In a game of runs, it was visiting Albany that had the final one as the visiting Great Danes stunned the Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team, 8-7, at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. Albany grabs its first win in the six-game series and moves to 1-0, while the Blue Jays drop their first season-opener since 2001 and are now 0-1. Johns Hopkins was ranked number one in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll, while the Danes were listed as receiving votes.
Hopkins led 7-5 after a seven-goal run erased an early 5-0 Albany lead, but it would be the Danes who had the final spree. Steve Ammann's unassisted goal with 4:46 remaining drew Albany within one at 7-6 and it took just 41 seconds for John Alpizar to get the equalizer as he drove hard to the goal and beat a late slide to tie the score at 7-7.
Albany, which won 4-of-5 faceoffs in the fourth quarter after winning just 5-of-13 through three quarters, won the faceoff after Alpizar's goal and worked the clock down under two minutes before Alpizar fed a cutting Frank Resetarits, who beat Blue Jay goalie Jesse Schwartzman with a shot low inside the far post to give Albany the 8-7 lead. Albany won the ensuing faceoff as well, but turned the ball over quickly to give the Blue Jays one last shot. The Blue Jays had two shots in the final 10 seconds, but Kevin Huntley whistled one low just past the far post and freshman Steven Boyle was stuffed on the crease as time expired.
A late-game rally didn't seem like it would be necessary for Albany as the Danes sprinted out to a 5-0 lead in the first 22 minutes. Resetarits scored three of his four goals during the spree, including one less than one minute after a Matthew Green goal to make it 5-0 with just over eight minutes remaining in the second quarter.
The Blue Jays trimmed the deficit to 5-3 at the half as Huntley, Jake Byrne and freshman Michael Kimmel all scored in the final 7:34 of the second quarter. Huntley and Byrne scored within 35 seconds of each other, while Kimmel's goal came off a restart with three seconds remaining in the second period.
It took just 55 seconds of the third quarter for the Blue Jays to pull within one as senior Drew Dabrowski beat Albany goalie Brett Queener from in tight after a nifty spin move to avoid a defender. Sophomore Mark Bryan finally knotted the game with 12:30 remaining when he took a pass from Kimmel and one-timed one past Queener.
When Boyle and junior Michael Doneger scored within three minutes late in the third and early in the fourth quarter it appeared the Blue Jays would avoid their first two-game losing streak in seven years, but Ammann's goal jump-started the game-ending run for the Danes and provided a win that wasn't secured until Boyle was stuffed at the gun.
Resetarits led the Danes with four goals, while Alpizar and Steve Ammann added one goal and one assist. Queener played 50:39 in goal and posted four saves, while Dan McKeon played 9:21 and registered two.
Seven different players scored goals for the Blue Jays with Boyle and Kimmel each knotting a goal and an assist in their collegiate debuts. The Blue Jays held a 30-21 advantage in shots and won the ground ball war 40-29, but Hopkins couldn't overcome Resetarits and the spirited late-game rally by Albany.
Courtesy of www.hopkinssports.com