The 100th chapter of the greatest rivalry in college lacrosse officially began at 8:15 last night when Johns Hopkins' Kyle Harrison outdueled Maryland's David Tamberrino on the opening faceoff.
By 8:20, the outcome seemed a mere formality.
Striking their archrival early and often, the top-ranked Blue Jays pummeled No. 4 Maryland, scoring on their first five shots en route to a convincing 14-10 victory before a sellout crowd of 10,555 at Homewood Field.
The victory was the third straight for the Blue Jays (8-1) in the series, which started in 1895 and which they now lead 63-36-1.
"We talked about the first eight minutes being very important. We needed to set the tone and draw first blood," said Blue Jays coach Dave Pietramala. "We were fortunate enough to do that."
The Blue Jays' dominance started at the faceoff circle as they won the first five, not allowing the Terps (8-2) to get their first possession until the 10:58 mark of the first quarter.
By then, the Blue Jays led 4-0 as junior All-America attackman Kyle Barrie (three goals) opened the game with consecutive goals, followed by scores from Joe McDermott and Greg Peyser.
"When you get on a roll like that and are winning all the faceoffs, that's when it's fun to play lacrosse," said Hopkins senior midfielder Kevin Boland.
Hopkins kept it going against one of the nation's top defenses, pelting Terps goalie Tim McGinnis, who came in allowing fewer than seven goals a game, with 18 first-quarter shots - Maryland had only five - and building a 9-1 lead early in the second quarter.
"It was like death by a thousand wounds," said Maryland coach Dave Cottle, whose team was outshot 51-31 and lost 16 of 26 faceoffs. "We couldn't figure out a way to stop it."
Added Terps All-America defenseman Chris Passavia: "I don't know if all our guys who were playing one-on-one were ready for their agility."
Cottle tried everything to stop the Blue Jays' momentum, even sending out Passavia for his first career faceoff.
Passavia lost it to the Blue Jays' Lou Braun, but another decision by the Terps' coaching staff worked - at least temporarily - after Hopkins thought it had gained a 10-2 lead 10:44 before halftime on a goal by midfielder Frank Potucek.
But the Terps called for the referees to check Potucek's stick. They deemed it illegal, wiped Hopkins' goal off the board and awarded Maryland an extra-man opportunity, which it converted with Andrew Schwartzman's shot past Blue Jays starting goalie Scott Smith.
