Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse drops 11-10 double OT heartbreaker to Virginia in NCAA Tournament quarterfinal
Johns Hopkins wasted a 10-7 lead and committed an NCAA Tournament program-record 25 turnovers in a double overtime loss to Virginia.
Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse never trailed in its NCAA Tournament quarterfinal against Virginia, until it mattered most.
Connor Shellenberger’s goal with 1:40 left in double overtime sealed an 11-10 victory for the No. 6 seed Cavaliers over the No. 3 seed Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon before an announced 9,642 at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson.
Virginia (12-5) advanced to its fourth Final Four in the past five years and will meet No. 7 seed Maryland (10-5) on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
The final score was the only time Johns Hopkins (11-5) was mired in a deficit against the Cavaliers. The heaviness of that circumstance weighed on coach Peter Milliman.
“I’m having a tough time getting my thoughts past this group,” he said to begin his postgame news conference. “We’ve been together for a few years and even some of the guys that just joined us this year. It’s a tough loss, tough way to end the season. We’ve had high hopes the whole year, and I think the group in the locker room, the group that puts it all on the field has done just such a phenomenal job leading themselves, demanding excellence, continuing to work to get better. … My heart breaks for them in this situation.”
Virginia’s only lead of the game was made possible by Shellenberger, the graduate student attackman and two-time Tewaaraton Award finalist who dodged the right alley until he got past the goal line. He then turned back up the alley and fired a left-handed shot that eluded Johns Hopkins graduate student goalkeeper Chayse Ierlan and set off a raucous celebration at midfield.
Shellenberger, who amassed three goals and one assist, said the offense wanted to finish the game for the defense. And he credited associate coach Kevin Cassese with designing the game-winning play.
“He drew up a great play there at the end,” he said. “The five guys around me executed, and they made my job really easy.”
Until Shellenberger’s goal, the Blue Jays appeared poised to end a nine-year Final Four drought. They scored the first four goals of the game, carried a 7-5 lead into halftime and opened the fourth quarter with a 10-7 advantage. But the offense disappeared in the fourth period and both overtime sessions, going 22:57 without a goal.
Graduate student attackman Jacob Angelus racked up one goal and five assists, graduate student attackman Garrett Degnon chipped in three goals and two assists and senior attackman Russell Melendez, a Severna Park native and Archbishop Spalding graduate, scored four goals. But they and their offensive teammates were silenced by the Cavaliers, who replaced starting goalie Matthew Nunes just 6:36 into the first quarter with sophomore Kyle Morris, a Baltimore native and Gilman graduate who made eight saves and allowed six goals in 59:44.
“I don’t think they did anything necessarily different,” Angelus said of the Cavaliers’ defense. “We had limited possessions in the fourth quarter and we didn’t take advantage of them. They did a great job of just clamping down when crunch time came.”
Johns Hopkins committed an NCAA Tournament-record 25 turnovers, breaking the program’s previous mark of 24 set against — guess who? — Virginia in a 2009 quarterfinal. And Milliman noted that the team’s nine failed clears in 26 attempts were a season worst.
“Clearing is a challenge,” he said. “I think we made some mistakes in there that were pretty obvious. We made some miscues where we just mishandled the ball. They put you in situations like that. They were doing it as well as possible and I think we were trying to work our way through it and didn’t do as good of a good job.”
Johns Hopkins wasted a sparkling performance by Ierlan, who made 15 stops, including four in each of the third and fourth quarters. Graduate student defenseman Beaudan Szuluk, who had the primary responsibility on Virginia graduate student attackman Payton Cormier, held the NCAA Division I record-holder in career goals (223) to more turnovers (two) than goals (one on 11 shots).
“I felt good all day,” Ierlan said. “Confident in the group all the way to the very end. Just a cool opportunity and a cool stage and just tried to leave it all out there.”
The Blue Jays last appeared in the Final Four on May 23, 2015, when that squad lost, 12-11, to Maryland. The program — widely regarded as one of the sport’s “blue bloods” — has not played in the title game since 2008, nor taken home the crown since 2007.
The Blue Jays defeated the Cavaliers, 16-14, on March 2, but could not find similar success when it mattered most. Freshman attackman McCabe Millon, a Reisterstown native and McDonogh graduate, paced Virginia with three goals and three assists, junior faceoff specialist and Navy transfer Anthony Ghobriel won 12 of 20 faceoffs and junior long-stick midfielder Ben Wayer picked up a game-best 10 ground balls, caused two turnovers and assisted on one goal.
Millon’s game-tying goal with 2:59 left in regulation was reviewed by officials, who confirmed the goal although it seemed that Millon stepped in the crease before releasing his shot. Asked if he received an explanation from the officials, Milliman said quickly, “No.”
The Cavaliers’ win was their first in their past four overtime games and first since going 5-0 in overtime matchups in 2019. Coach Lars Tiffany said the players never doubted themselves even when facing that 4-0 deficit in the first quarter.
“I’ve been on some sidelines where you can tell, ‘Ugh, it’s not going our way today,’” he said. “But not today even though we never led until the very end. This team kept up a positive voice.”
Denver 10, Syracuse 8
Matt Brown’s debut season as Pioneers coach continues to get better.
Five unanswered goals bridging the second and third quarters helped No. 5 seed Denver (13-3) outlast the No. 4 Orange and earn a semifinal date with No. 1 seed Notre Dame, which pummeled No. 8 seed Georgetown, 16-11, on Saturday. The Pioneers and Fighting Irish (14-1) will clash at noon Saturday in Philadelphia.
“It means everything,” graduate student defenseman Jack DiBenedetto said. “It’s why you suit up every day. We’re just happy to get the opportunity to go to Philly, and we’re prepared for whatever’s next.”
Brown, who was a four-year starting attackman at Denver from 2002 to 2005, helped the program claim its first Final Four berth since 2017 after succeeding Hall of Fame coach Bill Tierney after the 2023 season. Tierney retired with a career record of 439-152 and seven national championships — six at Princeton from 1992 to 2001 and one with the Pioneers in 2015 — becoming the first coach in Division I history to capture the NCAA title at two schools.
Four Denver players scored two goals, including senior attackman Michael Lampert who added an assist to lead the team with three points and offset a game-worst six turnovers. Graduate student attackman JJ Sillstrop, sophomore attackman Cody Malawsky and senior midfielder Ty Hussey were the other multiple-goal scorers.
Lambert’s goal from a sharp angle left of the cage with 44 seconds left in the third quarter proved to be the final goal of the game for the Pioneers, who went scoreless over the last 15:44.
Syracuse, meanwhile, scored three times in a 9:11 span of the fourth quarter to draw within two goals with 3:18 left in regulation.
But freshman faceoff specialist John Mullen committed his third violation of the second half, sending him to the penalty box for 30 seconds. That opened the door for Denver to consume valuable time off the clock.
“It wasn’t pretty at times but we got it done,” Brown said. “I thought we were disciplined but tough today.”
The Orange’s best chance to further narrow the lead occurred with less than 2:30 remaining, but sophomore attackman Joey Spallina’s rocket from the left wing rang off the crossbar. Pioneers senior goalkeeper Malcolm Kleban then stopped fifth-year senior midfielder Jake Stevens for his game-high 10th save, and Denver kept Syracuse at bay until the final horn sounded.
Fifth-year senior midfielder Sam English paced the Orange with a game-high four points on two goals and two assists, and sophomore midfielder Michael Leo scored three goals. But Syracuse (12-6) dropped to 0-4 in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinal round since the program last earned a Final Four berth in 2013.
“You can always look back and kinda be like, ‘What if this? What if that?’” said sophomore defenseman Billy Dwan, a Lutherville resident and Loyola Blakefield graduate who finished with two ground balls and one caused turnover. “But in reality there’s nothing we can do about it now. We kinda talked about all week [how] it’s a game of inches. The ball went their way today.”