BALTIMORE, MD - 60 Minutes! Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala preaches week-in and week-out to his team that it must be ready to play a full 60 minutes. In the 105th edition of the storied Hopkins-Maryland rivalry on Saturday afternoon, the Blue Jays pulled out a 10-9 victory that wasn't secure until junior goalie Mike Gvozden posted his sixth save of the fourth quarter and 12th of the day as time expired.

It took the full 60 minutes to beat the Terps for the third straight time and seventh time in nine tries under Pietramala. The game was the second of the Smartlink Day of Rivals at Baltimore's M&T Bank Stadium. Navy defeated Army,8-4, in the first game of the doubleheader.

The Blue Jays (5-4) trailed 8-7 after Maryland scored back-to-back extra-man goals in a 69-second span midway through the third quarter to give the Terrapins their only lead of the game. Dan Groot bounced home a man-advantage goal with 6:39 remaining in the period and Jeremy Sieverts added an extra-man goal of his own with 5:30 left to give the Terps the one-goal lead and, seemingly, all the momentum.

The momentum and the lead didn't last long as the Blue Jays grabbed the lead back for good with back-to-back goals in a 55-second span late in the period. Junior Michael Kimmel scored off a quick restart with 2:16 remaining and Josh Peck added an extra-man goal of his own off a nifty feed inside from Kimmel 55 ticks later.

After the teams battled to seven ties in the first three quarters, the Blue Jays took what would prove to be an insurmountable two-goal lead early in the fourth quarter when sophomore Kyle Wharton slipped inside his defender and rifled a shot past Maryland goalie Brian Phipps with just over 11 minutes remaining.

Nearly 11 minutes passed before the Terps (6-5) would draw within one, but it wasn't for a lack of chances. Gvozden posted three big saves during the 11-minute span, including two on Maryland's leading scorer, Grant Catalino, and the Blue Jays killed a majority of the period.


Still, Maryland came up with a turnover in the last 45 seconds of regulation and Groot made the Blue Jays pay when he came up with an errant Terp shot behind the goal and sprinted to the side of the goal, where he beat Gvozden with a high-to-low shot from the side with 26 seconds remaining.

Hopkins won the ensuing faceoff on procedure, but turned the ball over after stepping out of the box with possession while leading in the final two minutes. Maryland quickly worked the ball downfield and Catalino found himself alone in front of the goal, but Gvozden was equal to the task as Catalino took a low pass in front and shoveled it towards the goal, where Gvozden got in front of it to make the biggest of his 12 saves as time expired.

The first 30 minutes solved nothing as the teams battled to a 5-5 halftime tie. The Blue Jays jumped out to a 2-0 lead just over five minutes into the game as Chris Boland and Mark Bryan both scored in the first 5:20. Boland spun inside his defender and scored from in tight along the goal line at the 11:11 mark to open the scoring and Bryan blew an eight-yard shot past Phipps off a feed from Wharton.

The Terps battled back to force the first of four first-half ties as Catalino slipped behind his defender cutting to the goal and fired home a pass from Ryan Young at the 4:38 mark and Sieverts whistled one into the top corner off an ally dodge to make it 2-2 with 3:06 remaining in the opening period.

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2009-04-11