By Todd Carton –
It wasn’t the effort. It was the lack of one more. One more face off win. One more defensive stop. Certainly, one more goal. First year Michigan head coach Kevin Conry would have quite likely settled for any of these from his Wolverines squad on senior day Saturday afternoon at Michigan’s new lacrosse complex. He got none of those and, as a result, Michigan came up one goal short when Kyle Marr ripped home his fourth score of the day with 31 seconds to play. Marr’s goal served as a bookend after he scored the game’s first goal on a dazzling over the shoulder shot just over a minute into the contest. His last score gave Johns Hopkins a 10-9 win and assured the Blue Jays their spot in the Big Ten Tournament.
Marr’s first period goal launched a Blue Jays onslaught that did nothing to prepare fans for the back and forth battle that ensued. Patrick Fraser and Joel Tinney each scored after Marr’s goal to push Hopkins ahead 3-0 before the game was four minutes old.
After a timeout, Michigan settled their defense and Brent Noseworthy finally got the home team on the board scoring on an extra man opportunity with just under eight minutes to play. The goal ignited an answering run by Michigan and the Wolverines had the score tied at three at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter became as much a matchup of the goalies as a matchup of the two squads with Michigan’s Tommy Heidt registering three of his 12 saves and Brock Turnbaugh notching four for the Blue Jays. Following a pair of saves by Heidt, Joel Tinney found Marr open in front of the goal for an easy score to nudge Hopkins back into the lead. However, Noseworthy converted again on another EMO to knot the score with just over three minutes to play in the first half.
With two and a half minutes to play, Michigan’s defense forced a turnover and, perhaps feeling his oats, Noseworthy ripped a shot from 10 yards that resulted in a rather routine save by Turnbaugh. Regaining possession with just over a minute to play, Johns Hopkins executed their offense perfectly to generate a score by Fraser with six seconds to play that gave them a 5-4 lead entering the half.
While the defense continued to be the dominant factor in the game, the Blue Jays eventually rode the momentum of the late first half goal to score twice and again open up a three goal lead at 7-4. Once again, Michigan fought back and scored twice in the last four minutes of the third quarter to stay within a goal.
A face off violation by Hunter Moreland gave the Wolverines a rare win at the dot. Moreland dominated Michigan winning 17 of 23 face offs but this error led to Kevin Mack’s second score of the day and once again tied the game. Just over a minute later, Tinney again put the visitors ahead. The teams continued to trade goals with Hopkins retaking the lead each time Michigan tied the score and Michigan answering with the tying goal each time Hopkins took a lead.
The last of those tying goals came on Noseworthy’s fourth of the day with 1:04 to play. Howver, a third face off violation on the ensuring draw ultimately proved to be Michigan’s undoing. Although the penalty had technically ended, the situation remained unsettled when Marr got the game winner past Heidt. Any hope of a last comeback vanished when Moreland won the final face off and the Blue Jays were able to run off the final 30 seconds.
With the win, JHU improves to 3-1 in conference while Michigan falls to 0-4 eliminating them from participating in the conference tournament which will be played on their home field beginning May third.
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