Baltimore, Maryland–The Charles Street rivalry began with Johns Hopkins University hosting the Towson Tigers at Homewood Field. Both teams started the year with opening wins. The Tigers defeated High Point in a revenge game after Towson lost to HPU last year for the school’s first win. The Blue Jays defeated Ohio State in triple overtime.
John Crawley opened the score just off a man advantage with the assist coming from Junior Wells Stanwick. Stanwick is coming off an impressive performance quarterbacking the offense against the Buckeyes. The motion offense that Hopkins has incorporated into their game has found its rhythm after a slow start to the season.
Crawley put in the second goal of the game getting topside on his defender. Using the defender as sort of screen as he was moving away from the cage, he buried the shot low on Towson goalie, Tyler White. Towson answered with a rocket from freshman Joe Seider. The rookie scored three goals last week and continues with the hot hand for the Tigers. He beat Blue Jay goalie, Eric Schneider with a high-to-high shot from up top. Hopkins answered on the extra man with a goal from Brandon Benn with the assist coming from Ryan Brown.
Just Mabus ran through three defenders to get a goal against Hopkins to get the Tigers back to within one. Tyler White finished the quarter strong as Hopkins had a flurry of shots towards the net. The first quarter ended in favor of Hopkins 3-2.
Towson started the second quarter tying the game at three off of a goal from Greg Cuccinello. In almost the same position, he connected again past Schneider to give the Tigers their first lead of the game. To finish the natural hat trick, he finished another bomb from deep to give the Tigers a two-goal lead. Stanwick answered the run, finding Brown for a goal as he was left open in front of the cage. After a quick timeout, Stanwick got his first off of a pick from behind the cage.
The run continued with Brown scoring his second of the game. The Tigers struggled with the pick plays Hopkins ran from behind the cage. The excitement ended with both teams taking long possessions but no team could find the back of the net. Hopkins out shot the Tigers by 10 at half and took the advantage in face offs after struggling to start.
After the Tigers started the scoring with a goal to tie the game at six, Hopkins rolled off the next four to take a commanding lead before Coach Nadelen took a time out to regroup his troops. Brown’s two goals book ended two by Crawley. Holden Cattoni kept the ball rolling in favor of Hopkins with an in-tight dodge to the goal and with their 41st shot on the game Hopkins led by five.
The Blue Jays continued their dominance with a Wells Stanwick hanging up this defenseman and finding Benn for another tally. The Blue Jays were on a nine-one run to start the quarter. In large part, the ability for Hopkins to garner such a lead was due to their face off dominance after a slow start. Junior Drew Kennedy went on a 10-win run to tilt the field in favor of Hopkins. Hopkins closed the quarter with a goal from Nevada resident Kieran Eissler. The quarter ended with the Blue Jays up 13-6.
The fourth quarter opened with Towson getting a transition goal from defenseman Mike Lowe. The physical play continued as the teams held onto the ball longer. A bench foul on Hopkins got a man advantage in favor of Towson, but the Tigers failed to take advantage of the opportunity. Hopkins doubled up again as Bronson Kelly found Benn cutting from under the defense. Blue Jays 14-7.
With six minutes left, Benn scored on an extra man opportunity off of an assist from Brown. Hopkins went four for five on the day with an extra man. At 15-7, Hopkins was comfortably in the lead and Schneider kept making saves to keep the Tigers off the board.
Tyler White held the advantage in saves with 17. Three Jays had four goals with Benn, Crawley, and Brown each pacing the offense. Stanwick had another six point outing with one goal, five assists. The Tigers were paced by four goals from Cuccinello.
The Blue Jays will next face the Michigan Wolverines at Homewood. The Tigers will have a mid-week tilt against another Charles Street team, the Loyola Greyhounds. The final score from Homewood was Blue Jays 15, Tigers 8.
