#6 Johns Hopkins vs. UMBC – When you go 3-0 to start the season, you’re ego will be standing on top of a mountain, which makes it vulnerable to come crashing down. In Hopkins case, that’s what happened after they dropped a heart breaker to the Princeton Tigers 11-8. It was the first time the Blue Jays hadn’t scored double digits and let up double digit goals. Having your world rocked like the Jays did, it makes you hungrier, wanting to get out there and make yourself better and fix what was broken.
On Tuesday, Pietramala’s team didn’t hold anything back. Against The Mount, if Hopkins wanted to score, they scored, forcing Mount Saint Mary’s to change their goalie three times. Speaking of goaltenders, Pietramala made a statement that the job between the pipes was up for grabs between Senior Pierce Bassett (didn’t play Tuesday) and Junior Eric Schneider, who received his first career start in net for the Jays. Schneider (11/23, .478%) made 4/13 saves in their game agains The Mount, and has also seen action versus Michigan (5/8) and Siena (2/2). Bassett (41/69, .594%) has been the teams go to stopper since his Freshman year (2010) when he stepped in for then Senior goalie Michael Gvozden.
The Mount watched helplessly as the Jays went on to dominate in a 19-9 slaughtering. There were six different players who recorded points for Mount Saint Mary’s. Whereas Hopkins saw 13 different players get on the score sheet. Wells Stanwick led the way with nine points by himself (5G, 4A), while Brandon Benn scored four goals and John Greeley picked up four assists. John Ranagan had three points (2G, 1A). Holden Cattoni (1G,1A), Ryan Brown (1G, 1A) and Rex Sanders (2G) ALL had two points. John Kaestner and Liam Giblin each got on the sheet with an assist. Brady Faby, Lee Coppersmith, Mike Poppleton and Bronson Kelly tallied for a goal.
With their win over The Mount, the Blue Jays move to 4-1 on their season and will his the UMBC Retrievers on Friday, March 8. The Retrievers are 1-3 so far in 2013, losing to Robert Morris, Loyola and most recently Fairfield. Their lone win comes against Rutgers. They were supposed to battle the Terps last night, unfortunately with the storm that rolled through, the game was postponed. Having Maryland and Hopkins back to back is brutal for any team, UMBC lucked out in my eyes.
Senior attackman Scott Jones leads the team with eight points (7G, 1A), followed closely by fellow attackers Senior Joe Lustgarten (1G, 6A) and Junior Connor Finch (5G, 2A). Senior goaltender Adam Cohen has made 35 saves in the Retrievers four games, posting a .412 save percentage.
Last season, UMBC battled hard agains the Jays but came up short, dropping the contest 12-5. face-offs are where the Retrievers need to stop the Jays. Poppleton won 15-21 against The Mount, making it easy for his team to control the tempo of the game. Control the face-offs and midfield (transition), and score early and often will help UMBC in their try against a surging Hopkins team.
Game time is set for 5 p.m. at Homewood Field.
