PRINCETON, N.J. -- Johns Hopkins proved that to beat Princeton, you've got to play like Princeton.
Reversing fortunes with the three-time defending national champions, the top-ranked Blue Jays thrived on their opponent's mistakes and elevated their game in the fourth quarter to come back from six goals down and shock the No. 5 Tigers, 12-11, yesterday on a rainy afternoon before 2,398 at Class of 1952 Stadium.
Need a clutch goal? The usually suffocating Princeton defense flinched with 2: 49 left in the game, allowing Blue Jays midfielder A. J. Haugen to zip a virtually unstoppable shot just inches inside the right post for the game-winner.
Need some late-game heroics? Brian Carcaterra, last year's Goalkeeper of the Year, shook off a subpar performance to jump-start an emotional swing with his first career assist and saved the game by turning away B. J. Prager's point-blank shot with four seconds remaining.
"It's awesome," Carcaterra said. "They're the best. We're trying to be the best. So we got to beat them."
Hopkins first-year coach John Haus made a grand entrance onto the Division I stage, as his Blue Jays stopped Princeton's nation-best, eight-year home win streak at 41 games and became only the second school to defeat the Tigers over the past three years. Dylan Schlott pitched in with five goals and Haugen added four for Hopkins, which halted a three-game skid to Princeton.
"Quite honestly, we feel very fortunate to come away with a win here at Princeton," Haus said. "It was a good, 60-minute effort."
And Hopkins (1-0) accomplished it in dramatic fashion, closing out the game with a 9-2 run over the final 33 minutes, including the final three goals. The comeback wiped away dismal memories of the first half, when the Tigers surprised Hopkins by ditching a methodical offensive game plan and attacked the Blue Jays.
Princeton (0-1) charged ahead on the hot shooting of Josh Sims and Lorne Smith, scoring on nearly half of its attempts. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays had more dropped passes than goals scored in the first half.
That combination equaled a 9-3 Tigers advantage with 4: 44 remaining before halftime.
"I thought they were going to move the ball around and take a shot every three minutes," Carcaterra said. "They caught me on my heels.
"Then I started to feel a sense of urgency. Here I am, everyone's looking for me to make a play and I hadn't done anything yet except for some average saves."
Carcaterra found some firmer footing three minutes into the fourth quarter with the Blue Jays trailing 10-8. Cleanly saving an outside shot by Sims, he pushed the ball the length of the field, outrunning all of Princeton's midfielders.
When the defense shifted to stop Carcaterra, he set up Haugen for a wide-open shot.
The Hopkins fans roared as Carcaterra leaped and ran up the entire Blue Jays sideline, high-fiving everyone emphatically.
"He gets us going, no matter which way you look at it," Blue Jays attackman Dan Denihan said. "It was a great pickup and momentum-builder."
After Schlott's goal chipped Hopkins' deficit to 10-9, Princeton's Rob Torti sneaked in around the left side of the crease to push the margin back to two goals with 6: 15 left in the game.
A minute later, Denihan drew a double team, but the Tigers' defense didn't rotate and left Schlott unguarded on the crease. Schlott converted to cut the lead to 11-10.
A minute after that, Denihan made one of his few drives to the goal against defenseman Jason Farrell. The Tigers left Farrell isolated on the right side, where Denihan bullied past him and bounced in a shot to tie the game at 11.
The Blue Jays then got the ball to Haugen with just under three minutes left. Flying past short-stick defender Gardner LaMotte, Haugen moved to the inside and cranked an uncontested, pinpoint shot that sailed in between the pipe and goalkeeper Corey Pop- ham's left hip.
"They were facing me that way," Haugen said. "They wanted me to go down there. So I played along and just got a good shot."
The Tigers, who had won six consecutive games decided by one goal, had two quality chances in the final minute. Sims took an open look from 15 yards out, but Carcaterra stopped it easily.
Then with 13.2 seconds remaining, Denihan was called for pushing, giving Princeton an extra-man opportunity.
The Tigers got the shot they wanted as Matt Striebel sent a cross-crease feed to Prager, who one-timed the shot low. However, Carcaterra followed the ball perfectly and instinctively deflected the attempt with his stick.
"I was very nervous," Carcaterra said. "These guys pull it out all the time. So I was like, here we go again."
Not this time.
The Blue Jays were the ones who produced the answers in the second half, forcing play by winning nine of the 11 faceoffs and holding an 18-11 ground-ball advantage. The Tigers were the ones shaking their heads, scoring on just two of their last 16 shots and allowing five fourth-quarter goals.
"We didn't lose the game on the last shot, we lost it on stupid plays in the second half," said Smith, a senior Princeton attackman and a Gilman graduate. "It's disappointing. We had the game in our hands and let it slip away."
Pub Date: 3/07/99