Gary Lambrecht, The Examiner
2008-04-14 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

BALTIMORE -

Yes, Johns Hopkins still has a pulse, and can still play defense.

Yes, Loyola appears to have learned its lesson, after suffering an embarrassing loss at home last month to none other than Siena.

And yes, UMBC, with Coach of the Year candidate Don Zimmerman driving the bus, is not going away after losing so much scoring from the best team in its Division I history.

Baltimore’s power lacrosse trio had a lot to say on Saturday. Each program positioned itself for a run at next month’s NCAA Tournament. Each program is closer to being part of the field that will try to prevent Duke — the best “professional” team in college lacrosse — from steamrolling its way to its first national championship.

Nearly 9,000 people packed Homewood Field, many no doubt wondering if they were attending a wake of sorts. A five-game losing streak is sky is falling material at Hopkins, which was suddenly on the edge of its first losing season since 1971.

But the Blue Jays (4-5) won for the first time since March 4 by playing keep away with a Maryland team missing top scorer Travis Reed, who is serving the second of an expected two-game suspension. And when the Terrapins had the ball, especially in a six-on-six setting, they failed to do much of anything while falling with a thud, 10-4.

By midseason, Hopkins usually has its rotations worked out. Not this year. On Saturday, Blue Jays coach Dave Pietramala mixed and matched constantly.

He sent Michael Kimmel to the second midfield unit and started Mark Bryan. He used a four-attack set, and gave backup Tom Duerr some runs with the first group. He played backup Sam DeVore more on close defense. He took significant minutes away from midfielder Stephen Peyser, to allow Peyser to focus more on killing Maryland with a pivotal, 12-for-13 faceoff performance.

With defenseman Michael Evans setting the tone by hounding Maryland freshman attackman Ryan Young — the Terps’ best playmaker was shut out — the Blue Jays gave up a season-low, four goals. They had absorbed 57 scores during their previous four losses.

“You lose five in a row, you have to make some adjustments,” Pietramala said. “We had an opportunity to show we’re not as bad as everybody thinks we are. This is only step one for us.”

A victory at offense-challenged Navy on Saturday would put the Blue Jays in excellent position to make the tournament, possibly by winning out to finish 8-5 and secure a No. 6 or No. 7 seed.

UMBC was supposed to be in trouble offensively, after saying goodbye to more than 100 goals last year. And after getting outscored by a combined 28-11 against Delaware and Rutgers to start 0-2, the Retrievers looked like another rebuilding project.

But a convincing, 14-10 win over Albany on Saturday certified the opposite. Scorers such as junior attackman Ryan Smith (career-high five goals, eight points) have re-energized the Retrievers.

UMBC (8-3) is riding a seven-game winning streak, is averaging 11.3 goals during the run and could earn the top seed in the upcoming America East Tournament. The Retrievers might even steal an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament if they falter in the conference tournament.

Loyola (6-4) might have had the biggest day. By beating visiting, fourth-ranked Georgetown, 11-9, the Greyhounds seized control of the ECAC. A win at Fairfield on Saturday would clinch an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Yes, this is the same Loyola team that dropped a 5-4 decision to Siena, a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, the weakest league in Division I.

“We didn’t put Siena on our schedule to lose to them at home on a Tuesday,” Loyola coach Charley Toomey said. “We were emotionally invested this week. Now, we have to finish this off.”

Two years ago, the Greyhounds stunned Georgetown, then mishandled success by flopping against Fairfield, a loss that cost them a tournament bid. Last year, they barely made it after beating Syracuse, then losing by 10 at Rutgers.

We’ll see how much Loyola has grown up this week.

Gary Lambrecht writes about the NFL, Major League Baseball and college sports. He can be reached at glambrecht@baltimoreexaminer.com.