Virginia at Johns Hopkins: Halftime thoughts
In what could be a season-changing outcome for Johns Hopkins, the No. 9 Blue Jays lead No. 2 Virginia, 7-3, at halftime at Homewood Field in Baltimore Saturday.
If Johns Hopkins (5-2) could hold on, it would be a significant win for the Blue Jays, who have dropped the last six meetings and 10 of the last 14 to the Cavaliers (7-1). In addition, Johns Hopkins has lost the last 10 contests against both Virginia and Syracuse.
The Blue Jays scored all four of the game’s first quarter goals. Sophomore attackman Matt White’s conversion of an assist from junior attackman Steele Stanwick with 9:28 left in the second quarter snapped a scoreless drought of 20 minutes, 32 seconds for the Cavaliers.
Virginia appeared to regain the momentum when the Cavaliers followed a Chris Boland goal on a 6-on-4 man-up opportunity with a shorthanded goal by junior midfielder Colin Briggs and an even-strength tally by junior attackman Chris Bocklet within a span of 80 seconds.
But back-to-back goals by sophomore midfielder Lee Coppersmith helped Johns Hopkins re-assume a four-goal advantage at intermission.
Other notes:
*Coppersmith, who leads the Blue Jays with two goals, is playing on the first midfield with sophomore John Ranagan and freshman Rob Guida after sophomore John Greeley was drilled on a shoulder-first check by junior defenseman Matt Lovejoy with 7:20 left in the second quarter. Greeley lay on the turf for several minutes before walking off the field with some assistance from a trainer and senior midfielder Tim Donovan. But Greeley sat on the bench for the remainder of the period. Boland has registered one goal and one assist, and sophomore attackman Zach Palmer has posted two assists.
*Virginia senior midfielders Shamel and Rhamel Bratton have been silenced by a rotation of long poles that includes sophomore defenseman Chris Lightner, freshman defenseman Jack Reilly and seniors long-stick midfielders Ben Smith and Orry Michael. And Stanwick has collected just one assist against sophomore defenseman Tucker Durkin.
*Johns Hopkins sophomore goalie Pierce Bassett is out-dueling senior goalkeeper Adam Ghitelman, making eight saves to Ghitelman’s four. Bassett’s best stop occurred with less than 11 minutes left in the second quarter when he turned away an attempt by Rhamel Bratton on the crease.
*The Blue Jays have won 9-of-12 faceoffs as senior Matt Dolente has been successful against junior Ryan Benincasa and then senior Garett Ince. Johns Hopkins has also converted 2-of-3 extra-man chances against a Cavaliers unit that had entered the game ranked first in Division I in man-down defense.
Categories: Halftime thoughts, Johns Hopkins
