The start to Johns Hopkins men?s lacrosse season went from demoralizing to re-energized on a single shot.
The shot ? a goal by junior midfielder Paul Rabil 56 seconds into double overtime ? gave the Blue Jays a 7-6 victory over Princeton in the first game of the Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Classic in front of an announced crowd 20,180 at M&T Bank Stadium. The crowd was the largest ever to see a regular season NCAA lacrosse game.
Rabil?s goal helped Hopkins (1-1) rally from a 2-0 first-quarter deficit and help it avoid its first 0-2 start since 1971. However, the Blue Jays have little time to celebrate the win as they play at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County at 7:30 Tuesday night.
“Had we not won, having that game Tuesday would have been real important for us because you can?t afford to let something like that fester,” Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala said. “It?s good for us to turn it around and put this behind us. We need to. We need to show that we cannot only handle the adversity of failure, but I think with success comes adversity and you have to learn how to handle that.”
Getting behind early is something that Hopkins has done in both of its two games this season as the Blue Jays trailed 5-0 last Saturday against Albany before eventually losing, 8-7. Having shown the ability to get back in the game against Albany is something that gave Hopkins senior goalie Jesse Schwartzman confidence against Princeton.
“Getting down 2-0 is a lot easier than getting down 5-0 like we did last week.” Said Schwartzman, who finished with 17 saves. “I think we showed some poise and composure last week and we fought back but let up in the end. That feeling is not a good feeling and we didn?t want that to happen again this week.”
Pietramala added that while he didn?t want his team to forget about what they did against Albany, it was important to look ahead to the rest of the season.
“We had a good week of practice,” he said. “And I thought we did a good job of just trying to harp on the mistakes we made against Albany, but at the same time putting that behind us and being able to move forward.”
In the second game on Saturday, Virginia attackman Ben Rubeor (Loyola) scored three goals and had two assists while goalie Kip Turner (Severn) had 12 saves, as the Cavaliers (2-1) held back a first-quarter offensive barrage by Syracuse (1-2) to win, 11-8.
Shooting from the hip
» Hopkins freshman attack Steven Boyle had three goals and freshman midfielder Michael Kimmel had three assists to lead the Blue Jays offense.
» Senior midfielder Scott Sowanick and sophomore attack Tommy Davis each had a goal and an assist for Princeton.
» Hopkins thought it won the game at the end of the first overtime period, but officials said senior attack Jake Byrne?s goal came just after time expired.
