ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- Johns Hopkins moved one step closer to a weekend in New England by beating favored Elizabethtown, 3-1, in yesterday's NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Regional men's soccer match at Muhlenberg College.
The third-seeded Blue Jays (14-2-3) will meet top-seeded Muhlenberg (17-1-1) at 1 p.m. today to decide who advances to next weekend's quarterfinals, hosted by the New England Regional winner.
Muhlenberg, ranked No. 3 in the ISAA Division III poll, defeated Carnegie Mellon, 1-0, thanks to a 3-2 advantage in the penalty-kick shootout.
Two second-half goals by Jared Lawrence -- his second and third of the season -- and good defense helped Hopkins.
"Heart sometimes makes up for what a team lacks in individual skill, compared to another team. We work twice as hard," said second-year Hopkins coach Matt Smith.
Elizabethtown (19-3) was the tournament's No. 2 seed and ISAA's No. 10 team and was making a Division III-record 19th NCAA appearance.
But Johns Hopkins was riding a nine-game winning streak and got momentum when Keith Baumgarten scored 19:01 into the game.
A teammate's shot had hit the post and Baumgarten, a senior defender, beat goalie Dan Webb (Bowie, Eleanor Roosevelt High) to the ball.
Elizabethtown responded with pressure in the offensive end. Four minutes later George Crampton headed the ball in from 15 yards.
A late first-half goal by Johns Hopkins' leading scorer, Eric West, was nullified by an offsides call.
The freshman standout never figured in the scoring, but the attention paid to him left Lawrence free to score twice from close range.
The first came 4:17 into the second half, after a throw-in by Dave Morro and head flick by Bill Graf; the second came on a header at 22:42 off a long restart kick by Peter Kahn.
"Scoring's not even my role, but some days the ball bounces good for me," said Lawrence, who missed the first half of the season with mononucleosis.
Said Elizabethtown coach Skip Roderick: "They were very dangerous in the air. That was our Achilles' heel. It looked like we never got off the bus. We didn't have the urgency we had in other games."
Hopkins beat Muhlenberg, 2-1, on Oct. 1.