Nov. 20, 2009
Cambridge, Mass. -
Johns Hopkins' Kyle Gertridge flipped a ball off the water and past Fordham goalie Christian Flessner with 1:07 left in sudden death overtime, as 20th-ranked Johns Hopkins held on to defeat Fordham, 12-11, in the opening round of the 2009 Men's Eastern Championship in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Playing in their first Eastern Championship in over 20 years, Fordham took early command of the game as back-to-back tallies by Ali Arat at the 5:18 and 3:29 marks of the first period gave the Rams an early 2-0 lead. The margin expanded to 3-0 at 2:38 as Mikey Edwards beat JHU goalie Jeremy Selbst with a rising shot, but Hopkins broke the ice in the period with a marker by Peter Sauerhoff at the 1:35 mark to make it 3-1 after eight minutes of play.
The Blue Jays continued scoring to open the second period as Antonio Aguilera put home scores at 7:35 and 1:35, respectively, to pull Hopkins even at 3-3. JHU took the lead before the end of the first half as Alex Whittam put home a penalty shot with 22 seconds left in the period for a 4-3 Hopkins advantage at the break.
Andrew McKernin pulled the Rams even with a man-up goal at 5:49 of the third period, but JHU countered with back-to-back special goals as Gertridge scored on a man-advantage chance at 2:19 and Whittam chipped in a penalty shot score at 1:40 to give the Blue Jays a 6-4 edge.
Fordham began to climb back into the contest 23 seconds later as Daniel Munoz zipped in a score at the 1:07 mark to make it a 6-5 game in favor of Johns Hopkins through 24 minutes of play.
The Rams evened the score two minutes into the fourth period with a man-up goal by Edwards, but JHU responded with back-to-back goals by Whittam and Sauerhoff on a man-up chance (4:04) and at even-strength (3:35), respectively, to give the Blue Jays a 8-6 lead.
The advantage began to melt away as Arat rattled the cage at 3:22, but Ross Schofield returned the lead to two goals at 9-7 with 2:57 left to play.
Schofield's goal changed the tone of the game as the Rams returned to action inspired to send the game to overtime. Edwards started the late comeback bid with a score at 2:16 before Arat connected on a five-meter penalty shot at the 1:22 mark to knot the score at 9-9 and bring on two three-minute overtime periods.
Hopkins went in front in the first overtime period with a goal by Schofield at the 1:55 mark and a man-up tally by Whittam with four seconds in the period, while Edwards chipped in a score for the Rams with 21 seconds on the period clock to set the score at 11-10 in favor of JHU after 27 minutes of play.
Only Fordham scored in the second overtime frame as Arat beat Selbst at the 1:11 mark to tie the game up at 11-11 and bring on sudden death.
In the sudden death period, both squads played a bit more cautiously to try and beat the other's defense until the Blue Jays caught a break when a shot clock violation allowed Gertridge to break free of his defender and sprint down the pool. He accepted a pass and flipped a one-on-one chance over Flessner's right shoulder for the game-winning goal with 1:07 on the clock.
In net, Selbst finished with 13 saves, while Flessner stopped 12 shots for Fordham.
The Blue Jays advance to face No. 12-ranked the United States Naval Academy at 4:30 on Saturday, November 21 in the semifinals, while Fordham will meet Iona College at 1:30 p.m. with a berth in the fifth place game on the line.
