News-Letter

Media Credit: Shiv Gandhi [Click to enlarge]

Two weeks ago, after the Hopkins men's lacrosse team's third consecutive loss, senior midfielder Stephen Peyser was looking for a way to rejuvenate the team. With some help from his teammates, he came up with the idea of the team being a "band of brothers." That weekend, those siblings united to beat Maryland in overtime, and with a 10-9 win over Navy this past Saturday, the Blue Jays backed up their words and put their season back on track.

Saturday's win was part of the annual homecoming festivities and was played in front of nearly 7,000 fans. Those who came saw yet another one of Hopkins' many games against schools ranked in the top ten. According to the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Division I poll, Navy was ranked eighth in the country before the game, while Hopkins was ranked seventh. With the win, Hopkins moved up to fifth, with a 6-4 record.

Less than two minutes into the game, the Blue Jays scored their first goal, as freshman midfielder Michael Kimmel got his shot past the Midshipmen's goalie Colin Finnegan, for his twelfth of the season, giving Hopkins the early 1-0 lead.

However, after the first goal, Navy got itself right back in the game, pounding away at the Blue Jays' senior goalie Jesse Schwartzman, who managed to record only one save in the first half. The Midshipmen's three straight goals quickly changed the tide of the game, as they took a 3-1 lead.

Late in the first quarter, Hopkins quickly responded with three goals by junior attacker Kevin Huntley, senior attacker and team captain Jake Byrne, and junior midfielder Paul Rabil. The Blue Jays got their lead back as quickly as they had given it up.

Nevertheless, the prevailing trend of the first half was a weak Hopkins defense, and the 4-3 lead was squandered soon after it was attained. Navy added two more goals to put the Midshipmen up 5-4 going into halftime.

"In the first half, we didn't execute part of our game plan very well early on," senior defender Eric Zerrlaut said.

Once the second half got underway, the Jays improved their execution significantly, scoring three of the four third-quarter goals to reclaim the lead for good. Kimmel and Byrne added their second goals of the game, while sophomore midfielder Brian Christopher scored his first of the contest.

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Behind all those goals was junior midfielder Stephen Peyser. Of the 17 face-offs he took, Peyser won 14, giving the Blue Jays' offense plenty of opportunities to shoot, often successfully, on Navy's. Hopkins won only one of its six face-offs not taken by Peyser, so his presence on the field was a key indicator of the Jays' chance of success.

"Our success in the second half can be put directly on the shoulders of Steve," Byrne said. "Anytime you have a great face-off man, you have a chance to dominate the time of possession and stop a run by the other team and start a run of your own."

Unlike the case in the first half, Hopkins' defense stepped its game up in the second in order to shut down Navy's offense and keep the ball at Navy's end. In particular, Schwartzman - whom Coach Pietramala was considering benching - improved tremendously, making four saves and preventing any easy opportunities for the Midshipmen to score.

"Jesse knew he had to step up, and we as a defense knew that we needed to, as well," Zerrlaut said. "We made a few adjustments to how we reacted to their plays, and they didn't really have an answer to [those adjustments]."

Hopkins was able to put the game away for good in the fourth quarter, with junior midfielder Rabil leading the way. He scored two of his game-high three goals in a three-minute stretch, once again scoring his goals when it mattered most. His third goal also gave him 100 points for his career.

"When Paul is in the game, he is definitely the focal point of our offense and the other team's defensive scheme," Byrne explained. "They tried to frustrate him with early slides, but Navy's defense couldn't hold Paul down for the whole game, and eventually he got good looks and put his shots away."

Navy got in one late goal, but it proved to be too little too late, and Hopkins held on for the win. The Blue Jays had not won two consecutive games since mid-March, when they had won four straight.

Because of the "band of brothers" theme, Hopkins players all had warm-ups with the number "53" on them, the number of players, coaches, and staff that make up the team. Also of note, the players wore Virginia Tech T-shirts, and head coach Dave Pietramala wore a Virginia Tech cap throughout the game as a gesture of support in light of the recent tragedy.

The brothers will continue their march toward the last part of the season, going on a short ride across town to take on 15th-ranked Towson this Saturday at 1 p.m. Soon after, on Tuesday, Hopkins travels to Mount St. Mary's, the only unranked team that the Blue Jays play all season.

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