Johns Hopkins Knocks Off Resilient Lehigh 13-10 at Homewood

BALTIMORE — Johns Hopkins defenseman Scott Smith caught Lehigh goalie Nick Pecor out of his net and scored a long-distance goal from his own restraining line to give Johns Hopkins some much-needed breathing room.

“I heard Chayse Ierlan tell me to shoot, and when my goalie tells me to do something, I just have to listen — so, that was it,” Smith said.

Smith’s score was part of a four-goal barrage for the Blue Jays late in the fourth quarter to knock off the resilient Mountain Hawks 13-10 in the first round of the NCAA tournament at historic Homewood Field.

The Blue Jays (11-4) play Virginia in the quarterfinals on Sunday at Towson’s Johnny Unitas Stadium.

“Wild at times, but I don’t think they are supposed to be easy this time of year, so I don’t think we expected it to be,” Johns Hopkins coach Peter Milliman said. “All credit to Lehigh for how hard they play and how consistently they just come back at you. They seem to find a way to make a play when they need to and really, really stressed us throughout the game.”

Matt Collison led the Blue Jays with four goals and an assist. Blue Jays graduate student attackman Garrett Degnon scored twice and extended his school-record 44-game goal-scoring streak to 45 games. Johnathan Peshko and Jacob Angelus also had two goals apiece for Johns Hopkins.

It was the first meeting between Johns Hopkins and Lehigh since 1925 when the Blue Jays emerged with a 3-2 win.

The game had a pair of 30-minute delays because of storms in the area. The second horn nullified a Mountain Hawks goal by a fraction of a second that would have given them a 3-2 lead with 13:52 left in the half.

“I thought it was an intense playoff game between two tough teams,” Lehigh coach Will Scudder said. “One of our rules is no complaining, so when that goal got waved off the board, I was just telling them, ‘No complaining, we just have to do what we have to do. With weather delays, there is nothing we can do about them. Let's just stay focused, stay the course.’ I thought our guys managed it well.” 

Sean Dow won 7 of 11 faceoffs in the first half, which helped the Mountain Hawks control tempo. Milliman made the switch from Logan Callahan to Tyler Dunn, and that was a key difference in the game. Dunn won 11 of 20 faceoffs, including 7 of 9 in the final quarter.

“As the game goes on, you just kind of get more comfortable,” Dunn said. “The guys all just came together.”

After Angelus gave Johns Hopkins a three-goal lead, Aidan Decker and Scott Cole responded for Lehigh, which trailed 8-7 at the end of the third quarter.

Goals by Quinn Armstrong and Andrew Kelly gave Lehigh the lead, forcing Johns Hopkins to call a timeout with 10:48 left in the game.

Milliman motivated his players, and Johnathan Peshko, Collison, Dylan Bauer and Smith from long distance scored consecutive goals over the final 5:42 to pull away with the victory.

“I felt us heating up,” Collison said. “We just kept chipping away at our offense and what we know we are good at, what our strengths are and what our weaknesses may be. I don’t want to stop playing with guys like [Dunn] and [Smith] and 22 other seniors and grad students in the locker room. We just bought more time together.”

The score was tied at 2 after the first quarter. Collison had both goals for Johns Hopkins, while Kelly and Armstrong scored for Lehigh. Dow won four of five faceoffs for the Mountain Hawks.

Goals by Angelus and Casey McDermott gave the Blue Jays a two-goal cushion with 11:44 left in the half. Armstrong and Kelly sandwiched goals around a score by Degnon and Johns Hopkins led 5-4 at the break.

Johns Hopkins and Lehigh met for the first time in 1889, and the Blue Jays lead the all-time series 25-11.

Armstrong led Lehigh with four goals, while Kelly finished with a hat trick. Scott Decker added two goals.

Lehigh (10-7) earned its first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2021 as Patriot League champions.

“Sean Dow was awesome at the X and our defense was playing great,” Armstrong said. “Offensively, we were just trying to wear them down. … All the guys on the field just bought into the system.”