ANNAPOLIS, MD – Johns Hopkins split its matches on the second day of the Navy Open to finish opening weekend with a 2-2 record. Hopkins opened the day with a 17-14 win over McKendree and then fell to Salem, 22-14.
In the morning game, McKendree jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the opening quarter. Hopkins came out firing in the second, scoring five straight goals, including a pair from freshman Andrew Lee, to tie the game at eight. Quinten Gallagher put the Bearcats back on top at the 3:40-mark, but the Blue Jays answered with scores from sophomore Alec Baker and senior Chris Lo to go up 10-9 with 2:26 to play.
Joshua Gibson knotted the score at 10 with a six-on-five goal as the clock ticked under a minute. Freshman Phillip Long scored with just eight seconds on the clock to send Hopkins into the half with an 11-10 lead. The teams swapped scores over the first six minutes of the third and the Blue Jays led 13-12. Lo then put home his second of the game with 1:29 to go and JHU led by two. Lee pushed the three with his third of the game early in the fourth. James Ramey sandwiched a pair of goals around scores from Lo and Baker and the Blue Jays held on for the win.
Senior Ian Raley led the Blue Jays with his second straight five-goal game, while Lo and Lee added hat tricks. Sophomore Ethan Babel totaled five points with a team-high four assists while junior Daniel Palfi and Baker had four points each. Lee drew seven ejections and grabbed three steals to go with his hat trick. Sophomore Chris Poisler finished with eight saves for the win.
In the fourth game in less than 28 hours, Hopkins ran into a tough Salem squad. The Tigers jumped out to a 5-2 lead by the 3:51-mark in the first quarter. The Blue Jays sliced the deficit to one with goals from Baker and sophomore Max Blecher. Salem answered with three goals in the final 90 seconds to take an 8-4 lead heading into the second. Babel and Palfi traded goals with Danko Kesic to open the second and the Tigers led 10-6 midway through.
Babel scored on a six-on-five to spark a quick three-goal run as the Blue Jays pulled back within one with 1:33 to play before the half. Mark Zivojinovic then sandwiched a pair of goals around a score from freshman Patrick Rooney and Salem took a 12-10 lead into the break. It was all Tigers in the third quarter as they outscored the Jays 6-0 in the stanza to push out to an 18-10 lead. Zivojinovic pushed the lead to nine with an extra-man goal early in the fourth.
Baker and Palfi halted the run with back-to-back goals, but Salem answered with three goals in 84 seconds to go up 22-12. Raley and junior Dado Soares had the final say of the game, scoring twice in the final 61 seconds to account for the 22-14 final.
Babel led the Blue Jays with a hat trick while Raley had a team-best six points (2g, 4a). Palfi added five points (2g, 3a) and four drawn ejections. Poisler totaled eight saves in the cage.
Hopkins returns to action on Saturday, September 14 against Mercyhurst at the Salem Open.