Steele Stanwick had three goals and four assists for the No. 2 Virginia Cavaliers (7-2), but it wasn’t enough as the No. 11 Johns Hopkins Blue Jays (6-2) broke a six-game losing streak to UVa with a 12-11 triumph on Saturday afternoon, inside Homewood Field.
Johns Hopkins captured the Doyle Smith Cup for the first time in the trophy’s six-year existence. Starting with the 2006 season, the regular season winner of the Virginia and Johns Hopkins matchup gets to keep the cup.
“It was a great game,” said Virginia head coach Dom Starsia. “I give credit to Johns Hopkins for making plays all day. [Hopkins goalie Pierce] Bassett was very good. I thought we had chances early on, but we could not score. I did not think we were as poised as we needed to be. I thought eventually we settled in, and I told my team in the huddle that I am very proud of them. I really felt like we were going to win that game.”
The Blue Jays jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first quarter, shutting the Cavaliers out for the first time in a period this season, while managing only five shots.
Chris Lightner started the scoring with an unassisted score only 2:20 into the game. Phil Castronova , Mark Goodrich and John Greeley all deposited goals in the opening period for the Blue Jays.
Virginia put its first dent in the scoreboard at the 9:28 mark in the second quarter when Matt White scored via a Steele Stanwick pass on the extra-man situation. After a Chris Boland score pushed the Hopkins advantage to 5-1, UVa scored two straight goals to cut its deficit to two goals, 5-3. Colin Briggs scored the unassisted man-down goal at 6:24, followed by a Chris Bocklet score on a Nick O’Reilly pass at 5:04.
Lee Coppersmith scored back-to-back goals to send Hopkins into the intermission with a four-goal lead, 7-3.
The Cavaliers came storming back in the third quarter, tying the game, 9-9, while going on a 6-2 scoring spurt.
After Boland’s goal with 8:33 left in the third period put Johns Hopkins up 9-5, UVa ripped up four straight goals, all within the last 1:36 of the quarter. Shamel Bratton started the streak, followed by Stanwick, Rob Emery and Shamel Bratton one more time to tie the game with 33 seconds left in the third quarter.
Virginia took its first lead of the afternoon, 10-9, with 9:17 left in the game on Emery’s second goal. Johns Hopkins answered, as Lee Coppersmith scored unassisted with 6:43 left in the game, knotting the game at 10-10. Stanwick scored his third goal of the game, giving UVa its final lead of the day, 11-10, with 5:41 left.
Hopkins answered quickly at 4:49 on a Rob Guida goal in an unsettled situation. Boland then put Hopkins back up for good, 12-11, with a scored at 1:39.
After getting only five shots off in the opening period, UVa ended up outshooting Johns Hopkins, 44-42. UVa also won the ground ball battle 37-30 and was perfect on 2-of-2 extra-man situations.
Stanwick lead all players with seven points on three goals and four assists. Shamel Bratton and Emery each added two goals in the losing effort. UVa goalie Adam Ghitelman saved nine shots in the loss.
Boland and Coppersmith led Johns Hopkins with three goals each. Guida chipped in two goals in the winning effort.
“I never thought they stopped playing,” said Starsia. “I thought we had some good chances earlier that might have made the game closer. They are a good lacrosse team, and they have just been banged up a bit the past few weeks. We came into their place, on a nice day, in front of a good crowd, and I give them credit for playing well. We expected nothing less from them, and they deserve nothing but credit. I am proud of the way my team came back late in the game.”
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