No joy from Johns Hopkins
Just got off the phone with Johns Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala, who is still steamed about the Blue Jays' 8-7 overtime loss to Hofstra on Saturday.
Asked if he has had time to digest Johns Hopkins' first loss in four games this season, Pietramala said, "You don't digest that. I'm upset. I felt like we allowed an opportunity to slip by. As poorly as we played, we still had an opportunity to win, and that's the hard part."
What was particularly agonizing to Pietramala was his team's seemingly lackadaisical start. The Pride won seven of 10 faceoffs in the first quarter en route to scoring six goals against Johns Hopkins in that period. But after that quarter, the Blue Jays won six of nine faceoffs and kept Hofstra from scoring another goal for a 45-minute period spanning the second, third and fourth quarters.
"We didn't all of a sudden invent an unbelievable defense or an unbelievable offense," Pietramala said. "We just played smarter. ... Simply put, We didn't match Hofstra's intensity in the beginning."
The Blue Jays' slow start against Hofstra mirrored the team's beginning against UMBC last Tuesday. The Retrievers scored the game's first two goals, but Johns Hopkins rebounded and won, 10-8.
"You have to be concerned because that means that the team is not coming out of the locker room ready to play, and that's on the players and the coaches," Pietramala said. "Our mental outlook in the first two games has been different from the last two games, and that's something that we have to focus on."
Comments
In a missive to Coach Petro, I wrote that the kind of game the Jays played on Sat ( Hofstra ) is the kind that kills you in the paly-offs. But that is also the good news, the season is still in the formative stage, improvement is possible. I hope , being a devout JHU fan.
Posted by: freeline | March 10, 2008 3:38 PM
I watched them play UMBC and they were not the team that had just played Princeton. Loosing to Hofstra was not a surprise. I hope this is a wake up call that you have to play every game as if you were in the playoffs. Too much good talent out there to take any game lightly no matter who it is.
Posted by: Michael Stiffler | March 11, 2008 10:12 AM
Nobody prepares like Petro- team has to show for 60 mins- not 30 - but,. for some reason, i think they will be ready for the Orange.
Still ,Not a bad record for one goal games and O.T. from the best motivator and coach in the business.
Posted by: The Original Bronco | March 11, 2008 2:47 PM