Postscript from Loyola at Johns Hopkins
In less than a year, Johns Hopkins has already reversed a troubling trend.
A season removed from absorbing three one-goal losses en route to the program’s first sub-.500 campaign, the No. 4 Blue Jays have won four one-goal contests this spring.
Johns Hopkins (11-2) added to that string on Saturday by holding off No. 18 Loyola, 8-7, at Homewood Field in Baltimore.
The Blue Jays, who have edged No. 6 Maryland, No. 8 North Carolina and No. 9 Virginia by one goal each, are 40-15 under coach Dave Pietramala in one-goal games.
After last season’s 7-8 record, Pietramala joked that he’s happy with any victory, but he conceded that he’s enjoyed witnessing the character this current squad has shown.
“I like that we found a way to win,” he said. “I like that we got the stop we needed to get. I like that when we needed to extend that lead by one more goal, we got it. I thought [sophomore midfielder] Lee Coppersmith’s goal [at the end of the second quarter] was a big one. I like that we feel good about putting our faceoff guy out there and knowing that we’ve got a pretty darn good chance of coming up with the ball. I like that.”
Just as he did in the 10-9 decision against North Carolina on April 3, senior faceoff specialist Matt Dolente won Saturday’s final draw. Although the offense would later cough up the ball, Dolente said he doesn’t mind bearing the burden of winning that key faceoff.
“We’ve been in that situation a few times this year where you need to come up with a faceoff late, and we’ve had good results and bad results,” he said. “But I think we feel comfortable in that situation. We’ve been in that situation before, and I was confident that we could come away with a win there.”
Other notes:
*The eight-goal output was the first time the Blue Jays had not reached the double-digit mark since losing to then-No. 1 Syracuse, 5-4, in double overtime on March 19 – a stretch of five games. Some of the credit goes to Loyola’s defense (more on that later), but Johns Hopkins sophomore midfielder John Ranagan said the showing should serve as a candid reminder for he and his offensive teammates. “I think it shows what can happen when we don’t play the way we should,” Ranagan said. “I think it’s a good wake-up call for us, and going into practice this week, we’ve got to make sure that we get on the same page and work to play better on Friday night [against No. 15 Army].”
*Conversely, the Greyhounds were buoyed by their ability to limit the Blue Jays to eight goals. “I think if we can hold a team to eight goals, that’s a win for us – defensively,” said senior goalkeeper Jake Hagelin, who finished with six saves. Loyola’s defenders did a remarkable job of sliding to the ball carrier and then switching off and recovering as quickly as possible. “We prepared for this,” coach Charley Toomey said. “We were prepared for this result. As Jake said, we knew what they were going to do, and we knew how we wanted to slide, and they beat us with some great shots. They picked up some tough ground balls, rode us well. Again, we just need to learn from this tape and prepare for Fairfield now [in the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament semifinal on Thursday night].”
*Loyola’s offense awoke in the second half, but the unit could only lament what could have been if it had been able to replicate that effort in the first half. Johns Hopkins outshot the Greyhounds, 15-11, and subsequently, took a 6-3 lead into halftime. Sophomore midfielder Davis Butts said the blame rests on the offensive players. “I think we were hurting ourselves in the first half,” said Butts, who registered a goal and an assist. “We were kind of making stupid mistakes. We came into halftime, and we knew what we needed to do. We came out in the second half and did exactly that. It just happened that we were one [goal] short. … It’s extremely frustrating. We got a lot of opportunities to put it in, and I think if we had it back right now, we’d put it in.”
Categories: Johns Hopkins, Loyola, Postscript
