There wasn?t much offense, but it was just enough for Johns Hopkins in today?s national semifinal game against Delaware.
Midfielders Stephen Peyser and Michael Kimmel scored three goals each and goalie Jesse Schwartzman had 10 saves as Johns Hopkins defeated Delaware, 8-,3 to advance to Monday?s 1 p.m. NCAA Division I men?s lacrosse national championship game at M&T Bank Stadium.
Hopkins, which is going after its second national title in three years, will play the winner of Duke and Cornell, which began at about 2:30 p.m. today.
Delaware?s three goals and the combined 11 goals represent the lowest totals in semifinals history.
The Blue Jays (12-4) won its eighth game in a row thanks to outscoring the Blue Hens (13-6) 6-2 in the second half. At one point, Delaware went 22 minutes between goals.
“I thought we played an outstanding game defensively and a very good game in goal and very good in the face-off X,” Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala said. “I thought we were poor offensively today.
“I thought we did not have one of our better days. For whatever reason, we were dropping balls inside, we missed some opportunities on the backside and we missed some chippy shots. That?s all part of it and I give credit to Delaware?s defense.”
Both teams struggled to find the back of the net in the first half as the 2-1 score in Hopkins? favor after 30 minutes was tied for the lowest combined score in semifinals history.
Peyser got Hopkins on the scoreboard first with a goal with 6:19 left in the first quarter. Midfielder Paul Rabil extended the Blue Jays lead to 2-0 a little more than three minutes into the second quarter.
Delaware finally got its offense going with 4:28 left in the first half following a goal from Curtis Dickson. The goal snapped a scoreless streak of 53:04 by Schwartzman in Final Four play.
The Blue Hens eventually pulled within 3-2 after J.J. Moran?s goal a little more than five minutes into the second half. However, the Blue Jays answered with a 5-0 run to put the game out of reach. Midfielder Dan Deckelbaum scored Delaware?s last goal with2:28 left in the game.
“I thought as we have all year long we played hard for all four quarters,” Delaware coach Bob Shillinglaw said. “This is no exception to this game. I think both teams battled it out. “It seemed like from the second quarter on we were generating shots. I thought Schwartzman, their goalie played exceptionally well. Our guys were thinking twice about their shots and he definitely closed the door on a lot of those shots.”
One of the bigger factors in Hopkins? win was the ability of Peyser and midfielder Jamison Koesterer to keep Delaware?s Alex Smith in check during the face-offs. Smith entered the game as the nation?s top face-off specialist (.733 winning percentage), but won just 7-of-15 in the loss.
“I thought they did a great job today,” Smith said. “They have great face guys. I felt in the first quarter they were anticipating the whistle well. They went on the whistle and they went early and they did a great job against me.”
