Navy men’s lacrosse went 24 straight games without being able to beat Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, a drought that spanned almost six decades.
Don’t look now, but the Midshipmen have suddenly beaten the Blue Jays in two straight meetings at historic Homewood Field.
Senior midfielder Max Hewitt scored the game-winning goal just over a minute and a half into overtime as Navy stunned seventh-ranked Johns Hopkins, 10-9, on Friday night in front of 1,923 fans.
The Midshipmen won the faceoff to start the extra session with freshman specialist Zach Hayashi coming up with the ground ball, racing into the offensive end and dishing to senior attackman Xavier Arline for an immediate shot. Arline’s attempt sailed wide and out of bounds.
Navy restarted and worked the ball around before it ended up in the stick of Hewitt, who beat a defender and got all the way to the goal for a point-blank shot he slipped past Hopkins goalie Chayse Ierlan.
Two officials huddled and quickly raised their arms signaling a goal. However, the lead referee immediately came to the sideline to conduct a video review of the play to determine whether Hewitt stepped in the crease before scoring.
Moments later, the official stepped back on the field and raised his arms again, and the Navy bench erupted in wild celebration.
“Things opened up underneath and I was able to get to the front of the net. I was kind of expecting a slide and when no slide came I saw the opening and went for it,” Hewitt said. “An overtime win here [at Homewood] — I don’t think you can beat that. It’s an awesome win for [Navy] as a program and hopefully something we can build on.”
It was deja vu for Hewitt, who was the hero of Navy’s 11-10 victory over Hopkins at Homewood in 2022. Hewitt scored four goals on that Friday night, including the game-tying and winning tallies just 49 seconds apart.
That win was Navy’s first against Hopkins at Homewood since 1965.
“Give [Navy] all the credit in the world. They battled hard and earned it,” Hopkins coach Peter Milliman said.
Senior midfielder Dane Swanson scored three goals for Navy, which rallied from an early 6-1 deficit. Junior attackman Henry Tolker added two goals as the Midshipmen outscored the Blue Jays 7-1 over the second and third quarters.
Hewitt and Arline both totaled a goal and an assist for Navy (4-3), which trails the all-time series with Hopkins 63-29-1. Sophomore attackman Mac Haley dished off two assists for the Mids, who won for the ninth time in Baltimore.
“To go down early here, which is one of the hardest places to play, and bounce back and fight like that … I’m just really proud of the guys,” Navy coach Joe Amplo said.
Suffocating defense was the key to the upset win. Sophomore goalie Dan Daly recorded 12 saves, several of the spectacular variety, as Navy held Hopkins to three goals over the final 48 minutes of the game.
Amplo thought the Mids played solid six-on-six offense in the opening period and were victimized by failed clears and other mistakes. Daly gave up a rebound goal, while Hopkins scored two others in unsettled situations. Defensive coordinator Jon Orsen made some slight adjustments but for the most part stuck with the original game plan, Amplo said.
“I just felt like we could guard them. We stifled them because our guys stepped up and played great on the ball. All week we’ve talked about having presence on the ball and making guys dodge one way,” Amplo said. “Jon challenged the guys to step up and do their job on the ball. He basically told them to show and only slide late if you have to because we had to trust our guys on the ball if we were going to defend this offense.”
Daly demoralized the Blue Jays with tremendous saves on one-on-one or point-blank shots. The New Jersey native stopped four shots in the second quarter and five in the fourth.
“[Daly] made some great saves. He stole a few for us. I thought he was steady between the pipes. He played wise beyond his years tonight,” Amplo said.
Graduate student attackman Garrett Degnon scored three goals to lead Hopkins (5-3), which suffered its second straight loss. Sophomore midfielder Hunter Chauvette added two goals, while graduate student attackman Jacob Angelus contributed two assists for the Blue Jays.
“We came out the right way and started well. Then we hit a bit of a dry spell on the offensive end and couldn’t get it past the goalie for a while,” Milliman said. “We did not execute the way we needed to. Just too many failed clears at crucial times, too many ground balls we didn’t get that we needed, too many offensive possessions when we didn’t finish.”
Navy encountered some travel difficulties during the road trip to Baltimore. One bus was involved in an accident in Annapolis, while the other bus broke down on I-97.
The Midshipmen did not arrive at Homewood Field until after 6 p.m., causing the game to be delayed by a half hour.
Hewitt, who said he was aboard three buses during the ride to Baltimore, said the players were laughing about the situation. Amplo was proud of the way his squad shrugged off the strange situation.
“Adversity is part of these guys’ lives on a daily basis,” Amplo said. “When you show up at Homewood Field and the lights are on and you’re playing Johns Hopkins, it doesn’t matter how you got here. What matters is that you’re here. I felt like our players seized the moment.”
Things didn’t get any better for the Mids once the game finally got underway at 7:30. The Blue Jays jumped all over the visitors and built a five-goal lead in the opening period.
To its credit, Navy did not panic or fall apart. The Mids settled down on both ends of the field and steadily worked their way back into the game, cutting the deficit to one at halftime.
Degnon and Hunter Chauvette scored two goals apiece as Hopkins raced out to a 6-1 lead with 3:05 remaining in the first quarter. Degnon, a Harwood native, set a Hopkins record by scoring at least one goal in 38 straight games. The previous mark of 37 was held by attackman Terry Riordan (1992-95), one of the program’s all-time greats.
Swanson provided the spark by scoring two goals in the second quarter and Navy used a 4-0 run to get within 6-5 at halftime. Daly made four saves as the Mids shut out the Blue Jays in the second stanza.
“I was nervous coming in and that first quarter got away from me a little bit. Once I settled in and started seeing the ball better I felt really comfortable,” Daly said. “I feel like this is the most connection we’ve had defensively all season. Everyone knew their job and responsibility. It took a while to get settled in, but once we did we were communicating super well and executing.”
Hayashi brought Navy all the way back with a spectacular play to start the second half. He won the opening faceoff, powered past a Hopkins defender then raced into the offensive end and fired a shot into the top corner. The McDonogh graduate’s first career goal tied the score at 6 with just seven seconds elapsed in the third quarter.
Hopkins briefly regained the lead as sophomore midfielder Matt Collison connected on a left-handed shot while on the run. That goal ended a scoring drought of almost 23 minutes for the Blue Jays.
However, Navy closed the third quarter with three straight goals to take a 9-7 lead.
Arline took a clearing pass and fired an overhand crank shot into the top corner to retie the score at 7. Swanson then put the Mids ahead for the first time with a powerful shot that Ierlan initially saved, but then the ball dribbled through his legs and just across the goal line.
That gave Swanson the hat trick and put the Mids ahead 8-7 with 3:16 left in the quarter. Navy got another goal directly off a fastbreak as two-way midfielder Jackson Peters cleared the ball, drew a defender then dished to Tolker for a one-on-one shot with the keeper.
Daly made several superb saves in the fourth quarter as Hopkins continued to be shut out in the second half. Degnon scored his third goal of the game off a lefty liner with 6:03 remaining to end the second lengthy drought (19:21) and get the Blue Jays within one at 9-8.
Senior midfielder Johnathan Peshko tied the score for the third time with an underhand worm burner that skipped past Daly, making it 9-9 with 2:46 to go. Hopkins won the ensuing faceoff and got off another good shot that Daly saved. Navy cleared the ball into the offensive zone and called timeout with 1:52 left in regulation.
The Mids worked the ball around the horn several times before Hewitt got off an overhand crank shot that sailed just wide at the 1:03 mark. Hopkins threw the ball away on the clearing attempt, giving Navy possession with 43.1 seconds left.
Amplo called another timeout with 28.5 seconds to go after his team successfully cleared the ball. Navy ran a play that worked well up until the point Tolker slipped while taking the shot that was set up for him. That attempt went way wide and a Hopkins defender scooped up the loose ball.
Hopkins attempted a long clearing pass that went awry and the ball rolled out of bounds as time expired, sending the game into overtime.
“That team is really physical. They challenge you to make plays and we didn’t do it,” Milliman said. “Navy played great defense and the goalie was outstanding. I thought a few of those shots had a good chance of going in and he made impressive saves. I thought we got a little stale with the way we moved the ball and had some careless turnovers.”
Navy (4-3) — 2-3-4-0-1 — 10
Hopkins (5-3) — 6-0-1-2-0 — 9
GOALS: N — Swanson 3, Tolker 2, Hewitt, Arline, Hovivian, Conway, Hayashi. JH — Degnon 3, Chauvette 2, Collison, Peshko, Bauer, Jaronski. ASSISTS: N — Haley 2, Peters 2, Arline, Hewitt, LaRocco. JH — Angelus 2, Collison, Grimes, Peshko. SHOTS: N — 33. JH — 39. SAVES: N — Daly 12. JH — Ierlan 9. FACEOFFS: N — 13. JH — 10. GROUND BALLS: N — 30. JH — 30.
Villanova at Navy
Tuesday, 7 p.m.
Stream: ESPN+
Radio: 1430 AM, 99.9 FM
No. 7 Johns Hopkins at No. 19 Rutgers
March 24, 4:30 p.m.
TV: Big Ten Network