 "Photo: Matthew Sprague/The Towerlight")
For the second time in two weeks, the Tigers hosted a top-10 team clad in white and blue. For the second time in two weeks, the score was tied at 10 with time winding down and the opponent gained possession on a close call following a shot. For the second time in two weeks, Towson lost the game in the final five seconds before the horn sounded.
Inciting memories of the 11-10 loss to Hofstra a week and a half ago, Johns Hopkins beat the Tigers by the same score in double overtime on a goal by Brian Christopher with 1.2 seconds left before a third extra period was needed.
Christopher turned around, aware of the amount of time left, and fired a desperation shot that deflected off a defenders hip past Towson goalie Rob Wheeler to end the contest.
“It was a beautiful shot that went in,” head coach Tony Seaman said. “It’s horrible, for me. These kids though deserve all the credit in the world.”
Christopher finished the game with three goals, and Michael Kimmel had two goals and three assists to lead Blue Jays to their 14th consecutive victory over the Tigers.
Seniors Justin Schneider and Randall Cooper led Towson with two goals and two assists each on Senior Day, while fellow fourth-year attacker Bill McCutcheon had two goals and an assist. Freshman Matt Lamon had a goal and three assists, while Matt Richter, Peter Mezzanotte, Kyle Smedley and other defenders and midfielders helped the Tigers win the ground ball battle, 37-28.
“Coming out against Hopkins, you know, they’re always ranked, always one of the favorites to win the championship,” Schneider said. “I tried to leave it all on the field. We tried to do the best we could.”
The Tigers got off to a quick and surprising start, leading 5-3 at halftime. Some nifty passing on a patient offensive scheme helped Towson move out to an 8-4 lead late in the third. Hopkins stormed back, but the Tigers clung to a 9-6 lead in the final quarter, taking longer and longer possessions in attempt to hold onto the lead. However, goals by Mark Bryan, Josh Peck and Kimmel tied the game at nine. McCutcheon nearly earned the hero badge Wednesday with a go-ahead goal at the 3:24 mark, but Christopher ruined it with his second of the day with 2:12 to go. A frenzy of turnovers at the end of regulation left the game tied at 10 heading into the first extra period.
“Coach had a really good game plan, try to stall it. It worked, I mean we were up 10-9 near the end,” Schneider said. “We tried to kill the ball as much as we could and we just lost it.”
Towson senior Mitchell Rosensweig won the face-off to start overtime, and Pat Britton got the first shot in extra time for the Tigers, but it was saved by Hopkins goalie Michael Gvozden.
With less than three minutes to go, Johns Hopkins fired two shots wide of the net, but managed to hang onto the ball, and disaster nearly struck for the Tigers a minute and a half left in the first overtime.
The Towson defense fell apart, and Steven Boyle, who finished with a goal and two assists, had a point blank shot to win. Wheeler stuck his leg out and made the kick save. The follow-up shot went wide.
In the second overtime, Will Harrington was called for an illegal bodycheck, and Hopkins earned a one-minute man advantage. Seconds later, Peck earned another point blank shot for the Blue Jays; this time Wheeler was beaten, but Peck’s shot glanced of the post, and the Harrington’s penalty expired before the Jays could score.
However, the Tigers were called for a controversial off-the-ball hit that handed possession of the ball over to Johns Hopkins with less than a minute to go.
With just a few seconds left before the second overtime ran out, a Hopkins shot went wide and one player from each team raced after the ball, just as they did in the Hofstra game. And again, Towson came out on the short end. The ball was inbounded, and after so many close calls on quality plays, it seemed ironic that such a bizarre play and such a desperate, long-range shot would end the game.
Seaman noted the frustration of seeing a game end in such a similar way as the Hofstra loss April 11, but also said that the team played well and can’t change the way the officials call a game.
“We did a lot of really good things tonight,” Seaman said. “There were couple situations we were up two goals, someone on the far side of the field gets called for a push and it comes back here. We had the same situation as we did against Hofstra.”
Schneider said that the loss, though devastating, proves that the team can compete against the difficult competition in the conference tournament coming up.
“We’ll keep this thing rolling and try to turn some heads in the CAA Tournament and maybe in the NCAAs,” Schneider said.
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