The Hopkins men's lacrosse team stepped onto the rain-soaked field of M&T Bank Stadium last Saturday, intent on once again redeeming themselves from a downward slide and overcoming their age-old rivals, the Maryland Terrapins. The stage was set for the second annual "Day of Rivals" competition, a nationally broadcast event that pitted Army against Navy, followed by possibly the most famous collegiate lacrosse rivalry: Blue Jays vs. Terps. And the drenched fans of both teams couldn't have asked for a more exciting spectacle as Maryland and Hopkins remained neck-in-neck for the entirety of the contest. In the end, Hopkins prevailed for the third straight time, closing the game with a thrilling 10-9 finish, culminated in the closing seconds of regulation.
The event was one of several large-stage competitions geared toward increasing the publicity of this less popular sport, but many were upset by the fact that these classic rivalries were taken off the respective campuses. "I don't like taking the Hopkins-Maryland game off of the campuses, but this is an opportunity that is too grand to pass up on," Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala said. "The publicity we get - the TV exposure, the radio exposure - is great, but probably more importantly, the chance to play on a playoff stage in a big stadium where a national championship is won, I think, is far too appealing to pass up."
The two teams traded off goals in the opening quarter, neither willing to surrender the lead. As the final seconds closed in, it was junior midfielder Michael Kimmel who would claim the first quarter for the Jays as he picked up a rebounded shot and blasted his own with three seconds remaining on the clock to bring the score to 3-2.
The second quarter proceeded in similar fashion. Maryland came out strong, blasting in their third goal in the first two minutes, followed by another netted shot from Kimmel's stick. Maryland sophomore attackman Grant Catalino responded in the following seconds with a fast break from the face-off, which led to the Terps' game-tying fourth goal. After another Jay score, Maryland sophomore attackman Travis Reed finished up the second quarter just as Kimmel finished up the first, firing in the closing goal with three seconds remaining in the half to tie the game at five.
This back-and-forth progression continued in the third quarter as the two teams traded off goals one by one. It quickly became clear how important this rivalry was as the players of both squads unflinchingly continued to pour the entirety of their effort into each play. Hopkins trailed 8-7 in the middle of the third quarter following Maryland's capitalization off back-to-back extra-man opportunities, but the Terps' lead was short-lived. Hopkins responded with a fury as Kimmel completed a seemingly effortless drive upfield to net the Jays' eighth goal of the game.
At around the two-minute mark, frustration began to settle in and things got nasty. A brief skirmish on the field and a penalty from the Maryland bench led to a Hopkins two-man advantage upon which they were able to capitalize from the stick of senior attackman Josh Peck, who closed out the quarter with Hopkins's ninth goal of the game.
Despite the deadlocked nature of the first three quarters, the Jays owned the fourth. Hopkins scored its 10th and final goal as sophomore attackman Kyle Wharton netted a laser shot to the top right corner of the net at the 11:11. The quarter commenced with a stalemate from both sides, mostly due to the stellar performance of junior goalie Mike Gvozden, who finished the game with 12 saves.
However, Maryland was not about to go down without a fight and this ruthless rivalry wouldn't be finished until the bitter end. With 26 seconds remaining in the game, Maryland brought the score to 10-9 with a crease shot from senior midfielder Dan Groot. Maryland lost the ensuing face-off with a penalty but quickly re-gained possession for one climactic flurry of shots. But as the last shot was released, Gvozden saved the game once again, sticking out his right leg and deflecting Maryland's last effort, to secure the victory.
"I wasn't really watching to see who was where, I was just trying to keep my eye on the
ball," Gvozden said. "I knew that they were going to take a last-second shot. I think that what happened was they came down and one of their guys ripped it wide, picked it right back up and then got a shot, picked up the rebound and then got a mismatch for a goal. The next couple of seconds they came down, and . . . I don't even remember. I just watched the ball."
"You know, that's the Hopkins-Maryland game," Pietramala said. "That's the way it's been for the last few years. I think we're both kind of searching for our identity a little bit. I hope today that maybe we found it a little bit. I'm really proud that our guys made the plays that they needed to make this time to earn a one-goal win."
After this thrilling victory, one can't help but consider what has resulted from the Maryland win in recent years. Hopkins has a tradition of rallying from this rival victory and developing great success toward the post-season.
"Any time you win a one-goal game, sure, it brings your team together," Pietramala said. "But I'll be honest with you, I'm sick and tired of hearing how this game unifies us. We better be careful not to think that it just happens and because we beat Maryland it's just going to happen now. For me, I'm happy we won, I'm thrilled. I'm really proud of our guys, but it's time for me to start thinking about Navy. I don't want to assume just because we beat Maryland that all of a sudden everything's OK. We need to go to practice on Monday, and we need to keep getting better in practice. That's going to be the difference for us."
"I thought the kids played hard," Maryland coach Dave Cottle said. "I thought they played tough. I was very proud of our seniors, I thought they competed their tails off. We got a little unsettled in the third quarter, a lot of crap in the box, a lot of garbage going on. But I never thought when that stuff was going on it was just mayhem, it's just that there was nothing going on. It is what it is. I thought in the fourth quarter we played better, we played with a passion, we had some opportunities, they made some saves."
The Jays face off against Navy this Saturday for their annual Homecoming game at 2 p.m. at Homewood Field. Hopkins beat Navy last year in the playoffs and during the regular season and has an all-time record of 56-25-1 against the Midshipmen. More impressively, the Jays have won 35 straight against Navy and hope to keep the streak alive this weekend.
