The Johns Hopkins reserve players couldn’t contain themselves.
With about four minutes left in the third quarter of their squad’s game against the Maryland men’s lacrosse team, the Blue Jays goalkeeper dove over the end line to be the player closest to the Terps’ wide shot out of bounds, flipping possession.
The Blue Jays sideline broke into a deep roar, bounding alongside one another in hugs, high fives and chest bumps.
But their elation subsided a few seconds later as the Terps disrupted the clear, and midfielder Colin Heacock paced back to the attacking third with the ball. Soon, Maryland’s bench broke into its own celebration.
Midfielder Bryan Cole erased the 6-6 draw as he sprawled out along the left crease to push one into the net. Cole’s efforts, punctuated with his signature “Super Man” chest-reveal move, pushed the Terps ahead by one, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish in the team’s 11-8 victory at Homewood Field on Saturday afternoon.
In front of a crowd of 5,688 in Baltimore, Maryland finished its conference slate with a 5-0 record to clinch the program’s first outright Big Ten regular-season championship and secure the top seed in next weekend’s Big Ten Tournament.
“To be Big Ten regular-season champions for the first time — just sole champions — I think is something special that these guys can always remember,” coach John Tillman said. “I don’t think it will really sink in now, but I think down the road, it will be really important to them.”
Cole led the team with four points on one goal and three assists, while attackmen Matt Rambo, Dylan Maltz, Colin Heacock and midfielder Connor Kelly each poured in two goals.
Seven Maryland players found the back of the net to ensure the Terps didn’t share the crown after Johns Hopkins downed Maryland, 15-12, in College Park in the 2015 regular-season finale to split last year’s title.
Less than two minutes after Cole silenced the Johns Hopkins’ sideline, the redshirt senior fed Rambo on the crease. The junior, Maryland’s leader in points, used a series of stick fakes to freeze Blue Jays goalkeeper Brock Turnbaugh before Rambo punched it into the back of the netting.
The duo also teamed up with one second left in the first quarter to push Maryland’s lead to 3-2.
“Rambo was on the back pipe, and he kind of had his stick up,” Cole said. “I just kind of fired it in there.”
That advantage would disappear midway through the second half, as the Blue Jays used two of attackman Ryan Brown’s three scores on the day to tie the game at six. But Cole sparked his team’s attack to negate the threat from Johns Hopkins’ leading scorer.
“We couldn’t seem to get over that hump and get that seventh goal,” Blue Jays coach Dave Pietramala said with his voice rising. “We were right there. We’d get down two, we’d fight back, and we just couldn’t get over the hump.”
Despite finishing the game with a 16-5 disadvantage on faceoffs, cycling through three players at the X while faceoff specialist Austin Henningsen continues to recover from an injury, the Terps strung together a 5-0 run from Cole’s score to Heacock’s goal with 6:23 left in the contest.
With each tally, reserve defender Curtis Corley raced around the Terps’ bench area. He met teammates with rounds of chest bumps, some player unaware of the coming collisions amid the celebration but managing to leap toward the rookie in time.
And when the final horn sounded, the Maryland players raced toward goalkeeper Kyle Bernlohr in the net. Midfielder Pat Young sprinted around the group huddle, pumping his fist.
After the postgame handshakes, the two squads stood facing each other on the field. The Terps captains hoisted The Rivalry Trophy, a 25-pound wooden crab-shaped prize given to the winner of this matchup each season.
Before receiving the conference award, the team’s leaders walked down the line, and each Terp touched the rivalry’s prize.
Johns Hopkins’ players and coaches watched in silence.
“Getting the chance to win that sole, outright for the first time is pretty nice,” Cole said. “But I’ll be honest with you, I’m looking ahead. I think our whole team is. We want to win the Big Ten Tournament now.”
