The Terps were held to their lowest scoring output of the season.
BALTIMORE – When Johns Hopkins senior midfielder Johnathan Peshko fired the ball into the bottom corner with just under three minutes left in the third quarter, not many of Homewood Field’s 10,458 attendees expected it to be the game’s final goal.
But Maryland men’s lacrosse’s offense was lifeless all afternoon long, and the Terps failed to respond as they dropped “The Rivalry”, 7-5.
“I just think it was hard for us to get into a flow at times,” senior attacker Daniel Kelly said. “We had too many turnovers — unforced turnovers that come back and bite you.”
Johns Hopkins’ defense gave Maryland troubles from the opening whistle, suffocating the Tarps almost every time they looked to get in on goal. And it was steady offensively in the opening frame.
With less than four minutes to play in the first quarter, the Blue Jays had already struck three times. Twice, graduate attacker Jacob Angelus exploited a short-stick midfielder, allowing Garrett Degnon to find the net in between.
Degnon changed the trajectory of the quarter in another way, though, when he dumped Colin Burlace to the ground with an elbow to the Maryland defender’s helmet. Degnon was sent to the box for a three minute, non-releasable penalty, which Maryland took advantage of to the tune of goals from Jack Koras and Daniel Kelly.
Early in the second quarter, Kelly evened the game up at three with his second of the game, bouncing the ball past Blue Jays goalie Chayse Ierlan. However, that would be Maryland’s last offensive spark of the half. The physicality of the Blue Jays took over the rest of the period, causing more than 10 turnovers and giving the Terps next to nothing at even strength.
On the other end of the field, Logan McNaney and the Terps’ defense did their best to keep Maryland close. Despite a couple of highlight-reel stops from Maryland’s netminder, Hopkins’ overwhelming pressure eventually resulted in three goals to end the half, including an extra-man tally born out of a Daniel Kelly unnecessary roughness penalty.
While the Blue Jays took the momentum into the half, it was the Terps who seemed to come out of the locker room with more energy. Ryan Siracusa fired a step-down into the bottom corner on Maryland’s first offensive possession of the half, and defensive midfielder George Stamos buried his third of the season a few minutes later to bring Maryland within one.
That surge proved to be nothing more than a mirage, though, as Stamos’ score would be the last time Ierlan’s net rattled Saturday.
“You don’t necessarily have to blow everything up,” Maryland head coach John TIllman said about potential offensive adjustments. “But you certainly have some time to look at all aspects and figure out, ‘Hey, is there a way we can do it better?’”
Peshko’s lone tally gave the Blue Jays a two-goal advantage heading into the fourth, one which felt more like five or six during Saturday’s slugfest.
McNaney held strong the entire fourth quarter, but Maryland’s offense provided no help, committing nine second-half turnovers. When Maryland was able to get looks on goal —it managed just five in the final 30 minutes — Ierlan stood them aside, ending the game with 11 stops and a .688 save percentage.
Three things to know
1. Maryland’s specialists played well in the defeat. McNaney made 11 saves of his own and Wierman won 9-of-15 faceoffs, but the Terps lacked the necessary firepower to come out on the winning side of their regular-season finale
2. Turnovers plagued the Terps. A theme of Maryland’s losses this season has been its inability to keep hold of the ball. Saturday, the Terps turned it over 19 times — 12 being unforced.
3. Postseason implications. With the defeat, Maryland earned the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays secured the conference regular-season title outright.
“I think it’s just going to keep us really hungry,” Ajax Zappitello said. “You know, obviously having that sour taste of the loss in your mouth, especially to your biggest rival.”