BALTIMORE — Matt Collison’s first chance to seal a Johns Hopkins victory on Saturday hit the goal post.
His second uncorked a celebration and kept the Blue Jays undefeated in the Big Ten.
Collison scored off a Dylan Bauer feed with 2:39 left in overtime to send Hopkins to a 9-8 triumph over Penn State before 5,840 at Homewood Field.
“The whole game they weren’t sliding to us, so we just tried to beat our matchups,” Bauer said. “I got a step on [Nittany Lions short stick midfielder Grant Haus] and I saw Matt Collison in the middle and just threw the ball. We just tried to make a play when it mattered and we did.”
Garrett Degnon scored three goals and Bauer added a goal and three assists for the Blue Jays (8-3, 3-0 Big Ten), who improved to 9-0 all-time at home against the Nittany Lions (7-3, 1-2).
Mac Costin and TJ Malone both collected three goals for Penn State.
The final 10 minutes of regulation plus overtime was a display of explosive offense compared to the goalie-dominated first 50 minutes. Both Penn State’s Jack Fracyon and Hopkins’ Chayse Ierlan posted 16 saves, seemingly one-upping each other in what felt like a methodical game for much of the way.
“There’s no doubt those are two of the best goalies in the country,” Hopkins coach Peter Milliman said. “We knew that going in about both of them. The fact their goalie really stole a handful of them and did all the things he was supposed to do in the first half to keep us in it, sometimes you don’t understand where you’re at comparatively, but I looked up and we were dead even in saves and it kind of showed me a lot about well Chayse was playing.”
Still, Hopkins couldn’t get much traction against a Penn State defense that had struggled in the fourth quarter six days earlier in a 13-11 loss to Maryland. It helped, too, that the Nittany Lions got a pair of key figures back for the first time since February. Defensem*n Kevin Parnham and Jack Posey largely split time against Russell Melendez, who managed a second-quarter score.
That was the Blue Jays’ first goal, and it came nearly 21 minutes in. Getting more would be every bit as challenging; Hopkins trailed 4-2 at halftime and 6-4 after three quarters.
For that, Hopkins turned to Degnon, who earlier in the afternoon was part of his third senior day ceremony. The sixth-year graduate student faked a pass before slinging one past Fracyon with 9:15 to go, then knotted it with seven seconds on the shot clock after the Nittany Lions had held firm earlier in the possession on a one-minute penalty.
The Blue Jays didn’t relinquish possession before scoring again. Faceoff man Logan Callahan scrapped for a loose ball, then managed a galvanizing one-man clear. Moments later, Bauer spun free of Mark Sickler and stuck one to Fracyon’s right to give Hopkins its first lead at 7-6.
Callahan finished 11 of 21 on faceoffs.
“The faceoff unit has taken some slack the last couple weeks, percentage-wise, but we see them every day battling in practice,” Ierlan said. “We’re not going to give up on them and not going to quit. I think that’s a small example — they’ve been busting their butts for those moments.”
The teams would alternate goals for the rest of regulation, with Costin making it 8-8 with 1:27 left. Penn State got the ball back, but Brett Martin forced Malone into a turnover and Hopkins raced to the other end. Collison got a clear look with five seconds remaining, but pinged the ball to send the game to an extra session.
“That last shot in the fourth quarter, I saw it track and hit the pipe,” Collison said. “The past couple overtime games, we haven’t gotten the ball back and got a chance on offense, so it was good for our defense to fight for us there and fight for that possession.”
Indeed, Costin turned it over 39 seconds into overtime after Hopkins defenseman Beaudan Szuluk created a tough angle for a pass. After a clear, Bauer initiated a play while drawing a slide from Ryan O’Connor, then slipped it to an open Collison for the winner from about five yards out.
“I just kind of sat in the soft spot and hoped DB found me and he did,” Collison said. “That’s a credit to him.”
Hopkins, which closes league play with a trip to Ohio State and a home game against Maryland, improved to 3-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since the league began sponsoring the sport in 2015.
“That’s the biggest thing today,” Milliman said. “To get the third win in this conference is tough.”
