The eighth-ranked Blue Jays suffered a shocking defeat after falling to the sixth-ranked UNC Tar Heels in overtime by a final score of 11-10.
After making the trip down to Keenan Stadium in the heart of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the Blue Jays fell in a heartbreaker just six full seconds into the overtime period.
North Carolina midfielder R.G. Keenan sprinted down the field uncontested past a couple of Blue Jay defenders and ripped a bounce shot past the stick of senior Pierce Bassett to lift the Tar Heels to their fourth consecutive victory and an overall record of 7-3.
The Blue Jays fell slightly in the standings after the tough road loss in a key game that could’ve gone either way as the two teams constantly traded for goals.
“Obviously, the game didn’t end up going the way we wanted it to,” commented Bassett. “That being said, we showed a lot of heart by battling back the way we did. In the end, we made some critical mistakes and it cost us the lead late in the game and ultimately led to the loss.”
Throughout the entirety of the game, Hopkins continuously trailed UNC, only holding a lead at the very end of the game until the Tar Heels were able to knot the score at 10 and send the game into overtime.
The pace of the game was extremely fast from the beginning, as UNC found the back of the net first to grab the early advantaged. However, the Blue Jays didn’t stay quiet for long as freshman Ryan Brown found the twine by ripping a shot past the Tar Heels goaltender to tie the score at one.
Hopkins couldn’t seem to find much of a rhythm over the rest of the first quarter as UNC grabbed a three-goal advantage. The Hopkins defense looked out of sorts during the three-goal stretch, as UNC attack-men were able to get behind their defensemen to beat Bassett. UNC sophomore Joey Sankey gained topside positioning on his defender and capitalized. Chad Tutton and Davey Emala capped the scoring for UNC in the first quarter to give the Tar Heels the 4-1 advantage. The Blue Jays were able to cut down the deficit towards the end of the first quarter by forcing a turnover on defense. Hopkins junior Brandon Benn gained control and on the ensuing possession fired a shot from ten yards away past the UNC goalie Kieran Burke.
For a period of nearly five minutes, the two teams traded possessions as both goalies stood tall until senior Lee Coppersmith found a way to beat Burke after an impressive dodge down the alley to gain a step on his defender before beating Burke to make it 4-3 UNC.
The second quarter showed the equal talent and consistency of the two teams as neither offense could find a way to solve the opposing team’s defense. The Blue Jays had a tremendous opportunity to tie the game at 4 very late in the second quarter after having two lengthy possessions in the offensive half of the field. However, Burke stood tall in goal, making consecutive stick saves on two quick shots from the Hopkins offense.
The Blue Jay midfielders got caught in the transition, as Burke was able to find Holman in transition to give UNC a fast break. Holman made the Blue Jays pay as he scored his second goal of the contest with little time remaining in the second quarter. Heading into the half, the Blue Jays trailed the Tar Heels by a score of 5-3.
After their respective halftime breaks, the two teams stormed the field for the start of an extremely eventful second half. The Blue Jays continued to battle back against UNC just as they had in the first half, pulling within one goal of the Tar Heels numerous times throughout the third quarter.
However, the Tar Heels struck back with two goals of their own to maintain their two-goal lead at the end of the third quarter 7-5. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Blue Jays took the game by storm, drawing even with the Tar Heels for the first time since the beginning of the first quarter as seniors John Ranagan and Zach Palmer scored goals just 51 seconds apart midway through the fourth quarter to even the playing field at 7-7.
However, the Tar Heels refused to go away as Zach Creighton and phenom attackman Jimmy Bitter both netted goals to rejuvenate the UNC home crowd and allow the Tar Heels to regain their two goal advantage.
Nonetheless, the theme of the day for Hopkins was rallying back after digging themselves into a hole.
Brown connected again with his second goal of the game as he made a nice roll dodge in tight past his defender to decrease the deficit to one, followed shortly thereafter by Palmer’s third goal of the contest, a rocket that found the upper right hand corner past the stick of Burke.
As the score remained locked with time winding down, the Blue Jays were able to take their first and only lead of the day with only 4:36 remaining in regulation as senior John Greeley fired a shot from above crease past Burke to give Hopkins the 10-9 lead. The Tar Heels, trailing for the first time all evening long, were in a frenzy to score, firing shot after shot on their possessions.
They caught a huge break when Tutton drew two Hopkins defenders before feeding Emala on the doorstep and he beat Bassett short side to tie the game at 10-10 to force the overtime period.
On the first faceoff of overtime, Keenan won the draw cleanly and sprinted down the field nearly untouched and was able to beat Bassett on a bounce shot into the lower left hand corner to secure a much needed victory for the Tar Heels on their home turf.
Bassett finished the game with a total of eight saves.
“I think it’s really important for us to fix our defensive mistakes,” said Bassett on moving forward. “It’s really important for us to put in a great week of practice and head into Albany with an adjusted game-plan and do our job at the critical moments in the game.
Senior midfielder Mike Poppleton made similar remarks about having a short memory and moving forward.
“In order to be successful, we have to have a short memory and focus on the next game,” said Poppleton. “Heading into Saturday, the only thing that should be on our minds is getting a win against Albany and in order to do that, we have to have a great week working on fundamentals and solidifying our systems in practice.”
Palmer, Coppersmith, and Brown all had multi-goal games while Greeley, Benn, and Ranagan capped the scoring for the Blue Jays.
Sophomore standout Wells Stanwick also kept his hot streak alive with two assists to bring his cumulative point total to 33 points in 8 games, averaging over four points per game. Coppersmith, Greeley, and Palmer also added assists for the Jays. The Blue Jays also outshot the Tar Heels 48-37 and held the advantage in faceoffs 13-11.
Hopkins will look to rebound from this past week’s hard loss as faceoff against Albany this Friday at 7 pm on Homewood Field.
“It’s really important to focus on the little things heading into practice this week,” Poppleton said. “If we fix our mistakes, whether it be ground balls, man-up situations, or any other aspect, if we take care of the little things, the bigger things will take care of themselves.”
Hopkins has a tough stretch of competition as they head towards the final stretch of their season. But for now, the entire team agrees that the only obstacle to overcome right now is Albany.
“If we can focus on using all of the work we put into practice into the game, I think we’ll have great success against Albany,” says Bassett.
The Blue Jays will take the rest of this week to regroup after the devastating loss and look to take down Albany and the remainder of their competitors on the road to another NCAA playoff berth.
