A member of the Stanwick family enjoyed an impressive outing in the season opener for the Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team. Surprisingly, it was the one making his collegiate debut.
Freshman Shack Stanwick recorded four points on three goals and one assist and outplayed older brother Wells in the Blue Jays' 16-4 demolition of visiting UMBC Saturday before an announced crowd of 1,359 at Homewood Field.
Junior attackman Ryan Brown scored seven goals for Hopkins (1-0), which improved to 13-2 in season openers under coach Dave Pietramala.
They got a significant lift from Shack Stanwick, a Baltimore resident and Boys' Latin graduate. Starting as a midfielder for injured junior Holden Cattoni, The Baltimore Sun's 2014 All-Metro Player of the Year scored twice during his team's 6-0 run in the first quarter.
After early goals from junior midfielder Connor Reed and sophomore attackman Wilkins Dismuke, Stanwick took Retrievers senior short-stick defensive midfielder Tim Lang around the right post and fired the ball past redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Connor Gordon to give the Blue Jays a 3-0 lead with 8:11 left in the period.
Then, with redshirt senior midfielder Conor Finch serving a one-minute penalty for slashing at the 6:33 mark, Stanwick was the recipient of some good fortune. UMBC junior defenseman Zach Esser appeared to collect a loose ball in the defensive end, but lost it.
Stanwick plucked the ball out of mid-air and quickly slammed it home to extend Johns Hopkins' advantage to 4-0 with 5:42 remaining.
In the second quarter, Stanwick shifted back to his more-familiar position on attack and found Brown for a score. He scored the team's last goal with 2:49 left in the final period to put the finishing touch on a game dedicated to freshman midfielder Jeremy Huber, who was found dead in his dorm on Jan. 26.
"It was a little emotional going out there for Jeremy," Stanwick said. "Right from the first whistle, we got after it. It was a lot of fun. It was everything I imagined my first game being like, and I look forward to the next game."
Brown's seven goals were the Sykesville resident and Calvert Hall graduate's second-highest total in a game, trailing only the eight goals he posted in the team's 12-10 loss to Syracuse on March 15, 2014.
"I think it helps when [offensive coordinator Bobby] Benson puts in great schemes during the week and playing with such good players allows me to get open better," said Brown, who has eight of his 10 career hat tricks in his past 16 games. "So, I don't think it was anything I did personally. It was more just playing within the offense and being around great players that set me up for easy shots and goals."
Wells Stanwick, a senior who returned as the team's leader in assists (44) and points, contributed three assists. Freshman midfielder Patrick Fraser added three points on one goal and two assists.
Pietramala earned the 159th victory of his career, becoming the program's all-time leader in coaching wins. Pietramala broke a tie with Hall of Famer Bob Scott, who had 158 victories.
Junior midfielder Pat Young paced UMBC (0-1) with two goals, and junior midfielder Jack Gannon had two assists.
Freshman goalie David Pisanic, a Towson resident and Boys' Latin graduate, made eight saves and surrendered just three goals after replacing Gordon with 5:02 left in the third quarter. Gordon, who also made eight stops, was forced to leave the game after suffering a cut on his forehead and did not return.
Johns Hopkins shut out the Retrievers in the first and third periods and has held opponents scoreless for 15 minutes or longer 32 times in 31 games since the beginning of the 2013 season.
UMBC coach Don Zimmerman said the team's slow start hurt.
"It just seemed we were a step slow," he said. "We weren't as aggressive as we needed to be. A good team, they're going to pick up on that and take advantage of it. We had some opportunities early that we didn't cash in on.
"When you fall behind, there's a tendency to try to get it all back at once, and we reminded the guys that when you're in that situation, you've got to chip away one goal at a time. But we were never able to make up that deficit."