Baltimore, Maryland – Joel Tinney returned to the starting lineup to lead ninth ranked Johns Hopkins to a season-opening win against the Naval Academy. This was the opening game for both teams at Homewood Field. Hopkins big second half led the Blue Jays to a 15-8 win.
Navy opened the scoring in the contest with the first three goals to take an early lead. Colin Flounlacker started the run for Navy, followed by tallies from Ray Wardell and Torain Greyson. Navy starting goalie Ryan Kern had four saves early to keep the Blue Jays scoreless during the first quarter.
Hopkins would score three goals in 1:39 to tie the score at three. Attackman Wilkins Dismuke scored off an assist from Joel Tinney, who was playing his first game since Hopkins played in the Final Four in 2015, ending with three goals and two assists.
John Crawley scored his first goal of the season to bring the deficit to one, followed by freshman Cole Williams’ first career goal as a Blue Jay. The tie would last for two and a half minutes before Navy would answer.
Jack Ryan would score to take another lead at 4-3 with 9:46 left in the half. Hopkins answered with an extra-man goal by midfielder Patrick Fraser, his first of three on the day. Jack Ryan would then assist Dave Little’s goal, but Hopkins would answer to tie the game at five before halftime. Fraser would score his second, unassisted, driving to the goal.
The second half began with Tinney scoring only 16 seconds into the frame. This was the first lead that Hopkins would have in the contest. The Blue Jays would ride the momentum of continued face-off wins and assisted goals to the seven-goal margin of victory.
Navy would answer to tie the game at six and seven before Hopkins would score eight of the last nine goals. Chris Fennell answered Tinney’s goal. Kieran Eissler would get his first of the season for the Jays before Navy’s Ray would get his second.
At 5:30 left in the third quarter, Tinney’s convincing hidden ball trick beat Kern and the Blue Jays kept the pressure on, scoring the next three goals to open the lead to 11-7. Tinney scored his third of the game, followed Crawley’s second and Dismuke’s second.
Hopkins Shack Stanwick opened the scoring in the fourth with his first shot of the game. Stanwick shot 100%, going two for two. Navy’s extra-man offense scored its last goal of the game when Flounlacker scored from Ryan Wade for his second goal.
The Blue Jay’s extra-man offense would score two on their next two opportunities. The first was by Stanwick and the second was by Fraser, wherein the ball rolled past Kern after a body save. At 2:17, Hopkins closed the scoring when Stanwick found Dismuke to complete the hat trick.
Hopkins started a new goaltender in graduate transfer Gerald Logan, who stopped eight shots in the contest. Kern took the loss on his first collegiate start, making 12 saves. Four of those saves were in the fourth quarter, in which Hopkins dominated possession.
Both teams took advantage of extra man opportunities, as Navy went 2 for 3 and Hopkins went a perfect 3 for 3.
Next for the Blue Jays is the UMBC Retrievers, along with new coach Ryan Moran on February 11th. Navy opens their home slate Saturday when they face Maryland.
