Navy rallies to stun Hopkins

Mids have won two in row at Homewood

Navy men’s lacrosse went 24 straight games without being able to beat Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, a drought that spanned almost six decades.

Don’t look now, but the Midshipmen have suddenly beaten the Blue Jays in two straight meetings at historic Homewood Field.

Senior midfielder Max Hewitt scored the game-winning goal just over a minute and a half into overtime as Navy stunned seventhranked Johns Hopkins, 10-9, on Friday night in front of 1,923 fans.

The Midshipmen won the faceoff to start the extra session with freshman specialist Zach Hayashi coming up with the ground ball, racing into the offensive end and dishing to senior attackman Xavier Arline for an immediate shot. Arline’s attempt sailed wide and out of bounds.

Navy restarted and worked the ball around before it ended up in the stick of Hewitt, who beat a defender and got all the way to the goal for a point-blank shot he slipped past Hopkins goalie Chayse Ierlan.

Two officials huddled and quickly raised their arms signaling a goal. However, the lead referee immediately came to the sideline to conduct a video review of the play to determine whether Hewitt stepped in the crease before scoring.

Moments later, the official stepped back on the field and raised his arms again, and the Navy bench erupted in wild celebration.

“Things opened up underneath and I was able to get to the front of the net. I was kind of expecting a slide and when no slide came I saw the opening and went for it,” Hewitt said. “An overtime win here [at Homewood] — I don’t think you can beat that. It’s an awesome win for [Navy] as a program and hopefully something we can build on.”

It was deja vu for Hewitt, who was the hero of Navy’s 11-10 victory over Hopkins at Homewood in 2022. Hewitt scored four goals on that Friday night, including the game-tying and winning tallies just 49 seconds apart.

That win was Navy’s first against Hopkins at Homewood since 1965.

“Give [Navy] all the credit in the world. They battled hard and earned it,” Hopkins coach Peter Milliman said.

Senior midfielder Dane Swanson scored three goals for Navy, which rallied from an early 6-1 deficit. Junior attackman Henry