Maryland-Johns Hopkins Lacrosse: Blue Jays blast Terrapins 11-6

College Football has Ohio State-Michigan. College Basketball has UNC-Duke. College Lacrosse has Johns Hopkins-Maryland. Every time these two get together the game is always a little bit bigger. A little more important. And it was today. It was still a showdown between two Top 10 teams. It was a game with Maryland looking to build momentum towards the ACC and NCAA Tournaments. It had Johns Hopkins looking to add the biggest resume boosting win yet on their season. But throw all that out the window, and these teams would still do their damnedest to beat each other. The sad thing was, it was hard to tell if Maryland was doing that. The offense was yet again inept vs Johns Hopkins for a 2nd straight year, and the Terps were outplayed all day, losing 11-6.

Uniforms:

Red Jerseys/Black Shorts

1st Quarter:

Hopkins went on offense first, as Kennedy controlled the opening FO. Rob Guida got the first shot, but it was stopped by Amato and Maryland broke quickly before slowing it down. Maryland had an early shot blocked, and turned it over before quickly taking it back on a stick check. After a patient possession, the Terps didn't get any shots off on Kennedy and Cannizzaro was hassled and turned it over.

After a patient possession by Hopkins, LSM Michael Ehrhardt forced the TO. The action was end to end early, but neither team was able to get on the board with 7:40 left in the half. Hopkins struck first, with Holden Cattoni scoring unassisted with 6:56 left. It's at this point that my stream cut out and I couldn't watch anything until about 2 minutes left in the half. So I'll pick up there.

Mike Chanenchuk had Maryland's 6th shot, a laser that went just high. Henry West got a shot on cage but it was easily telegraphed by Schneider. Hopkins looked to hold for the final shot, and a Blue Jay drove in but Amato made the save. Maryland would heave it down field and that would be the end of the 1st Quarter.

2nd Quarter

Maryland won the opening FO and drew a penalty. Bryant and Carlson had a miscommunication however and the Terps turned it over. Connor Cannizzaro hit a pipe with just under 13 minutes left and Schneider telegraphed a poor jump shot and UMD's shooting woes continued.

Hopkins struck for the 2nd time with 11:09 left on a wrap around from John Crawley. Maryland had a chance to answer immediately after and drew an EMO on a crosscheck by Carlini. The Terps cashed in quickly though Joe LoCascio and cut the lead to 1.

An issue for Maryland early was poor shot selection and that happened again with 8 and change left as Rambo forced a lean in shot that was easily saved by Schneider. After a prolonged Blue Jay possession, Amato saved from Benn and they forced it ahead with Ehrhardt's bounce shot just going high. Rustin Bryant aimed to body his way through but stepped in the crease and it went back to JHU.

Niko Amato was in fantastic form in the first half, making multiple fantastic saves to deny the Blue Jay snipers. Hopkins drew their own penalty on a high stick check with 3:56 left and Hopkins went to the EMO. Hopkins has one of the most dangerous Man-Ups, ranked 3rd in the NCAA and the Terps killed it off but JHU scored right after from Benn with 2:46 left.

Maryland went right back to the man-down after a trip by Matt Dunn. Hopkins cashed in with Stanwick getting a back side feed and finishing to put JHU up 4-1.

Hopkins held for the final shot and Stanwick scored again with a jump shot to make it 5-1 and put the Terps in a huge hole at half-time.

Maryland's shooting was absolutely horrible in the 1st Half, a horrid 1/14 on 7% shooting. They were far too reckless in their own zone against a dangerous Hopkins Man-Up unit, and just couldn't get out of their own way the entire half. It was shades of the first half of the Virginia game, and Maryland needed a similar response, or questions of last seasons collapse repeating itself would be entirely justified.

3rd Quarter

Maryland started the 2nd Half with Rambo taking a cross check, giving JHU the chance for a 3rd EMO goal. Amato made a huge save on Cattoni however, and the Terps were able to kill it off.

The Terps needed a good start to the 3rd, but it started as the 2nd ended. Benn scored for the Blue Jays and JHU had 4 in a row to go up 6-1. Maryland's turnover issues continued in the 3rd Quarter, with two in the opening 5 minutes.

The Terps took a 4th penalty of the game with 7:33 left and couldn't get out of their own way, playing their worst game of the year at the worst possible time. Maryland was able to successfully kill off the penalty, and Casey Ikeda forced a TO on Rob Guida. The Terps earned their own Man-Up chance and cashed in through Rustin Bryant to cut the lead to 4.

The Terps drew a 30 second timer on but Stanwick cashed in anyway for his hat-trick to bring the lead back to 7-2. That would be how the score remained heading to the 4th.

4th Quarter

The Terps drew a push on Hopkins 1:21 into the 4th and went to the EMO where they were 2/3 on the day. The Terps cashed in, the same sequence as their 2nd goal, Channy to Bryant and the lead was down to 4. Hopkins took another penalty soon after, a 1:00 illegal body check on Reilly and Maryland finally had signs of life.

Maryland tested Schneider on their next possession, but he was up to the task and the Blue Jays went right down and scored to restore the 5 goal lead.

Ryan Brown scored for Hopkins with 8:28 left to make it 9-3. Henry West quickly responded to make it 9-4, and finally getting the Terps a 6-on-6 goal. West scored quickly after to bring the game to 9-5.

The Terps offense was finally waking up, and after a unnecessary roughness was called on Brown, LoCascio blew one by Schneider to make it a 3 goal game. Hopkins answered quickly after with a quick stick by Brown to put them back up 4.

The score would end up 11-6 and Maryland came away with a ugly L in their biggest game to date.

After the loss to UNC, I said that I didn't believe Maryland would experience a similar slide to the one they had last year. If today was anything to go by, the Terps are going to slide again. They yet again looked utterly mystified on offense vs Johns Hopkins and only woke up in the 4th Quarter. These are problems that have to be rectified and any questions John Tillman faces about the similarities between Maryland's slide last year, and one that seems to be developing this year are justified.

Maryland has a big game next weekend against Notre Dame, and a win would win them the regular season ACC title and give them the #1 seed in the ACC Tournament, so there's no room to be complacent and let heads hang low all week. The Terps have to react and play one of their best games next weekend and rediscover some of that early season momentum.