Here’s a fun fact: Blue Jays are aggressive and territorial. Here’s another fun fact: Greyhounds are considered by many to be among the top 10 most gentle dog breeds.
This past Saturday, the Hopkins men’s lacrosse team proved both of these fun facts to be true as the Blue Jays defeated the Loyola University Maryland Greyhounds in a riveting top 10 battle in front of a packed Homewood Field crowd of 5,222.
Hopkins faced an uphill climb early on in the newest rendition of the Charles Street Rivalry, as the Greyhounds offense quickly put in four goals to take a quick 4-1 lead just 11 minutes into the game.
Nevertheless, the Jays quickly answered the call with a goal apiece by graduate student Craig Madarasz, junior Shack Stanwick and senior John Crawley to tie up the game before a goal by Loyola senior Graham Savio put them back in the lead heading into the second quarter.
The second quarter of the contest proved to be a more defensive battle, as sophomore Kyle Marr and junior Patrick Fraser notched goals for the Jays to answer the goal from the Greyhounds and leveled the game at a 6-6 tie. Loyola’s offense caught fire near the end of the of half, firing two into the back of the net in the final 2:39 to take an 8-6 lead into the locker room.
Both Hopkins and Loyola came out hot, each netting in a goal at the beginning of the second half. The Greyhounds pulled ahead, putting another in the back of the net to increase their lead to 10-7.
The Jays were not fazed, however, as Stanwick scored another goal soon after to shorten Loyola’s lead to two. This would kick off a 7-3 game-ending run in favor of the home Hopkins team.
Stanwick would also go on to score two more goals, bringing his goal total to four and tying his career high along with notching an assist for an impressive five-point showing. This also improved Stanwick’s point streak to 36 straight.
Mike Perkins buried a goal in for the Greyhounds to put the lead back at three in favor of the visiting Loyola team.
However, only eight minutes deeper into the third quarter, Hopkins rang in four goals to capture their first lead of the day after Stanwick scored his third and fourth goal, and Marr and freshman Forry Smith contributed a goal each.
The lead for the Jays was short lived, though, as Loyola’s Alex McGovern tossed in a goal to tie the game back up at 11 apiece before his teammate Brian Sherlock took back the lead for the Hounds 1:21 into the final quarter.
Hopkins senior Wilkins Dismuke answered back four minutes later with a goal that extended his scoring streak to 15 games and tied the game at 12 apiece.
However, Sherlock buried another goal that gave Loyola what would prove to be their last lead of the game. A jaw dropping save by Hopkins graduate student goalie Gerald Logan and a forced turnover by the Jays gave them just the opportunity they needed to force overtime.
With just seconds left in regulation, Smith batted in a blocked shot by Loyola goalie Jacob Stover to tie it at 13-13 and force overtime.
In case anyone has not been on the internet in the past week, Blue Jay junior midfielder Joel Tinney likes fake passes.
After going viral on SportsCenter with his hidden ball fake that left Navy’s goaltender on the Not Top 10 Plays of the Week, one would think that coaches would have prepared their team to combat such trickery.
Unfortunately for the Greyhounds, they did not catch on, and in sudden death overtime in front of a packed crowd that was on the edge of their seats, Tinney pulled off another hidden ball trick.
He completely fooled the Loyola defense and buried the game-winning shot for the Blue Jays, sending the crowd in a frenzy and causing the Hopkins fans to truly go bananas.
The victory puts Hopkins at 3-0 on the season while Loyola falls to 0-2.
The Blue Jays will be heading down to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill this Saturday, Feb. 25 to take on the defending national champions, the Tar Heels.
