PRINCETON, N.J. — Iona College’s Luksa Vlasic put away his seventh goal of the game with 1:35 remaining in the first sudden death overtime period to defeat Division III No. 6-ranked Johns Hopkins University, 15-14, on the opening night of the Princeton Invitational hosted by Princeton University at DeNunzio Pool.
Iona grabbed a 2-1 lead after the first quarter and pushed its lead to 4-2 with 4:26 to go in the second frame. Senior Emerson Sullivan scored with 2:05 to go in the quarter to cut the deficit in half, but the Gaels answered with 54 ticks on the clock. Sullivan responded with his second of the game just 20 seconds later to make it a 5-4 game at halftime.
Sophomore Cameron Burns opened the third quarter scoring and tied the game at five-all. Iona answered to go back up 6-5, but back-to-back goals by Sullivan and junior Chris Freese gave Hopkins its first lead with 4:34 to go in the quarter.
The Gaels then sandwiched a pair of goals around a strike from senior Jake Pearson to knot the score at eight-all with 2:34 to play. Iona tacked on two more goals in the final 85 seconds to take a 10-8 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Gaels struck first in the final eight minute frame to push their lead to three. However, the Blue Jays answered by scoring three straight in less than two minutes to knot the score at 11-all and force overtime.
The Blue Jays gained the lead as Sullivan scored early in the first overtime period to put Hopkins up 12-11. The margin grew to 13-11 22 seconds into the second overtime as sophomore Seth Berke rifled in a shot.
Iona answered to cut JHU’s lead in half but another Sullivan goal staked Hopkins to a nearly insurmountable 14-12 lead with 1:15 to play.
The Gaels, however, made the impossible probable as Vlasic buried a pair of goals in the final 55 seconds (55 and 12 seconds) to tie the game at 14-all and force sudden victory.
Iona wrapped up the win as Vlasic found the back of the cage with the game-winner at the 1:35 mark of the period to allow the Gaels to escape with the victory.
Hopkins falls to 19-12 all-time against Iona with the last two meetings being decided by just one goal.
Sullivan led the Blue Jays with six goals and seven points, to go with a pair of steals. This was his third game with five or more goals in his career and his third goal of the night was the 100th of his career. He also totaled three ejections drawn, two steals and a block.
Freese added a hat trick, the second of his career, and three ejections drawn. Jake Pearson finished with three steals, a block and an ejection drawn to go with a goal.
In cage, freshman Connor Mechelke made five saves and grabbed a steal in the first half. Freshman Kyle Pearson made nine saves over the second half and overtime periods to take the loss.
Release courtesy Johns Hopkins University Athletics Communications
