John Tillman and No. 7 Maryland men’s lacrosse could not have pictured a more disastrous second quarter.
After leveling the score in the waning moments of the first period on Saturday, it quickly went awry for the Terps. No. 13 Johns Hopkins buried a trio of goals within a four-minute span early in the second quarter, and Maryland simply didn’t have an answer.
Eight first-half turnovers didn’t help either. Silly mistakes — players losing their footing and dropped passes — hindered the Terps’ second-quarter
offense. That sloppiness resulted in Maryland’s second scoreless period of the season.
While the Terps showed life in the second half, a three-goal halftime deficit was too much to overcome. Maryland suffered a 9-8 defeat to Johns Hopkins, ending its bid to claim an outright Big Ten regular season title.
Despite trailing 5-2 at the break, Maryland never wavered. After Leo Johnson’s third goal of the game, the Terps had a couple chances to force overtime following Henry Dodge’s faceoff win.
Maryland fired three shots in the final 40 seconds, the first two never troubling the cage. But the Terps had one golden opportunity late. Chris Lyons was left open with nine seconds left in the game, but his shot bounced off the post and into the corner of the field, sealing Maryland’s heartbreaking loss.
The result set up a four-way tie atop the Big Ten standings; tiebreakers dropped the Terps to third in the conference. Maryland will now have to play in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament.
The atmosphere inside Homewood Field was electric heading into the 120th edition of “The Rivalry. Blue and red decked the bleachers as fans awaited the most highly-anticipated conference matchup of the year.
But it became quickly clear that goals were going to be hard to come by — a scoreless opening nine minutes evidenced that.
Instead, the goalkeepers showed out early on. Brian Ruppel snatched the first four shots sent in his direction, three of which occurred in a five-minute period. The senior netminder weathered the early onslaught to help keep Johns Hopkins off the board.
Maryland’s offense didn’t fare any better. Despite the ball quickly swinging around the perimeter, the Terps couldn’t break through the Blue Jays’ stout defense. Even when Maryland got inside, relentless stick pressure continuously jarred the ball loose.
But once Johns Hopkins netted the opening goal, the scoring quickly picked up. Blue Jays midfielders Jameson Smith and Jimmy Ayers beat Ruppel on consecutive possessions to open up a 2-0 lead within 41 seconds.
Then, Braden Erksa willed the Terps back into the game. After a multi-assist outing against Rutgers, the senior attacker fueled Maryland’s early offensive success.
Erksa caught Johns Hopkins’ defense napping with a quick inbounds pass to Zach Whittier. He didn’t miss the point-blank look. With 48 seconds left in the first quarter, Erksa swung a crossfield pass to Leo Johnson on the doorstep to level the score at two.
That would be the Terps’ last goal for 17 minutes, though.
Johns Hopkins peppered Ruppel with a flurry of chances in the second quarter. He couldn’t do anything about it. Miscommunication left Blue Jays’ attackers unmarked just outside the crease, leaving Ruppel in a precarious situation. Johns Hopkins poured in three goals in five minutes in the second quarter.
Michael Alexander and AJ Larkin linked up just 82 seconds into the third quarter. Still, the Terps couldn’t draw within two goals until early in the fourth quarter.
With only two fourth-quarter turnovers and six faceoff wins, Maryland had numerous late chances to get the game-tying goal. The Terps fired 17 shots in the fourth quarter and netted four goals. It wasn’t enough to pull off Maryland’s first comeback win this season.
Three things to know
1. Turnovers take their toll. While Maryland has limited the severity of its mistakes in recent games, untimely giveaways haunted it on Saturday. Riley Reese losing his stick on a failed clear attempt just over a minute into the game and Elijah Stobaugh’s inability to scoop up a loose ball were part of the Terps’ 12 turnovers.
2. Maryland’s stars held silent. Johnson and Eric Spanos have been the catalyst behind the Terps’ recent offensive resurgence. But the duo was limited on Saturday. Johnson failed to register an assist for the second time this season. Spanos netted just one of his five shots, cutting off his ability to maneuver through the traffic.
3. Faceoff success overshadowed. The battle at the X was arguably Maryland’s biggest advantage heading into Saturday. While Henry Dodge and Jonah Carrier combined to corral 13 of the 21 faceoffs, the Terps couldn’t parlay that into goals. Oran Gelinas’ 14-save performance outdid Maryland’s faceoff unit.
