BALTIMORE — The buzz in the week leading to the 100th men’s lacrosse meeting between Johns Hopkins and Maryland had everything to do with a long-running rivalry. Less than four minutes in, it had all the markings of a rout.
Top-ranked Hopkins scored five times before No.4 Maryland had its first possession en route to an impressive 14-10 victory before an overflow crowd of 10,555 at Homewood Field.
Wearing baby blue replica uniforms from the 1970s, the Blue Jays (8-1) defeated the Terrapins (8-2) for the third straight year and the fifth consecutive time at Homewood to extend their lead in the series to 63-36-1.
“They came out hot, and they won some faceoffs,” Maryland goalie Tim McGinnis said. “I give their shooters credit. They scored in the first five minutes before we even got the ball. It gave their team a huge boost, and in a game like this when there’s a rivalry on the line, the team that comes out and gets first blood usually does a pretty good job.”
Yet unlike so many classic meetings between two of the sport’s most tradition-rich programs — including one-goal decisions the last three years — this one proved one-sided at the start. Hopkins had its way on faceoffs in the first quarter, winning the first four to seize an early advantage.
The Blue Jays were impeccable early on, bouncing passes through the Maryland defense and meticulously dissecting McGinnis with perfectly placed shots. McGinnis, who entered with a 6.17 goals-against average, watched the seventh Hopkins goal whiz by less than eight minutes in. Hopkins eventually built a 9-1 lead before the Terps started to chip away.
“Giving up eight in the first quarter, you’re usually not going to win,” Maryland coach Dave Cottle said. “It was death by a thousand wounds there.”
The teams’ mutual distaste for each other was apparent from the start. Maryland defenseman Chris Passavia and Hopkins’ Conor Ford had a shoving match in the middle of the first quarter, and the Blue Jays’ bench appeared irate when a stick check requested by Maryland nullified a Hopkins goal and created a man-advantage that energized the Terps as they rallied within 9-5.
“I have absolutely no comment on that stick check,” Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala said.
McGinnis (12 saves) overcame his early struggles and made several difficult saves to help keep Maryland in the game, but Hopkins scored twice before halftime and twice more moments after the break to reassert control.
The fraternal matchup between Maryland junior midfielder Andrew Schwartzman and Hopkins freshman goalie Jesse Schwartzman materialized in the second quarter when Hopkins starter Scott Smith was yanked. Andrew assisted on a goal against his brother, but Jesse made three saves to help Hopkins assure the victory.
The win was Hopkins’ third straight and cemented the Blue Jays’ spot atop the polls entering Saturday’s showdown at No.2 Navy (9-1). More importantly, it ended a distraction-filled week for the visibly relieved Pietramala.
“There’s no relaxing with Navy on the horizon, but you have no idea how thrilled I am this game is over,” Pietramala said. “But it’s good for our sport. What an unbelievable environment.”
Maryland lost its second straight game after an 8-0 start, but Cottle was unconcerned about the two-week slide. The Terps, who remain in the hunt for a top-four seed in the NCAA tournament, will be the top seed in this weekend’s ACC tournament.
“We’re going to play great next weekend, so I’m not worried about that,” Cottle said. “We lost today to a good opponent, and we lost last week to a good opponent. We’re 8-2, and we’re going to play well for the rest of the year.”
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