsohn and Giauque scored back-to-back goals to open the third but McKendree answered with two of its own. Bartlett and Blecher answered with a pair just 21 seconds apart to put the Blue Jays up 13-5. Armand Le Goff then scored to spark a 3-1 spurt for the Bearcats cut the deficit to 14-8 with 5:45 to go.
Alec Baker answered for the Blue Jays at 5:09 to ignite a game-ending 6-2 run.
Blecher led Hopkins with four goals, while Bartlett finished with five points (3g, 2a). Baker (3g, 1a), Mendelsohn (3g, 1a) and
Jasper Hirt (2g, 2a) notched four points apiece.
Mason Hofmann (1g, 2a), Giauque (3g) and
Ethan Babel (3a) had three points each and
Sebastian Isaacs tallied seven saves to go with an assist and two steals.
Hopkins returns to action on Sunday in the Meet Me in St. Louis Invitational versus Salem at 8:00 am. JHU will then take on Mt. San Antonio in an exhibition at 12:00 pm.
