M. lax splits against UMBC & Princeton

The Konica-Minolta Face-Off Classic, held this past Saturday at M & T Bank Stadium, has traditionally been a showcase for the dominant Hopkins men's lacrosse team. Last year, the Jays dominated the Princeton Tigers by a score of 14-9. This year there was a reversal of fate as the Tigers trounced the Jays to a final 14-8 finish. But the Jays rebounded on Tuesday, as they defeated UMBC 14-11.

"We're pretty much an unknown entity," Princeton head coach Bill Tierney said. "We've tried very hard to stay under the radar and to understand that people believe that Princeton lacrosse is gone. We try to stay confident in our own abilities. It feels good to finally come out on the other side. We got clubbed last year. This is no slouch of a program."

From the opening face-off, Princeton took control of the game, scoring three unanswered goals in the first six minutes of play, gaining a lead that they would not surrender for the remainder of competition. The rally was quickly broken following Princeton's third goal, as junior midfielder Michael Kimmel sliced in a high shot to put the Blue Jays on the board. But the glory would be short-lived. Princeton's Rob Engelke pulled off a diving shot from the crease, the first of a three-goal rally that would end the first quarter with Princeton ahead by a score of 6-1.

The onslaught continued in the second quarter as Princeton put together their third three-goal rally of the game. The Hopkins defense was crumbling; the offense was gaining possession of the ball but couldn't find the back of the net. By the middle of the second quarter, one could tell that this was Princeton's game to win and they weren't going to let up.

Frustration kicked in for the Jays late in the second half, and the team was able to string together a pair of goals from the sticks of junior attackmen Steven Boyle and Chris Boland, bringing the score to 9-3 just shy of the two-minute mark. Princeton and Hopkins stalemated for the remainder of the half, but the Jays' dejection with their performance was clear as they trudged to the locker room at halftime.

"We didn't do our jobs during the week and it showed today," senior defenseman Michael Evans said. "It was obvious today how undisciplined our defense was."

The Jays came out with a little bit more intensity in the second half, fighting off Princeton's advances for the first four minutes of play before Princeton's freshman defender John Cunningham put one between the pipes. Kimmel responded quickly, driving downfield and blasting an unassisted shot from the middle of the restraining box to score his second of the day. However, on par with the rest of the game, Princeton closed out the third quarter strong as sophomore prodigy Jack McBride scored his third and fourth goal of the game, pulling the Tigers ahead 12-4.

At the close of the third quarter, Princeton's shot total doubled that of the Jays (40-20) and the lopsided score spelled only one word: domination.

"We knew they were going to come out and generate shots," Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala said. "Jack McBride had a great game and he handled that match-up today. We didn't do our job handling him today."

The two teams traded off goals in the opening of the fourth quarter with senior midfielder Brian Christopher scoring twice in the first five minutes of play.

Following Christopher's second goal, Princeton's junior midfielder Paul Barnes handily won the face-off, sprinted downfield and effortlessly snuck one behind junior goalie Mike Gvozden, bringing the score to 14-6 and forcing head coach Dave Pietramala to pull Gvozden from the field in favor of freshman goalie Steven Burke.

In a final death rattle, the Blue Jays managed to pull off a goal from sophomore attackman Kyle Wharton and a final score from Kimmel, following an extra-man opportunity which looked to be one of the few perfectly executed Hopkins plays of the day.

In the closing seconds of the game, the Blue Jays began to lose their temper and a minor scuffle sent four players to the penalty box (three from Hopkins, one from Princeton.) "Emotions were flying a little bit," Kimmel said. "We could have handled ourselves a little bit better." With 55 seconds left on the clock, the game was called and the embarrassment ended.

"Princeton did a wonderful job of competing and playing hard and doing what they were coached to do," said Pietramala. "We spent too much time whining about calls and complaining about goals. It shouldn't be deflating. Life's full of challenges and if that is the worst challenge we're going to meet, then we'll be ok. We didn't do a good job when things got tough. We didn't do the fundamentals of the game today. We were as undisciplined as we've ever been in my career."

The Jays had much better luck on Tuesday, defeating UMBC 14-11. Playing their first true road game of the year against the undefeated Retrievers, Hopkins held the lead for all but seven seconds in the game, winning by a three goal margin. Last week's News-Letter Athlete of the Week Steven Boyle and classmate Michael Kimmel led the Blue Jays with three goals apiece. Junior Michael Powers, playing significant minutes for the first time in his career, was absolutely dominant on the x, winning 17-24 face-offs and picking up nine ground balls.

The Retrievers started off the scoring in the first when star scorer Ryan Smith scored his fifth goal of the season, but the Jays scored 55 seconds later when sophomore FOGO (Face-off-get-off) Matt Dolene won the ground ball off the faceoff and scored from five yards out for the second goal of his career. Christopher and Boyle would each tack on a goal to give the Jays a 3-1 lead at the end of the quarter.

Kimmel and Boyle each scored in the second quarter, answering a UMBC goal. The teams would then trade goals until half-time, with the Jays leading 8-5 going into the locker room.

In the second half, five unanswered goals by Wharton, Boland, senior captain Josh Peck, sophomore Tim Donovan and Kimmel would give the Jays an 11-6 lead. UMBC would tack on five goals before the horn in a furious comeback attempt, but the Jays would score three more and ended with a three goal margin.

The Jays next take to the field on Saturday at noon versus Hofstra, looking to avenge last year's regular season defeat to the Pride. The game will be at Homewood Field.