May 12, 2007
BALTIMORE, Md. – A Michael Kimmel goal one minute into sudden-death overtime gave No. 5 Johns Hopkins an 11-10 victory over No. 9 Notre Dame in NCAA Tournament first-round play at Homewood Field on Saturday evening. Junior midfielder Michael Podgajny (Ridley Park, Pa./Ridley) led the Irish with a career-high tying four goals, while senior Brian Hubschmann (Short Hills, N.J./Delbarton) added three goals and two assists. Notre Dame concluded its season with an 11-4 record, while Johns Hopkins improved to 10-4 and will play next Saturday in the tournament’s quarterfinal round.
The back-and-forth thriller featured two 40-minute weather delays due to lightning and heavy rain in the area. It also marked Notre Dame’s first overtime contest in over two seasons and its first ever in NCAA Tournament play.
With the Irish trailing 10-8 midway through the fourth quarter, freshman Will Yeatman (San Diego, Calif./Rancho Bernardo) fed sophomore Ryan Hoff (Baldwin, Md./Dulaney) to cut the deficit in half for the Irish. Johns Hopkins had a 10-9 lead and the ball with under a minute left in regulation when the Fighting Irish defense forced a turnover and Hubschmann found Hoff in front of the goal for the equalizer with nine seconds left to force overtime. The Blue Jays won the faceoff in overtime and Kimmel put a low shot in the back of the net to snap Notre Dame’s eight-game win streak.
Notre Dame struck first in the contest as Podgajny upped his team-best goal streak to 15 games with a tally just over a minute into the game. Stephen Peyser countered for Johns Hopkins with a goal with 10:04 left in the first quarter. The first weather delay then occurred with 9:12 left on the clock.
Once play resumed, the Irish went on a 3-0 run beginning with Hubschmann’s first goal of the day as he scooped up a ground ball off a failed Blue Jay clear and beat Johns Hopkins goaltender Jesse Schwartzman. Podgajny struck again with eight seconds left on the clock in the first quarter, off a pass from Hubschmann, to give Notre Dame a 3-1 lead after the first 15 minutes of play. Hubschmann gave the Irish a three-goal cushion with his second tally of the night with just over five minutes elapsed in the second quarter.
Johns Hopkins, the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, responded with a 6-1 run. Goals from Jake Byrne and Steven Boyle cut Notre Dame’s lead to one (4-3) at halftime.
The Blue Jays evened the contest with 9:40 left in the third quarter on a Paul Rabil goal and then took their first lead when Byrne found the back of the net just over a minute later. Notre Dame came back with a man-up tally from Brett Vecchio (Lloyd Harbor, N.Y./Cold Spring Harbor) to make it 5-5 with 7:40 left in the third period.
Scores from Drew Dabrowski and Brian Christopher gave Johns Hopkins a 7-5 lead when another weather delay hit with 2:54 remaining in the third quarter.
The Irish would once again come out of the delay with a goal as Podgajny netted his third score. A back-and-forth game then ensued as the next six goals alternated between both teams.
Byrne made it 8-6 in favor of Johns Hopkins, yet Hubschmann responded as he completed his hat trick with one second left on the clock in the third quarter. Notre Dame had scores come with under 10 seconds left in three of the game’s four quarters.
Rabil opened the fourth-quarter scoring and Podgajny countered with his fourth tally, on a pass from Davey Leach (Timonium, Md./Boys’ Latin), to make it 9-8 in favor of the Blue Jays with 10:03 left in the period. Less than two minutes later, Christopher put Johns Hopkins back up by two before the back-to-back goals from Hoff forced overtime.
Notre Dame goaltender Joey Kemp (Potomac, Md./Georgetown Prep), the Great Western Lacrosse League’s player of the year, made eight saves on the night. Schwartzman stopped 14 shots for the Blue Jays. The Irish held a 43-36 advantage in shots, while Johns Hopkins won 17 of 24 faceoff attempts.
Hoff finished the season with a team-high 40 goals, while Yeatman led the Irish in points with 46 and assists with 25.
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#9 Notre Dame (11-4) – 3 1 3 3 0 – 10
#5 Johns Hopkins (10-4) – 1 2 5 2 1 – 11
Notre Dame Scoring (goals-assists):
Michael Podgajny 4-0, Brian Hubschmann 3-2, Ryan Hoff 2-0, Brett Vecchio 1-0, Will Yeatman 0-2, Davey Leach 0-1; Goaltender: Joey Kemp (61:00, 8 saves, 11 GA)
Johns Hopkins Scoring (goals-assists):
Jake Byrne 3-0, Paul Rabil 2-2, Brian Christopher 2-0, Stephen Peyser 1-0, Michael Kimmel 1-0, Steven Boyle 1-0, Drew Dabrowski 1-0, Kevin Huntley 0-3, Mark Bryan 0-1; Goaltender: Jesse Schwartzman (61:00, 14 saves, 10 GA)