A variety of factors contributed to Johns Hopkins' struggles in Tuesday night's 7-5 loss at Towson – the program's worst offensive showing since an 8-4 loss to Loyola Maryland on April 27, 2013.
One of those factors was the Tigers' use of a zone defense that packed the middle and forced No. 6 Blue Jays (1-1) to settle for long-range shots. It's a formula that future opponents on Johns Hopkins' schedule may copy.
"They beat us," Blue Jays coach Dave Pietramala said Thursday. "So I would imagine that everybody thinks they have the recipe to beat Hopkins. And that's fine, that's great. If you look, we had a number of opportunities inside. [Junior attackman] Ryan Brown gets one inside, [sophomore attackman] Wilkins Dismuke throws one into the goalie's stick right on the inside.
"So, if you're getting 10-yard shots, those are good shots for some of our shooters. There's not many coaches that are going to turn down 10-yard shots. But quite frankly, our execution wasn't great. What might have happened if we had executed a bit more? What would have happened if we had attacked the zone a little bit more aggressively? Yeah, I would agree with you that if I'm playing Hopkins, here's our recipe to beat them. … If that's what people think is the recipe, then great. That's fine with us."
Another key in the offense's futility was a lack of production from the first midfield. Juniors Holden Cattoni and Connor Reed and freshman Joel Tinney combined for one goal on eight shots, one assist and three turnovers. The second line of sophomores John Crawley and Cody Radziewicz and freshman Shack Stanwick was less effective, totaling zero goals on five shots, one assist and three turnovers.
But Pietramala declined to single out the midfield.
"We needed more from everybody on Tuesday night," he said. "We needed more from the second midfield. We scored five goals. Who didn't we need more from? We needed more goals from our attack, we needed more goals from our middies, we needed a better job off the wings on our faceoffs, we needed to do a better job defensively. …
"If we're going to get five, we've got to hold them to four then. So it was a team loss. It falls on all of us, and I believe it starts with having a healthier level of respect for our opponent, being more emotionally excited to play, not as casual. We were not fundamentally sound across the board."