By the time Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse midfielder Stephen Peyser stepped up to take the first faceoff of the second half in Saturday’s game against the Terrapins, he had already won all five of his faceoff opportunities. Matched up against Terp redshirt freshman midfielder Dan Burns for the first time and looking to give his team a spark, Peyser decided to take a chance and push the ball forward off the draw.”I was just kind of like, ‘Screw it. Let’s try and go forward on this one,'” Peyser said.The gamble paid off as Peyser cleanly won the draw to himself going toward the Terp goal. Within four seconds, Peyser flipped a shot past Terp redshirt junior goalie Jason Carter to increase the Blue Jay lead to two. The play began a dominating second-half performance by Johns Hopkins en route to a 10-4 Blue Jay win. For the Terps, the play illustrated a major theme in their poor performances this season – a lack of faceoff success.The Terps only won 3 of 18 face-offs Saturday as Johns Hopkins, led by Peyser’s 12-of-13 performance, controlled the pace of the game. “When you play a team and they have a lot of talent, you can’t lose as many faceoffs as we lost,” coach Dave Cottle said. “I think that put pressure on us defensively. We just played an awful lot of defense.”And it’s not a new problem for the Terps. In their four losses this season the Terps have only won about 36 percent of faceoffs. The only loss in which the Terps won more faceoffs than their opponent was March 14 at UMBC.In their seven wins, the Terps have controlled nearly 58 percent of faceoffs, including a 15-of-23 performance in an upset win against then-No. 1 Virginia on March 29. Saturday was not one of those good games. Cottle sent four different players out to take faceoffs. Senior midfielder Will Dalton had the most success, winning 3-of-10 draws. Sophomore midfielder Bryn Holmes, who was winning nearly 60 percent of his faceoffs entering the game, lost all six of his chances Saturday.The Terps’ faceoff unit hit rock bottom during the opening minutes of the second half, as the Blue Jays won the first four faceoffs of the half and scored three goals while possessing the ball for the first 3:24 of the half. “Peyser’s a great faceoff guy,” sophomore long pole Brian Farrell, who plays wing on the Terps’ faceoff unit, said. “When he wins it right to himself, it’s really frustrating because the ball’s not coming towards you. You have to think of a strategy, but you can tell he’s one of the best faceoff men in the nation.”Peyser said he was “a little nervous” about how he would match up with the Terps’ faceoff unit, but it was obvious from the beginning that Peyser, who currently ranks No. 12 in the nation in face-off win percentage at 59 percent, was in top form.”It’s a good feeling,” Peyser said. “Whenever you’re moving well out there at the X, it’s not something you can describe. Ask any faceoff guy what it feels like, and it’s just you’re on.”As in the other Terp losses, the offense struggled due to a lack of opportunities. The Terps posted just four goals for the second straight game – both losses. The defense and Carter fought through the first half but withered under the Blue Jay pressure in the second half, giving up six third-quarter goals. “If there was one thing we could change in that game, it would be the faceoffs,” Cottle said.edetweilerdbk@gmail.com