Photo Credit: Ian Neadle
On Sunday at noon in the University of Delaware, Johns Hopkins met up with Duke in the NCAA Quarterfinals. The Blue Devils would come out on top 19-11.
The referees in this game were making many questionable calls whether due to the penalized action or the timing of their calls. In the end, Hopkins accumulated more than twice the amount of penalties than did Duke which hindered their abilities and momentum all game.
However, Blue Jay action was nowhere near shorted. Rob Guida still managed to find the back of the cage three times, as did Holden Cattoni. Connor Reed, Wells Stanwick, Ryan Brown, Brandon Benn and John Crawley each scored once, as well.
Connor Reed and Wells Stanwick were feeding powerhouses and each secured four and three assists, respectively. Ryan Brown also aided in assisting a goal.
The Blue Jays won 16-of-33 faces, and only had one violation called against them all game in that area. On the other side, Duke won 17-of-33 draws and were called for violations four times.
Duke started the game’s scoring in under a minute into play (14:09 first period), and kept the goals coming and unanswered for the majority of the first quarter. They racked up to a 6-0 lead before Hopkins finally had some answers at 4:19 in the first thanks to Connor Reed. This should have been noted as foreshadowing this epic lacrosse tale because the rest of the game became a back-and-forth battle of ball possession.
Hopkins only scored three times in the first, but come the second quarter the game changed tremendously. Whereas the majority of Duke goals were assisted, the majority of Hopkins goals were unassisted fast breaks or explosive dodging.
With Duke commanding the lead with 12 goals after some more back and forth play, it was Hopkins’ turn to possess and control the ball. The smell of a comeback was faintly detectable as Hopkins closed in on Duke up to 12-10. After that, the Blue Devils ran away with the game, finalizing it 19-11.
For Duke’s second goal, Deemer Class took the shot and was blocked by goalie Eric Schneider. The ball ricocheted back into play where Jordan Wolf was able to obtain possession and send a feed to Josh Dionne. 2-0 Duke.
Hopkins’ first goal came after a shot by Rob Guida was blocked by goaltender Luke Aaron, but was recovered by Connor Reed. Reed made sure Guida got to make amends, and ‘feeded’ him for a Guida goal.
Jordan Wolf not only had five goals on the day, but increased his season total to 59 before Hopkins’ season officially ended.
On the other side of the ball, Myles Jones was a beast as usual, contributing three goals and four assists in the game, bringing his season goals total to 33. Other Duke goals included: Jordan Wolf (5), Josh Dionne (4), Case Matheis (3), Christian Walsh (2) and Kyle Keenan (2).
As previously stated, the biggest shortcoming for the Blue Jays was the officiating. They played 6:30 minutes man down. That’s almost an entire eighth of the game! In most sports, spectators could argue that time doesn’t mean much, but in lacrosse, where high scoring games are the norm, it is a HUGE difference-maker.
Next week, Duke will meet Denver in Baltimore for semi-final play to decide who will appear in the NCAA D-I Championship.
