Box Score
RIVERDALE, N.Y. - Showing they could put together a big-time effort on a national stage; the Manhattan men's lacrosse team (0-6) hung in late but fell to No. 11 Johns Hopkins 10-3 Wednesday evening at Homewood Field in Baltimore, Md.
A rematch of last season's opening contest, which Johns Hopkins won 14-3, the Jaspers (0-6) proved to be a much tougher test defensively in 2011 but could not get their offense to click despite goals from three different players.
In a game featured on ESPNU, the Blue Jays (4-1) would record the first three goals of the contest, with their third tally making it 3-0 at the 11:19 mark of the second quarter.
Unable to retaliate for the first 29:12 of play, Manhattan would finally get into the score column when junior attacker Brendan Rogers cut the deficit to 3-1 on an unassisted goal with 48 second remaining in the half. Grabbing the momentum back with 10 seconds left, Blue Jay's midfielder John Greeley found the back of the net to make it 4-1 Johns Hopkins heading into the break. It was his first of two goals in the contest, matching teammate John Ranagan to lead all scorers.
Coming out red-hot in the third quarter, the Blue Jays would string three-consecutive goals together to take a 7-1 advantage with 9:48 remaining in the quarter. At the 5:09 mark of the third, the Jaspers got a score back when senior attacker Justin Jensen notched his team-leading sixth goal to make it 7-2.
Finishing strong, Johns Hopkins added three more tallies to take a convincing 10-2 lead with 5:56 remaining in the fourth quarter. In what was a nice moment for the Jaspers program, junior defensive midfielder Mike Brooks, who hails from Timunium, Md., notched his first career goal with 1:31 left in the game to close the scoring at 10-3 Johns Hopkins.
In the cage, Pierce Bassett made six saves to record the victory. For Manhattan, freshman goalkeeper Rich Akapnitis had yet another tremendous performance in his early career, making 16 saves in a tough defeat.
Overall, the Blue Jays held advantages over Manhattan in shots (38-23), ground balls (36-25), face-offs (15-16/1-16), and turnovers (18-20). Both teams were 1-for-2 in extra-man opportunities.
The Jaspers return to action Saturday afternoon when they welcome Sacred Heart to Riverdale for a non-conference match-up at Gaelic Park. Opening face-off is set for 1 p.m.
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