The last two tickets were punched for the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Final Four in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for Memorial Weekend. Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland, both members of the newly minted B1G Ten Lacrosse Conference, will face off in the second semifinal. Hopkins outlasted Syracuse, 16-15, and Maryland ran away from North Carolina, 17-7.
Hopkins and Syracuse may have played in the game of the year. The hot conditions at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium didn’t stop the action from being fast and furious from whistle to whistle. Ryan Brown’s empty net goal in the waning minutes of the contest gave Hopkins a four-goal lead, but Syracuse would fight to the end and come up one face off away from likely overtime.
Both teams had starting attackmen ready to play. Hopkins attack combined for ten goals and six assists. The Stanwick brothers each ended the contest with four goals, two assists. Syracuse’s starting attack each had a hat trick. Combined Randy Staats, Dylan Donahue, and Kevin Rice had nine-goals, six assists. The lone goal differential between these two units proved to be the game winner, which was Brown’s second tally of the contest.
The face off count was not such a vast contrast as the final numbers would display. In the game, the combination of Hunter Moreland and Drew Kennedy would end up going 12 for 34 against Syracuse’s sophomore transfer Ben Williams. At a pinnacle point in the game, Hopkins was 10 for 20. From there on, Hopkins was 2 for 14.
Hopkins redshirt senior goalie Eric Schneider has responded from early season criticism that even had him on the bench, but Coach Pietramala never lost confidence in his netminder. Schneider responded with likely his best game in a Blue Jays’ uniform, posting fifth saves and many of them came at crucial times in the contest.
Hopkins has had the most turbulent season and it has been well documented to this point. What went right for the Jays is that the players are making the tough plays, which starts with the play of two-time captain Michael Pellegrino. He has been active in transition, picked off important passes through the middle, and on face offs he has been crucial on 50/50 ground balls.
Wells Stanwick opened the game scoring three of his four goals. Midseason, he had been quiet and his presence was not felt on the outcome of games Hopkins played in. Now, Stanwick is getting to the goal, which is opening up offense for others. Holden Cattoni has also found his scoring touch, which had been absent during the opening 4-6 start to the season.
Next weekend the Blue Jays will face their long time rival in the Maryland Terrapins. Hopkins took the regular season contest in College Park. The Blue Jays were able to put together a fourth quarter run to vault them to victory in the annual rivalry game.
Maryland Advances
The late season slide and last week’s controversial ending against Yale have not hindered Maryland’s progress into the Final Four. Maryland doubled up their former ACC rivals UNC by a score of 14-7 to advance to their fourth Memorial Weekend since 2011 loss to UVA in the championship game.
Maryland’s offense found the holes in the physical Carolina defense to an easy win. The opening possession said it all, as Carolina left Bryan Cole open in front of UNC’s goalie Kieran Burke. Burke did not register a save in the first half and by the time he did, it was entirely too late for the Tar Heels.
Maryland’s defense was spectacular, holding the potent Carolina offense to two first half goals. The first quarter shot total would foreshadow a trend of the game as Maryland defense held the Carolina offense to five shots. At the end of the first quarter, Maryland would be plus 3 in the scoring column and at half would be plus 7.
At times, Carolina’s offense threw careless shots at Maryland’s goalie Kyle Bernlohr, some even looked more like passes to him to start transition the other way. Bernlohr ended the game 12 saves in 57 minutes of competition. His replacement, Dan Morris, shut out the Heels in the final three minutes, which just summarized the day for the high powered Heels offense. The Heels could not buy a goal against the stout Maryland defense.
Going Into Next Weekend…
These two rivals have combined for 11 National Championships since the inception of the NCAA in the 1970s. The first contest will likely be the same way that these two attack each other this go round. This time, the health of senior faceoff specialist Charlie Raffa will be the matchup to watch.
During the regular season matchup, Raffa was on the shelf with injuries. During the final minutes of his day in Annapolis, Raffa was limping and looked to be beaten up, but the jury is out on how he will do in Philadelphia. There is little doubt that a player as tough as Raffa will let the opportunity to advance to the championship game over a long time rival go by.
One more weekend in the season and the games ahead will be full of storylines. Denver-Notre Dame is a rematch of a regular season contest that found Denver winning in overtime. Maryland-Hopkins is a rematch of two equally matched teams that was decided in the final quarter.
The team that will hold the trophy come Monday will have certainly earned the right to be called champions.
