UNIVERSITY PARK, PA — The sixth-seeded and 20th-ranked Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team got 10 goals from midfielders, an 18-of-23 performance on faceoffs from junior Matt Narewski and 12 saves from sophomore goalie Tim Marcille as the Blue Jays stunned second-seeded and sixth-ranked Rutgers, 12-10, in the Big Ten Semifinals Thursday night. The Blue Jays (4-8) advance to Saturday night's championship game, where they will face top-ranked Maryland.
In a game the Blue Jays trailed only briefly midway through the first half, it was a 7-2 run that bridged the second and third quarters that gave Johns Hopkins the lead for good after Rutgers had answered a game-opening two-goal deficit with a three-goal spurt.
Down 3-2 early in the second quarter, freshman Johnathan Peshko and senior Brett Baskin scored unassisted goals two minutes apart to make it 4-3. Rutgers answered with a Brennan Kamish goal three minutes after Baskin's goal, but Baskin responded 45 seconds later with his second of the game and senior Cole Willians got inside his defender on a dodge to the goal and scored up high to make it 6-4.
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The teams traded two goals late in the second quarter to account for a 7-5 Blue Jay lead at the half before Hopkins doubled that margin with an extra-man goal from Garrett Degnon and an unassisted goal from Jacob Angelus in the first four minutes of the second half.
The Blue Jay defense held the high-scoring Scarlet Knights scoreless for just under 20 minutes midway through the game before Ross Scott finally ended the drought when he got his hands free after working from behind the goal with 1:06 to play in the third quarter. Peshko then isolated from behind the goal and stuck one with just eight seconds left in the period to make it 10-6 entering the fourth quarter.
The four-goal lead was down to one in less than six minutes as Ryan Gallagher, Michael Sanguinetti and Connor Kirst all scored during the three-goal spree for the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers (8-3) had used big fourth-quarters to fuel its two regular-season wins over the Blue Jays and the three-goal run gave the 'Knights, to that point, a 13-1 scoring margin in the final period of the three games against Johns Hopkins this season.
Senior attackman Connor DeSimone took matters into his own hands at that point. Isolating from the wing after another Narewski faceoff win, he dodged hard to the middle of the field and stuck one just under the crossbar to halt the Rutgers run and give the Blue Jays an 11-9 lead. He then assisted on another extra-man goal from Degnon with 4:22 remaining before Adam Charalambides got one back with just over three minutes on the clock.
The Scarlet Knights had three shots down the stretch, but two went wide and Marcille saved the last offering from Charalambides with 21 seconds remaining to seal the win. The save was one of five for Marcille in the fourth quarter.
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Peshko scored a career-high four goals, Degnon recorded his fourth hat trick of the season and Baskin had the two goals to lead the way offensive for the Blue Jays. The 18 faceoff wins are a career-high for Narewski and the 12 saves match Marcille's personal best.
Charalambides (2g, 1a), Kieran Mullins (1g, 2a) and Connor Kirst (2g) led the way for Rutgers, which also got 12 saves from Colin Kirst.
Johns Hopkins will be making its fourth appearance in the Big Ten title game, including its third straight as the Blue Jays won the title in 2018 and fell in overtime to top-seeded Penn State in 2019. This will be the third straight Big Ten Tournament that will see the Blue Jays and Terrapins meet; Johns Hopkins knocked off Maryland, 13-10, in the 2018 title game and 12-7 in the semifinals a year later.
Notes: Johns Hopkins improved to 7-3 all-time in the Big Ten Tournament; the seven wins are the most of any team in the league. Narewski added a career-high 12 ground balls to go along with his personal-best 18 faceoff wins. Blue Jay freshmen accounted for four goals and one assist in the win tonight and have now totaled 16 goals and five assists in the last five games.
