Advertisement

No. 8 Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse uses big second half to turn back No. 14 Michigan, 15-11

edward lee, baltimore sun
·4 min read

When Michigan men’s lacrosse visited Johns Hopkins’ Homewood Field last May, the Wolverines walked away with their first Big Ten Tournament championship.

The Blue Jays made sure Michigan did not leave with a similar euphoric feeling in its return trip to Baltimore. No. 8 Johns Hopkins outscored the No. 14 Wolverines, 7-4, in the second half to forge a 15-11 victory Saturday before an announced 2,776.

Senior attackman Russell Melendez recorded three goals and two assists in the first half, and graduate student attackman Jacob Angelus had two assists in the first half and two assists and one goal in the second to lift the Blue Jays (7-3, 2-0 Big Ten). Defensively, graduate student goalkeeper Chayse Ierlan saved a game-high 15 shots.

With Michigan returning to the scene of last year’s triumphant run to the conference championship, Johns Hopkins emphasized preventing the Wolverines from rediscovering those vibes.

“We didn’t want to overstate it, but it was definitely a factor,” coach Peter Milliman said. “They were going to have a confidence and [a] good feel for being out here. So it was just going to be about our guys and making sure they stayed together, stayed focused on what we’re doing, and didn’t try to do too much or go off-script or anything like that.”

Added Angelus: “We know that this is our field, and we want to protect it. They’re a great team. They’ve won some games lately, but we just focused on us and focused on what we can do on this field and protecting our field. That was a big thing all week.”

The game’s turning point occurred after halftime. Nursing an 8-7 lead at the break, the Blue Jays scored the first two goals of the third quarter and three of four in the period. Then they notched three of the first four goals in the final frame.

The offense took advantage of an 8-for-12 showing from the faceoff unit that contributed to a 22-16 difference in shots in the second half. Angelus, who assisted on four of five Johns Hopkins goals bridging the two halves, credited a pivotal second quarter for jump-starting the offense.

“I think we woke up a little in the second quarter,” he said. “We started moving better, taking care of the ball better, and shooting to score and winning our matchup. From the second quarter on, I think that was something we did very well at. Obviously, there’s stuff we’ve got to focus on, but happy it worked out.”

The Blue Jays led by one at halftime despite Michigan winning all eight faceoffs in the first quarter and 6 of 9 in the first half. At one point in the second quarter, Wolverines senior Justin Wietfeldt won all 10 faceoffs he took and collected eight ground balls en route to finishing 17 of 25 on faceoffs with 11 ground balls.

Johns Hopkins’ inability to consistently produce on faceoffs put the onus on Ierlan and the defense to stop the Wolverines and get the ball to the offense.

“If you don’t stop them, it’s going to result in some make-it, take-it lacrosse,” said Ierlan, who stopped a season-high 17 shots in a 16-14 win at Virginia on March 2. “But it’s tough. You don’t want to get over your skis and get ahead [with], ‘What if the next faceoff?’ and the next one after that. We knew it was going to be a battle coming in. so all week, we were just worried about one stop at a time, get it to the offense, and then we’ll go from there.”

Related Articles

Senior attackman Michael Boehm and junior midfielder Ryan Cohen each compiled two goals and three assists for Michigan (6-4, 1-1), but coach Kevin Conry found the team’s 17 turnovers too troubling to overlook.

“We had 17 turnovers, and that really hurt us, especially in the middle quarters,” he said. “I thought we battled, we scrapped. Just having those turnovers, you can’t let a team like that have extra possessions. That’s a real skilled group, and you’ve got to give them credit.”

Since a 10-9 overtime loss at home to Navy on March 15, the Blue Jays have defeated a pair of ranked Big Ten foes in No. 19 Rutgers and now Michigan. Angelus acknowledged that the setback to the Midshipmen shook him and his teammates.

“It woke us up a little where we just had to move on and realize how when we play bad, we’re not a great team,” he said. “I think a lot of teams are like that. We had a rough wake-up call, but I think we’ve responded to that call, and we’ve played well these past couple weeks and [have] just got to keep moving forward.”

No. 4 Penn State at No. 8 Johns Hopkins

Saturday, 2 p.m.

TV: ESPNU