The Hopkins men’s lacrosse team closed out regular season play with a win in their first year in the Big Ten conference.
A 15-12 upset over in-state and conference rival University of Maryland Terrapins gave Hopkins a 4-1 Big Ten record and top seed ranking in the upcoming playoffs.
Junior attack Ryan Brown led the way offensively yet again, tying his career-high goal total of eight for the second time this season, earning him Big Ten’s Offensive Player of the Week.
While Brown’s heroic effort accounted for more than half of the offense, three other Blue Jays pitched in multiple point games with Big Ten Freshman of the Year Joel Tinney adding a hat trick and a trio of ground balls and Hopkins’ active career leader in points senior Wells Stanwick contributing a team-high three assists.
Freshman faceoff specialist Hunter Moreland also pitched in another strong performance securing 15 of his 25 attempts while also grabbing a career and game-high six ground balls.
The game tilted towards the No. 5 Terps for the opening majority of the contest with their sophomore attack Matt Rambo starting the scoring quickly with a pair of scores early in the first quarter.
Tinney pitched in the first third of his hat trick before Maryland senior attack Jay Carlson followed with a pair of his own giving over 9,000 fans in attendance plenty to get excited about.
Hopkins sophomore John Crawley was able to pitch in an unassisted goal to precede Tinney’s second of the quarter, but Terp’s senior Joe LoCascio was able to find the net for his third point of the game putting his team ahead 5-3.
A 3-1 run that included goals from Brown and Wells Stanwick. Freshman Shack Stanwick put the game at 6-6 with neither team able to string any kind of momentum together for consecutive goals for a 20 minute period that lasted through the entire third quarter.
The Blue Jays found a new gear in the fourth quarter opening with six consecutive goals, four from Brown. During the run, Moreland won seven faceoffs to give the offense the possessions to pull away with the victory.
By the time Maryland found the goals to retaliate, it was far too late and too little with the upset complete at 15-12.
“We not only wanted to win this game, but we needed to win,” senior Phil Castronova, who scooped five ground balls, said. “It went back and forth until the fourth quarter where we pulled away making this win one of the better feelings I’ve had during my lacrosse career.”
Brown’s performance solidified his lead for goals on the team with 51 while also boasting a nation-best 29 game scoring streak.
“Whether it’s practice or a game, I’m just making sure I’m focused,” Brown said. “It’s really that focus that’s been most helpful in keeping the streak going.”
Defensively, senior captain Eric Schneider and junior Will Ryan split time in the net combining for seven saves that held off a Maryland team that’s collected 161 goals this season.
“Our defensive performance was definitely a collective effort, and as the game went on we settled in and played within our system,” Schneider said. “This allowed us to be successful late in the game but we know we need to be better moving forward.”
After a bumpy season that included a fair share of disappointments there is plenty of optimism about the past three wins before starting the postseason run.
“Before the overtime win at Penn State we had lost several very close games, and our chances of making the NCAA tournament were dwindling,” Castranova said. “Getting these victories under our belt the past two weeks have provided a lot of positive momentum for our team and shifted the energy in our favor. We knew we were a great team who had just had a bunch of tough breaks and just needed a solid win to solidify our legitimacy.”
Next up for Hopkins and Coach of the Year Dave Pietramala is the first bump on the playoff road in the form of fourth seed Penn State who the Jays ousted 11-10 only a few weeks ago.
“Being able to hold up the Crab Trophy and win the regular season Big Ten championship was surreal,” Castronova said. “Hopefully we can keep the momentum going this week against Penn State.”
