Johns Hopkins never led in an overtime loss to Hofstra earlier this season, but in Sunday?s rematch in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Blue Jays forced the Pride to play catch-up all game en route to a 10-4 win in front of a crowd of 2,291 at Homewood Field.
“We felt like they were in our head a little bit,” Blue Jays senior midfielder Paul Rabil said of the team?s 8-7 overtime loss on Long Island in early March. “I worked on my dodging this week with the coaches. I was fortunate to have my shot falling.”
The defending national champion and fifth-seeded Blue Jays (9-5) forced the Colonial Athletic Association champions into 11 turnovers, and the Pride (10-6) was successful on just 12-of-19 clearing attempts and was outshot, 40-25.
With the game tied, 1-1, early in the second quarter, the Blue Jays seized control by scoring four of the next five goals ? highlighted by a hat trick by senior midfielder Paul Rabil ? to take a commanding, 5-2 lead into intermission.
“We thought we were pretty sloppy coming out in the beginning of the game, Rabil said. “We just had to stick to the basics.”
The Blue Jays continued their dominance about four minutes into the third quarter when senior attacker Michael Doneger scored a man-up goal fewer than four minutes into the second half.
Sophomore midfielder Michael Kimmel scored on a scramble in front of the net with time winding down in the third period to give the Blue Jays an 8-2 lead, making the final quarter moot.
Rabil finished with four goals, giving him 101 for his career, surpassing Dave Huntley?s record of 100 for most by a midfielder at Johns Hopkins.
Johns Hopkins advances to face Navy (9-5) on Saturday afternoon at noon or 3 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium for a spot in the Final Four.
“It?s not lost on us where we are going and who we are going to play,” Pietramala, whose team beat Navy, 12-5, on April 19, said. “We have our work cut out for us and it?s no easy road. It?s hard to beat a team twice and I think we saw that today.”
