BALTIMORE, Md. – The No. 3 Maryland men's lacrosse team used a complete team effort to defeat No. 8 Johns Hopkins, 11-8, and claim the 2016 Big Ten Title outright in lacrosse's greatest rivalry Saturday afternoon at Homewood Field.
"To be Big Ten regular-season champions for the first time — just sole champions — I think is something special that these guys can always remember," said head coach John Tillman. "I don't think it will really sink in now, but I think down the road, it will be really important to them."
Maryland (12-2, 5-0 B1G) is the first outright winner in the Big Ten Conference's short history, as it stretched its winning streak to 11 consecutive games in the process. The Terps will be the top seed in next weekend's Big Ten Conference Tournament (also at Homewood Field) and will face the 4-seed Penn State Nittany Lions.
Maryland also took home “The Rivalry Trophy” with the win.
Despite just a 5-for-22 effort at the faceoff X, the Terps found a way to win. Senior Bryan Cole led the offense with four points (1G, 3A), while Matt Rambo and Connor Kelly each added two goals and an assist. Goalie Kyle Bernlohr made three big time saves in the fourth quarter.
Johns Hopkins opened the scoring with an extra man goal, but the Terps answered right back with transition goals from Tim Rotanz and Kelly. Kelly's goal was set up by a tremendous defensive effort from Rambo, who thwarted a Hopkins clear attempt.
After the Blue Jays tied it up, 2-2, Bryan Cole found Rambo inside with a beautiful feed to give the Terps a 3-2 advantage with just one second left in the first quarter.
Colin Heacock opened the scoring just over a minute into the second quarter on a nice dish from Henry West to double the Terps lead, followed by a Ryan Brown Hopkins score. Dylan Maltz made it 5-3 for the Terps on a goal, but it was quickly erased by a Blue Jay tally just six seconds later.
Maltz opened the second half with his second goal of the game for the Terps, but Brown answered with two goals of his own to draw Johns Hopkins even, 6-6.
Bryan Cole's goal with 3:38 left in the third quarter sparked a suffocating 5-0 run for Maryland that saw the Blue Jays miss 13 consecutive shots on the other end. The Hopkins scoring drought lasted more than 22 minutes, allowing the Terps to take a commanding 11-6 lead on goals from Rambo, West, Kelly and Heacock.
Maryland will face Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament Thursday night at 5:30 pm. Johns Hopkins will play against Rutgers in the second semifinal.
– Maryland –
