ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala leaned over to defensive midfielder Michael Pellegrino at the postgame press conference and ran his finger along the stat sheet while goalie Eric Schneider answered a question.

Pietramala looked at Pellegrino, back at the stat sheet and the senior smirked.

“You know what, we talk about it all the time,” Pietramala said. “…about defending the knowns. And the knowns were Rice, Donahue, Galasso and Staats.

“Three, three, three and three. I guess we didn’t do a good job of defending the knowns today.

The three players sitting beside their head coach laughed, because they could. Despite allowing a hat trick to each of second-seeded Syracuse’s (13-3, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) top four scorers, Johns Hopkins (11-6, 4-1 Big Ten) was able to escape a late Orange comeback and prevail, 16-15, in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals.

It was Rice who came alive in the fourth quarter, scoring two goals in the final minute. It was Donahue who reached his 50th goal of the season, the most for an SU player in 24 years. And Staats and Galasso paced SU throughout. But somehow, the Blue Jays still came out on top.

In Syracuse’s first matchup against the Blue Jays on March 14, only one of those four scored more than two goals. On that day, Syracuse came out on top by three goals and dropped JHU to 3-4 on the season.

“We’re pretty fortunate,” Pietramala said. “We’ve grown up a lot this year.”

But just more than two months later, two players outside that quartet scored for SU – Henry Schoonmaker and third-line midfielder Ryan Simmons – and the final result was reversed.

Though the big names for Syracuse were clicking, it was other facets of the game where JHU took advantage. Early at the faceoff X. In the turnovers category. And with a plethora of shots on goal.

Ben Williams only won 3-of-7 faceoffs in the first quarter.

“I didn’t start off very hot,” Williams said. “So in the fourth quarter I was trying to win every faceoff.”

Hopkins committed half the turnovers SU did.

“Obviously they were playing very efficient,” Syracuse head coach John Desko said.

And enough shots to make up for the ones Syracuse’s big four converted on.

“Forty-four shots is a lot of shots,” Pietramala said. “So for us to generate those shots was very important given the scenario at the X and off the ground.”

The head coach even tossed around the word “lucky” after the game to describe his fortunes with the crop of seniors he has at his fingertips.

And on a day where some of those seniors allowed SU’s primary scoring threats to get loose, they also did just enough elsewhere to stave off a near collapse.

“We knew they were going to score goals,” JHU goalie Eric Schneider said. “So we’re not going to get down on ourselves when they put a couple in.”

Published on May 17, 2015 at 6:04 pm

Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman