ROUNDUP
After Brigade Marches, Johns Hopkins Jumps on Midshipmen
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Sunday, April 20, 2008
The crowd of 16,042 at the men's lacrosse game between Navy and Johns Hopkins yesterday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium included mandatory attendance from the Brigade of Midshipmen, a rarity for a sport other than football.
The brigade marched from the academy to the stadium, where they were served a pregame barbecue. Most of the midshipmen were still in line for food when the game effectively was decided.
Johns Hopkins scored the first four goals en route to a 12-5 victory, its 34th consecutive win in the series dating from 1975.
Fans of Navy (9-4) had referred to this school year as the year of broken streaks. After all, the football team ended a 43-year losing streak to Notre Dame in November. Last week, the lacrosse team's 13-game winning streak against Army ended in a 9-6 loss.
The coaches at Johns Hopkins (5-5) were aware of the talk, too. They included the final score of the Navy-Notre Dame football game, and its significance, in the scouting report.
But the opening few minutes made certain that no streak would end yesterday. Senior Kevin Huntley had two goals and an assist in the four-goal spurt; his assist, on an extra-man goal by sophomore Steven Boyle, gave the Blue Jays a 4-0 lead with 4 minutes 48 seconds left in the first quarter.
In that span, the Midshipmen had one shot, four turnovers and two penalties. Of the game's first 11:39, Navy had the ball for just 3:33.
"I thought Hopkins played well the whole game, but I especially thought they played well in the first quarter," Navy Coach Richie Meade said. "They seized the lead. They shot the ball really well."
Said Huntley: "The first five minutes of the game are so important. We wanted to get ourselves on the right track."
The Midshipmen threatened briefly. They trailed 6-3 at halftime following two goals by sophomore Tim Paul and one from senior Nick Mirabito.
But the second half started much as the first had. Johns Hopkins senior Stephen Peyser had a clean win on the opening faceoff of the half and fed junior Tom Duerr on a fast break. Duerr then passed to senior Michael Doneger, who scored on a point-blank shot for a 7-3 lead. The sequence took seven seconds.
Johns Hopkins extended the lead to 9-3 following goals by Doneger and junior Mark Bryan.
