Hopkins Tops Ohio State in Triple OT Thriller

Baltimore, Maryland–Johns Hopkins took down Ohio State in a physical battle on Homewood Field. The teams will be conference rivals once the Big Ten opens its doors next year. If this is a semblance of Big Ten Lacrosse, it will be an amazing conference from top to bottom. This game had it all, scoring runs, sways in momentum, great saves, and some great hitting.

The first half progressed with both teams feeling there way into early season action. The defenses held strong and held their dominance over both opposing offenses. As the initial face off was set, both Ohio State and Hopkins were whistled for unsportansmanlike conduct fouls. This set the tone for the contest. Both teams fed off the energy as the combatants reached the penalty box.

The scoring started with OSU’s senior midfielder Jesse King scoring to open the season for both teams. The play was back and forth until Hopkins responded with Ryan Brown scoring on a underhanded flip of the ball past Greg Dutton. King led all scorers with five goals. The first quarter was dominated by Ohio State being able to get the ball off the turf and up field. Unfortunately they could not get past Eric Schneider for more than two goals before half. The second quarter was even, with both teams scoring a goal each. Carter Brown for OSU and Connor Reed for JHU.

The half ended with the score knotted at two apiece.

At the start of the second half, it was clear adjustments had been made and both offenses had settled in. Hopkins opened up with goals from Rob Guida and John Crawley within a minute of each other. Ohio State answered with Jesse King scoring to put the match at 4-3 in favor of the home team.

Holden Cattoni and Reegan Comeault traded goals again to keep the game at one goal. Wells Stanwick had an assist on Hopkins first five goals. He drew the pressure below the goal line and found the open man each time. Mike Pellegrino scored to increase the lead to two at 6-4. Brandon Benn scored to now set to give the Blue Jays a three-goal advantage. All this scoring took place in the first nine minutes of the third, which provided the first momentum swing in Hopkins favor.

King would have his hand in four of the next five goals, assisting on the goal for Turner Evans and then had three of his own tallies. Jesse King looks just as good as he did to finish the season last year. He took over the game at a pivot point where the Jays could have started to run away with the contest. Two of King’s goals and one by Gordie Koerber had swung momentum back in favor of the Buckeyes. Ohio State finished on a three-goal run.

The game looked to be over when Cattoni found Ryan Brown for a goal, but it was disallowed for a crease violation as Cattoni fell into the crease as he found Brown open. Each team went into overtime confident that they were going to win in the end.

A one-minute slashing penalty was called on Hopkins defender Jack Reilly, which the Blue Jays killed off to end the second overtime and to start the third. There were a few openings from both offenses that looked like would end it, but both Dutton and Schneider came up big in net. Brandon Benn ended the contest with a right-handed shot that found the back of the net about hip high on Dutton.

Benn ran to the sideline to give family a hug as he scored and was then mobbed by his teammates. Both teams played strong, even during the opening moments of their seasons. It was a hard-hitting affair and the future looks bright for Big Ten Lacrosse.

Eric Schneider ended the game with 13 saves, while Greg Dutton ended with 11. Jesse King led Ohio State with five goals, one assist and Wells Stanwick paced the Jays with one goal, five assists.  Johns Hopkins follows the win next week with Michigan at Homewood Field.