Strong Second Half Not Enough as #16/18 UAlbany MLAX Falls to #10/10 Johns Hopkins 13-8
BALTIMORE – UAlbany outscored Johns Hopkins 7-4 in the second half to try to come back in the game, but fell short in a 13-8 defeat on Friday night at Homewood Field.
“[Johns Hopkins] came out ready to play and overwhelmed us in the first period,” said UAlbany coach Scott Marr. “The second half, we played with more gumption and tried to get back on track, but we dug too big a hole for us.”
Lyle Thompson finished with a goal, three assists and four ground balls for UAlbany (4-5), while Miles Thompson also had four points off a pair of goals and assists. Ryan Feuerstein added two goals, one assist and a pair of ground balls. In goal, Blaze Riorden finished with 13 saves despite the loss.
“They got a couple of goals, and we were not able to get into rhythm,” said Riorden.
For Johns Hopkins (6-3), Holden Cattoni led the team with four goals, while Wells Stanwick notched six assists. Eric Scneider got the win in goal, concluding with eight saves.
JHU struck first after an exchange of possessions, with Michael Pellegrino rushing ahead of the pack and scoring for JHU’s first goal. Later, despite many Riorden saves, JHU kept getting opportunities and scored, with Connor Reed getting a goal and Ryan Brown twice scoring in succession. Cattoni added a goal in the final 30 seconds of the quarter as JHU led 5-0 after the first quarter.
The second quarter was rough for UAlbany to start, as Brown scored another goal, followed by a Brandon Benn goal later, putting the home team up 7-0 with 10:06 in the 2nd. Bennett Drake broke the UAlbany drought, while man-up, getting a pass from Miles Thompson next to the cage to score. Benn and Cattoni added goals for JHU as the Blue Jays went into the locker room up 9-1.
After Benn scored a goal in the opening minutes of the second half, the offense came alive for UAlbany. Lyle Thompson found Feuerstein for a hard shot and goal. UAlbany got man-up a minute later: Lyle Thompson made a strong dodge and passed to Eric Scala, who finished the play for the goal. A little over two minutes later, Feuerstein made a pass to Miles Thompson, who scores while taking a hit for a third-straight UAlbany goal. The defense held down JHU for over almost 18 minutes into the fourth quarter, as after another Riorden save, Ty Thompson scored in transition from Miles Thompson to pull the visitors within five. Another Riorden save on a straight-away shot from Brown ended the quarter at 10-5 JHU.
The fourth quarter started back-and-forth, with neither side able to connect for goals. JHU tried to slow the pace down, with neither side scoring in the first five minutes. Cattoni and Phil Castronova scored in a row to put Johns Hopkins up 13-6. UAlbany kept fighting, with Lyle Thompson scoring a goal from wrapping around the cage, followed by Feuerstein scoring on a rocket off a timeout with 1:44 left. But UAlbany could not score again and fell to Johns Hopkins 13-8.
UAlbany will stay on the road and head north to Connecticut to face conference-foe Hartford on Sunday, April 6th at 1 p.m.
