PROVIDENCE, RI — Division III No. 9-ranked Johns Hopkins University’s comeback bid fell just shy as the Blue Jays dropped a 14-12 game to Division III No. 8 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at Brown University. The Blue Jays slip to 5-6 on the season while the Engineers improve to 3-5.
Trailing 13-6 early in the fourth quarter, Hopkins scored five unanswered goals to pull within two with 51 seconds to play. That’s as close as the Blue Jays could get however. Freshman Andrew Lee sparked the run with a penalty shot at 6:43 and then added a six-on-five goal at the 4:03-mark. Sophomores Alec Baker and Ethan Babel then scored twice in a 32-second span and the deficit was down to three.
Baker ended a long scoring drought with his second of the quarter with 51 ticks on the clock. But Adam Ivatorov ended the run with an even strength goal 25 seconds later. Senior Ian Raley got one back for the Blue Jays with a five-meter goal but with just eight second to play, Hopkins could get no closer.
Graduate student Liam Housenbold opened the scoring 62 seconds into the game, but MIT responded with four in a row to grab a 4-1 lead at the 2:20-mark. Sophomore Max Blecher halted the run with an even-strength goal, but Kunal Rajadhyax scored with 53 seconds remaining to make it a 5-2 game after one quarter. Junior Daniel Palfi pulled the Blue Jays back within two scores two minutes into the quarter. Jackson Kay answered for the Engineers, sparking a five-goal run that spanned more than six minutes.
Rick Lundh capped the run with an even strength tally at 7:27 in the third quarter to stake MIT to a 10-3 lead. The teams then traded scores over the remainder of the quarter and it was 13-6 MIT heading into the fourth. That set the stage for an exciting final eight minutes.
Baker and Lee led the Blue Jays with two goals each, while junior Dado Soares had a team-best three assists and four points. Lee and Raley each drew two ejections while Baker and Babel had two steals apiece. Sophomore Chris Poisler finished with eight saves in the cage.
Release courtesy Johns Hopkins University Athletics Communications
