The stage was set for a thrilling game at Homewood Field this past Friday night as the Hopkins Men’s Lacrosse team took on Albany in a game of great importance for both teams. For the second week in a row, the Jays fell just short of a victory.
Albany’s junior defenseman Doug Eich scored with 2:01 remaining in the fourth quarter to break the tie between the Jays and the Great Danes to lift 20th ranked Albany past the 10th ranked Jays, 10-9.
Eich secured a third straight victory for Albany to enhance their record to 7-3, while the Jays suffered their second straight one goal loss in consecutive weeks as they fell to 6-4.
“We had talked about shutting down their powerful attack as part of our original game plan,” said senior goalie Pierce Bassett. “We did a good job, but in the end they beat us in the transition game and that cost us another tight game.” Both teams had trouble creating separation, exemplified by how close the score was. The teams shared six ties throughout the entirety of the game as both offenses had trouble solving there respecting defenses.
Both teams took turns controlling the pace, shifting momentum from one side to the other.
The Blue Jays were the recipients of an early advantage as they opened up the game with four of the first six goals. The charge was lead by sophomore Wells Stanwick, who scored his 19th and 20th goals of the season and gave Hopkins an early 4-2 advantage.
However, Albany was able to respond quickly and struck early and often in the second quarter as Jimmy Haugen and Ty Thompson scored just 74 seconds apart to even the score, 4-4.
Coming into the game, Albany was the nation’s leader in goals per game and overall offensive production as they had averaged slightly over 15 goals per game, a staggering statistic proves the potency and skill of the Albany offense. The deadlock lasted until late into the second quarter when senior John Greeley gave the Blue Jays a one goal lead on a beautiful spin and dodge down the wing followed by a perfect bounce shot over the shoulder of Albany goalie Blaze Riordan. As the two teams headed into separate locker rooms, the Blue Jays were hanging on tightly to their one goal lead, playing shut down defense and limiting scoring opportunities for the Albany attackmen and midfielders.
The third quarter was a display of hard-nosed defense as neither team could find the back of the net. Albany went a stretch of 24 minutes before scoring their next goal while the Jays were held scoreless for the entirety of the third quarter. Both goalies, Riordan for Albany and senior Pierce Bassett for Hopkins made numerous saves during this scoring drought.
The goalless streak came to an end near the end of the third quarter as the Albany offense went to work again, scoring a pair of goals just 49 seconds apart to stun the Hopkins crowd, regaining a one goal advantage, 6-5.
The fourth quarter generated more action than the first three quarters combined as the teams accounted for nine goals in the last 15 minutes. Freshman midfielder Holden Cattoni opened up the scoring in the final quarter just 66 seconds after receiving a beautiful pass from the top of the box and finishing in tight to tie the game up again.
However, Albany midfielder Derrick Eccles was able to claim possession in the offensive zone off of a ground ball and fired a shot past Bassett to reclaim the lead. Thompson added an unassisted goal another three minutes later to give the Danes a two-goal cushion halfway through the fourth quarter, 8-6. Stanwick completed his hat trick to cut the deficit in half only to be answered by Ty Thompson again as Albany held its second two-goal lead of the quarter.
As they’ve done in countless games this season, Hopkins refused to quit and did not go down quietly. As if he wasn’t already having a spectacular day, Stanwick scored his fourth goal of the game on a spectacular shot that flew by the stick of Riordan. Less than two minutes later with little time remaining in the game, Hopkins held a long possession that was capped off by a sizzling blast from Brandon Benn to knot the game once again at 9-9. All of the momentum seemed to be in Hopkins favor, with the support of the electrified home crowd.
With 2:36 left in the game, Albany took a costly penalty that gave the Jays a 30 second man-up advantage. The Jays had been held to zero goals on four man-up opportunities so far on the day. That statistic soon turned to zero out of five as the Albany defense, led by a heroic effort by Riordan, stuffed freshman Ryan Brown’s shot on the crease.
After Riordan collected the ball, he found a streaking Eich running up the middle of the field as the advantage time expired. Riordan fired a clearance pass to the transitioning Eich. He quickly started a fast break down the middle of the field into Hopkins territory.
The Hopkins defense struggled to get into position quickly enough and Eich fired an uncontested shot from the top of the crease and beat Bassett from seven yards out to give Albany a 10-9 lead with only 2:01 remaining in the game.
“We talked from the beginning about shutting down their dynamic transition,” said Bassett. “That really cost us on their last goal and as a result, cost us the game.”
With little time remaining, Hopkins faced pressure trying to get quality scoring opportunities. With only time for one final possession, the Blue Jays controlled the ball, trying to pick the right moment to strike.
Senior John Ranagan came close with just 14 seconds remaining on the clock but his shot sailed just over the crossbar. Hopkins retained possession and fed the ball to Brown on the crease who’s final attempt was stuffed by Riordan and Albany regained possession and began a celebration as the Blue Jays walked off the field, disappointed for the second week in a row.
The loss overshadowed countless strong individual performances from Hopkins stars. Senior defenseman Tucker Durkin held the nation’s leading scorer Lyle Thompson off the score sheet for the first time all year. Thompson came into the game averaging over seven points a game on the season. Stanwick continued his impressive streak, adding another 4 goals and an assist to bring his overall point total to 38 on the season.
“I’ve been a huge beneficiary of being in the right spot at the right time and getting open quickly,” said Stanwick. “Our coaches have done a great job with our offensive unit all year long and it’s helped us to solve opposing defenses all year long.”
Bassett stopped 15 saves in goal and was the backbone of the Hopkins defense all day long, showing determined leadership on the field. The Blue Jays will look to avenge these past two losses when they travel to College Park to take on the University of Maryland, who currently hold an 8-1 record and the number one seed heading into the weekend.
“We share one of the oldest rivalries in college lacrosse,” commented Bassett. “We need an intense week of practice and embrace the rivalry and have a really productive week to try to take down the top team in college lacrosse right now.” The Blue Jays look to put in a strong week of practice and have a short memory to focus all of their effort and hard work in preparing for their vital game against Maryland.
“It’s really important for us to start focusing on the details and relax when we have possession,” remarked Stanwick. “We’ve gotten away from it the past couple of weeks, but if we focus on doing the little things right, I think we’re going to have a great shot to battle hard against a great team in Maryland.”
The Blue Jays will look to move forward with their heads held high, determined to get back on track towards a playoff birth.
