Jaclyn Borowski
BALTIMORE – With 13 seconds left Saturday, Johns Hopkins had possession and a chance to extend the Terrapin men’s lacrosse team’s collective agony.
Down one goal, the Blue Jays needed one good look to push a game once far out of reach into overtime. But before the Blue Jays could find a shot, they lost the ball, and Terps’ long pole Brian Farrell scooped it up as time expired, sealing a 10-9 win and prompting his relieved teammates to pour onto the field at M&T Bank Stadium.
For the moment, the No. 4 Terps didn’t care how narrowly their 10-9 victory against No. 16 Johns Hopkins had come.
After a slow and sloppy start required a furious third-quarter comeback, the Terps (8-2) nearly let their lead slip away, allowing a push by Johns Hopkins (5-6) through the game’s final seconds. But after holding on for their first win in four years against their in-state rivals, the Terps wanted a chance to relish it.
“Right now, it feels really, really good,” said senior goalkeeper Brian Phipps, who had never beaten Johns Hopkins before. “I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s fun winning with this group of guys.”
In last year’s match between the two teams, the Terps had their chance to tie the game cut short, as Johns Hopkins goalkeeper Mike Gvozden blocked attackman Grant Catalino’s shot to end the 10-9 loss.
But in the 106th meeting between the two teams, the Terps’ fortunes reversed. They ended the Blue Jays’ streak of 23 wins against in-state opponents and beat them for only the second time in coach Dave Cottle’s tenure in College Park.
“You can’t have a rivalry if one team never wins,” Cottle said. “And so it’s real important for us for our seniors to win. … I’m more happy for the seniors than I am for me.”
At first, it looked like the Terps’ seniors might be in trouble.
Johns Hopkins started where they had left off the last three years, kicking off the match with a three-goal run before the Terps finally responded. Despite a disadvantage in face-offs, penalties and ground balls, the Terps narrowed the deficit to 4-3 at intermission.
The play of the Terps’ man-down squad kept them in the game. Despite having six extra-man opportunities in the first half, the Blue Jays could not convert any of them. Although they did score one goal right after a penalty had expired, both Cottle and Johns
Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala said the Blue Jays’ failure to capitalize on those opportunities made the difference in the game.
A one-sided third quarter also helped. Two minutes into the second half, the Terps tied the game, and one minute after that, they took their first lead of the night.
While Johns Hopkins scored soon after to knot the score again, the Terps controlled the ensuing face-off and received a man-up opportunity from a Blue Jays penalty. Then, attackman Joe Cummings received a pass on the crease and put a shot past Johns Hopkins goalkeeper Pierce Bassett to retake the lead and start another four-goal Terp run that extended into the fourth quarter.
By the time the scoring deluge had ended with 12:12 remaining in the game, the Terps were ahead 9-5.
“I thought that was one of the best quarters we played all year,” Cottle said.
But in the fourth quarter, the Terps slowed their attack to a crawl, receiving stall warnings on four straight plays and a stall violation that gave the ball back to Johns Hopkins. Before long, the Blue Jays inched back with a 4-1 scoring run, including two goals in the final two minutes.
But the Terps never cracked.
“We’re a calm team,” Farrell said. “We always keep our heads up. If something bad is going on, we get the next play.”
On Saturday, it was the last play that mattered most, with Farrell’s final scoop unleashing a wave of emotion and relief.
“You can still hear them in the locker room in there hollering,” Phipps said. “I think we deserve this right now.”
kyanchulis@umdbk.com
