As the sun was setting on Homewood Field, the seventh-ranked Jays prepared to play their third game in nine days and their last at home. The visiting Villanova Wildcats were all that stood in the way of a potential five-game win streak.
One minute into the game, Villanova struck first. Just two minutes later, the Wildcats again took advantage of the gassed Jay defense to go up 2-0. Senior goalie Eric Schneider expressed disappointment in the early deficit.
“Obviously, we don’t want to have a start like that,” Schneider said. “I was hoping we would come out a little more fired up than that. This could be our last game on Homewood Field. I think we reset, took a deep breath, came out and just went back to basics.”
Another two minutes would pass before Hopkins even got its first shot off. Then, three minutes later, the Jays took advantage of a Villanova turnover. Captain Rob Guida, senior, found himself with the ball and sprinted upfield. Guida then passed it to junior attackman Wells Stanwick, who quickly flipped it to senior attackman Brandon Benn who promptly scored the Jays’ first goal.
A Hopkins penalty put the Wildcats up one man and they took advantage, scoring their third goal on just six shots. According to Head Coach Dave Pietramala, the team’s defense did not come out with enough fire.
“I thought defensively early we just seemed a little out of sorts,” Pietramala said. “We were too spread out. I think as the game unfolded, rather than getting more spread out, we actually got tighter and tighter.”
Following a point-blank save from Villanova’s goalie, sophomore midfielder Holden Cattoni cut the lead to one. Another minute would pass before Guida tied the game at three, wiping out a holding call against the Wildcats in the process. Pietramala said tying the game up at the end of the first quarter proved very important for the Jays.
“When we got down 3-1, I think we answered the bell,” Pietramala said. “We dug deep and got it to 3-3. When we tied it up, we breathed a sigh of relief.”
The second quarter began with a goal from Cattoni, whose fake spin move completely fooled his defender. Guida pushed the lead to two with his second goal of the game just a few minutes later. Stanwick joined the scoring barrage with two goals of his own only a few minutes apart.
After a 14:56 drought, the Wildcats broke through with two goals before the half to cut the lead to 7-5. Stanwick emphasized the importance of entering the second half strong.
“We didn’t want to panic,” Stanwick said. “We knew that we’d been here a lot this year: coming out on top at halftime. Then, we had to come out with energy. That was tough for us earlier in the year. We lost some games after having a lead at halftime, and I think we’ve grown up a little bit in that sense.”
Villanova began the third quarter with their third goal in a row to cut the lead to just one. That was as close as the Wildcats would get, however, as sophomore attackman Ryan Brown wrapped goals around one from the visitors to bring the score to 9-7. Stanwick then elicited wild applause from the crowd as he capped his hat trick by scoring from the ground after falling down. A strike from Benn with 0:00.4 left ended third quarter scoring.
The first eight minutes of the fourth quarter were quiet until sophomore midfielder Connor Reed broke through with his first goal of the game. A goal from Cattoni capped the scoring and secured a 13-7 Jay Victory.
The Hopkins defense held the opposing Wildcats scoreless for the last 22:15 of the game, and Schneider finished the day with 11 saves. That tally, however, was nothing compared to his game against Navy just five days prior.
In the game against the Midshipmen, Benn put the team on his back early on, netting a hat trick just three minutes into the second quarter to put his team up 3-1. Navy then wrapped goals around a score from Brown to end the half down 4-3.
Just 42 seconds would pass before Cattoni put Hopkins up 5-3. It was then that Benn scored his fourth goal of the game, securing his place in Hopkins history. The goal was the 100th of his career, making him just the 17th player in school history to reach the century mark.
The Midshipmen again ended the quarter’s scoring to cut the lead to 6-4. Nearly 10 full minutes would pass into the fourth quarter before Navy cut the lead to one, but by then it was too late. The 6-5 Jay win came at the hands of Schneider, who made save after save, finishing the day with a whopping 17 total saves and compliments from his coach.
“Eric is an interesting guy,” Pietramala said. “He’s going to give one or two up that you look and you just shake your head and go, ‘How did he give that up?’ Then he’s going to make one or two and you’re going to go, ‘How did he make that?’”
The two wins give Pietramala his 157th victory at Hopkins, leaving him just one shy of Bob Scott’s record for most wins by a Hopkins men’s lacrosse coach. The Jays will look to give their coach a share of the record in their final match against top-ranked Loyola.
