Terps beat Blue Jays for top seed
start set the tone for the Terps.
“I thought we got off to a great start,” Maryland coach John Tillman said. “We got 6-of-8 shooting in the first quarter. I thought Danny Morris was really seeing it early. So when you put those things together, it obviously allows us to get off to a good start, and I thought the guys really shared the ball. They were paying a lot of attention to Matt, and I thought Matt was super unselfish.”
The Terps added two more goals in the second quarter to push their lead to 8-0. Rambo assisted on Kelly’s fourth goal just 20 seconds into the period on an extraman opportunity and then scored from about 10 yards away for his sixth point with 12:27 remaining.
That point gave Rambo 232 for his career and moved him past Bob Boneillo’s 231-point total set in 1980 to become the program’s all-time scoring leader. Rambo finished with three goals and four assists and ranks third in school history in goals with 146, trailing Joe Walters and Matt Hahn.
“Guys were just in the right spots,” Rambo said. “I saw a lot of attention drawn to me. … Connor Kelly was stepping down, and he was just shooting at the right spots.”
Rambo’s goal also chased junior goalkeeper Brock Turnbaugh (Hereford), who did not make a save. He was replaced by graduate student Gerald Logan, who finished with nine saves over the final 42:27.
The Blue Jays ended a 20:47 scoring drought when freshman attackman Cole Williams converted a centering pass from sophomore midfielder Alex Concannon, but the damage was already done. Redshirt junior midfielder Tim Rotanz scored on a feed from senior attackman Colin Heacock just before the buzzer to end the second quarter to give Maryland a 9-1 advantage at halftime.
Heacock, a Catonsville resident and Boys’ Latin graduate, returned after sitting out the team’s loss to the Buckeyes on April 22 because of a left ankle injury. He opened the third quarter with a goal off a pass from senior attackman Dylan Maltz with 9:12 left and finished with three goals and one assist.
Johns Hopkins welcomed back its own attackman in junior Shack Stanwick, who did not play in the second half of a 19-9 drubbing of Michigan on April 22 after appearing to injure his left foot. But the Baltimore resident and Boys’ Latin graduate failed to make much of an impact on offense, registering one assist in the third quarter to extend his points streak to 46 consecutive games.
Morris made nine saves, and the defense limited the Jays’ top five scorers to two goals. Johns Hopkins fell to 8-5 overall and 3-2 in the Big Ten. The team slid to the No. 3 seed and will face No. 2 seed Ohio State in the other semifinal. The Buckeyes defeated the Blue Jays, 13-9, on April 9.