Niko Amato
Landon Carr was streaking down the middle of Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium Saturday afternoon with a chance to give his Terrapins men’s lacrosse team some much-needed momentum. The Terps trailed rival Johns Hopkins, 6-4, with 10 minutes left, and Carr could’ve cut into that lead if he netted a goal.
So as the defensive midfielder raced toward the Blue Jays net unguarded, he rifled a shot from about 15 yards out. But like many of the Terps’ shots Saturday, the ball flew right into Pierce Bassett’s stick. The Johns Hopkins goalkeeper had yet again ended a promising scoring chance.
The No. 1 Terps’ experienced that type of frustration throughout their 7-4 loss to No. 15 Johns Hopkins. Despite outshooting the Blue Jays, 36-31, the Terps notched their lowest goal total of the year as the nation’s third-ranked scoring offense couldn’t muster enough firepower to challenge their rivals.
The Terps’ (8-2) most stagnant performance of the year came in their most highly anticipated regular-season game. A season-high 10,233 fans — including New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who is friends with Blue Jays (7-4) coach Dave Pietramala — were on hand to watch the Terps stumble in arguably the sport’s fiercest rivalry.
Midfielder Mike Chanenchuk wasn’t concerned with rivals and marquee matchups after the game, though. He just wanted the offense to play better.
“Throughout the game we had some very good possessions and then didn’t shoot it as well as we wanted too,” said Chanenchuk, who finished with a team-high three points. “There was also times when we didn’t make the best decision available.”
Much of the problem was the team’s shooting. Coach John Tillman pointed out that Bassett was stellar — he saved 12 of 16 shots on goal — but the third-year coach and his players were disappointed with his team’s shot selection.
“At times we rushed,” Tillman said. “It felt like we were taking the first shot, maybe not the best shot.”
Johns Hopkins, meanwhile, didn’t have any scoring troubles early on. Midfielder John Ranagan got the scoring started with a pair of goals in the game’s first 10 minutes to give the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead.
Attackman Owen Blye — who notched his 100th point — and Chanenchuk both added goals before the end of the first frame for the Terps, but Hopkins still led 3-2.
Then the Terps’ scoring drought began. Tillman’s squad struggled to penetrate through the Johns Hopkins defense, and couldn’t find many good looks at the net. Even when they did fire quality shots toward Bassett, the senior netminder was there to stop them.
The Blue Jays held the Terps scoreless in the second quarter and took a 4-2 lead into halftime. Johns Hopkins likely would have pulled away if it weren’t for a gutsy effort from the Terps defense.
Pietramala’s team got a boost with the return of midfielder Rob Guida, who played in his first game after missing nearly a month with a collarbone injury, yet the Terps’ defense still kept the Blue Jays from pulling away.
“We prepared like Guida was going to play all week,” Terps long pole Jesse Bernhardt said. “We don’t try to worry about matchups too much, we just try to stick with our system.”
The Terps’ offensive woes didn’t subside in the second half. Six minutes into the third quarter, Chanenchuk finally scored to snap a streak of 22 minutes without a goal. That was all they would get in the third quarter, though.
Goaltender Niko Amato made 12 saves to keep the contest close, but the Terps never could mount a comeback. In the fourth quarter, Chanenchuk said, the Terps were pressing a bit too hard in an effort to make up a three-goal deficit.
“There’s that sense of urgency [when playing from behind],” Chanenchuk said. “You want to make the shot perfect instead of shooting your regular shot.”
Basset made three saves, including the demoralizing one on Carr, to seal the Blue Jays victory.
The sobering defeat at the hands of their rivals shows the Terps they have work to do before the playoffs begin. They remain in good position for the postseason and will likely stay near the top of most national rankings.
Still, Tillman said, Saturday’s offensive performance was nowhere near good enough.
“I’d just like to see us execute for 60 minutes on the offensive end at a little higher level,” Tillman said. “And just make some better decisions on offense.”
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