BALTIMORE – Johns Hopkins University scored with 79 seconds left in regulation to the Loyola University Maryland men's lacrosse, and the fifth-ranked Blue Jays added an extra-man goal 38 seconds later to take a 9-8 decision at Ridley Athletic Complex.
Matt Collison scored with 1:19 on the clock in the fourth quarter during a flag-down situation, tying the game at 8-8. The Blue Jays (4-0) then went man-up after a slash was called, and Russell Melendez scored from the top left with 41 seconds left to give Johns Hopkins its first lead since the first 11 minutes of the game.
Loyola's
Mason Graves won the ensuing faceoff, and the Greyhounds went on offense, but a shot from the right alley went wide and the Blue Jays backed it up, gaining possession with less than 10 seconds to play to run out the clock.
The Greyhounds had the lead or were tied for the majority of the game after Melendez put the Blue Jays on the board first with an unassisted goal at 4:59 in the first.
Johns Hopkins' lead was short-lived and lasted less than a minute.
Kenan Everhart rejected a screen behind the crease and went to his left. He drove topside and scored over the shoulder of Johns Hopkins' goalkeeper.
Everhart's goal started what would become a 3-0 Loyola run. With the early-game snow flurries changed to sleet,
Ryan McGorry scored from left-point off a
Matthew Minicus extra-man assist with 2.7 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Greyhounds went a man up again midway through the second, and
Henry Haberman caught a pass inside from Minicus to tally Loyola's third in a row at 7:42.
During the run, Loyola goalkeeper
Max Watkinson made the bulk of his seven first-half saves with four coming in the second quarter.
The Blue Jays would come back to tie the game at 3-3 before halftime. Melendez scored on a Patrick Hackler assist with 3:04 on the second-quarter clock, and Dylan Bauer caught a Melendez while cutting the middle to score with less than 10 seconds left before the break.
Loyola reeled off another 3-0 run to start the second half, scoring a trio of games in the first 4:30.
Minicus beat the Blue Jays' goalkeeper low-to-low with a sidearm shot with 13:43 on the clock.
Brady Quinn and
Kyle McCarthy then had the first goals of their respective careers over the next three-plus minutes. Quinn split a defender below goal line and scored from in tight at 11:52.
Luke Murphy then drew a slide with a dodge down the left alley, and he threw back to McCarthy at the top for a step-down overhand shot that made it 6-3 Greyhounds at 10:38.
Johns Hopkins drew back within a goal two minutes later with goals by Melendez and Stuart Phillips, but Minicus pushed Loyola's advantage back to two at 7:14. Murphy dodged from X and threw to Minicus up top for another low-to-low goal.
Collison and Phillips, however, scored for the Blue Jays at 6:40 and 1:20 to tie the game at 7-7 going into the fourth quarter.
Loyola went back ahead with 5:54 on the clock when Quinn initiated from X and found Murphy from 10 yards out for a goal. Murphy's career-high third point of the game gave Loyola an 8-7 lead.
Watkinson had a career-high 13 saves in goal for the Greyhounds.
Carson Hall won 9 of 16 faceoffs he took for the Greyhounds and had a team-high four ground balls.
Minicus scored four points on two goals and two assists, while Murphy had a goal and two assists, and both McCarthy and Quinn logged a goal and an assist.
The Greyhounds will be back in action on Saturday, February 22, with a 12 noon game at Rutgers University.
