The best thing that could be said about the No. 9 Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse team’s 13-7 win against No. 20 Loyola Maryland before an announced crowd of 4,201 on Saturday at Homewood Field was that it was a mid-February game.
That’s about it.
It was ugly. There were 34 turnovers and only 20 goals scored from 71 shots. But the Blue Jays outscored the Greyhounds, 6-2, in the final quarter, including three straight goals midway through the period, to take control and win a third straight game.
Johns Hopkins was led in scoring by attackmen Jacob Angelus and Garrett Degnon, who each scored three goals. Angelus also had four assists. Attackman Matthew Minicus and midfielder Adam Poitras each had two goals for Loyola, and Poitras added two assists.
But this game wasn’t very exciting and was worse than the score indicates. Loyola (1-2) trailed only 7-5 at the end of the third quarter, but the Blue Jays dominated almost every aspect, especially in the crucial areas of shots, faceoff wins and ground balls.
Johns Hopkins coach Peter Milliman wasn’t happy, except about the way the Blue Jays finished.
“Parts of the game were super ugly,” said Milliman, now in his fourth year at Hopkins. “We were dealing with some wind, some temperature and other things. We felt like we got there at times, but not there enough.
“It was a typical February game. We got there at the end and that’s a big improvement for us considering the way we’ve finished recently.”
You can sense and see where the Blue Jays are headed. They have go-to players such as Degnon and Angelus, and they ride extremely well. On Saturday, they helped force 20 turnovers, particularly in the ride as the Greyhounds failed on 7 of 26 clear attempts.
That will eventually become a difference-maker in big games. Johns Hopkins (3-1) also had a 35-27 advantage in ground balls and scored on 2 of 3 extra-man opportunities. There is hope in the Blue Jays’ half-field defense, even though their goalie play is still suspect.
On the flip side, Loyola continues to struggle. A week ago, the Greyhounds were beaten down by a stronger Maryland team in an 11-4 loss and they got smacked around pretty good Saturday by the Blue Jays.
Loyola has struggled on faceoffs and had problems scooping up ground balls Saturday. There were times when the Blue Jays took Minicus out of the offense by face guarding him.
As hard as Milliman was on his team in a win, Loyola coach Charley Toomey was light on the Greyhounds after the loss, but he got his points across.
“I thought we came out ready to play,” Toomey said. “They picked up more ground balls, were more physical. I’m not upset, we gave a great effort today. In ground balls, there were two to our one creating more opportunities. It’s like we had the yips.
“Hats off to them. They made the big plays when they needed to, and we didn’t.”
The difference came in the fourth quarter. The Greyhounds pulled within 7-6 on a goal by attackman Joey Kamish with 12:40 left in the game, but Hopkins answered with three straight goals in the next five minutes.
Both attackman Hunter Chauvette and midfielder Matt Collison beat Loyola defensive middie Mustang Sally from behind the net to put the Blue Jays ahead, 9-6, with 8:12 remaining, and Angelus scored off an assist from middie Dylan Bauer to push the lead to 10-6 with 5:17 left.
“At that point we had been playing the picks well, but we had to do some things differently and we got exposed. We were tired and they took advantage of it,” Toomey said.
The second quarter was all Degnon. He either scored or allowed Loyola to score, all on penalty situations.
After 30 second-penalties on defensemen Joe Houlihan for pushing and Alex Bean for interference, Degnon scored on a long-range shot from the left of the goal with 13:04 left in the quarter to tie the game at 2.
Almost six minutes later, Sally was called for a one-minute cross checking penalty. Degnon scored again, from the same spot on the same passing rotation, to give the Blue Jays a 3-2 lead.
Then with 5:04 remaining in the quarter, Degnon was called for a check to the head and Minicus scored off the extra-man opportunity with a short, nifty underhand shot as the teams went into halftime tied at 3.
The Greyhounds led 2-1 at the end of the first quarter on goals from James and Poitras. Both came after Collison opened the scoring off a reverse dodge with 6:19 left in the first quarter.
It was a sloppy first half for both teams. The Blue Jays outshot Loyola, 18-10, and had a 17-9 advantage in ground balls, but Greyhounds goalie Luke Staudt had six saves. Loyola had 12 turnovers and the Blue Jays had eight.
No. 9 Johns Hopkins at No. 17 North Carolina
Saturday, noon
Stream: ACCNX
No. 11 Rutgers at No. 20 Loyola Maryland
Saturday, 1 p.m.
Stream: ESPN+
