BALTIMORE, MD – Third-ranked Johns Hopkins jumped out to a 3-0 lead, never trailed and held fifth-ranked Maryland to just three even-strength goals as the Blue Jays rode a strong defensive effort to a 7-5 win in the 127th renewal of the greatest rivalry in college lacrosse before a standing-room-only crowd of 10,458 at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon.  The crowd is the largest in college lacrosse this season and the largest at Homewood Field since Johns Hopkins topped Maryland, 14-10, in the 100^th all-time meeting between the two teams on April 17, 2004 (10,555).
 
The Blue Jays improve to 10-3 overall and complete their first unbeaten season in Big Ten play since joining the league in 2015 (5-0); with the win, Johns Hopkins secures the top seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament.  Maryland finishes the regular season at 8-4 overall and earns the number two seed in the Big Ten Tournament with a 3-2 league record.
 
The Blue Jays led 3-0 before the game was 11 minutes old as Jacob Angelus sandwiched a pair of goals around a Garrett Degnon strike in the first 10:24 to give the Blue Jays the early lead and all the momentum.
 
A three-minute non-releasable penalty on the Blue Jays late in the first quarter helped the Terps pull back into the game as they got extra-man goals from Jack Koras and Daniel Kelly in a 52-second span to trim the deficit to 3-2.  The Blue Jays dodged further damage when Chayse Irelan was equal to a Braden Erksa offering with 30 seconds left on the penalty and the Blue Jays led 3-2 at the end of the first quarter.
 
The Terps were even just under two minutes into the second quarter when Kelly dropped his second of the game in transition off a nice skip pass from Erksa, but that would be the last goal of the half for the Terps.
 
The Blue Jays answered Kelly's goal just over two minutes later when senior Brendan Grimes surprised Maryland goalie Logan McNaney with a shot just under the crossbar off a quick dodge from behind.  An extra-man goal from Matt Collison 41 seconds later and a Degnon blast from 12 yards out 51 seconds after that gave the Blue Jays a 6-3 lead that they would carry into the second half.
 
The defenses took over in the second half as the teams combined for three goals on 23 shots and neither team found the net in the fourth period.
 
The Terps had the 6-3 halftime deficit down to one at 6-5 just over six minutes into the third quarter.  A half-opening strike from Ryan Siracusa at the 13:46 mark was followed five minutes later by a George Stamos goal off a feed from Daniel Maltz.
 
The 6-5 score held for more than six minutes before Johnathan Peshko swept across the middle and got his hands free on the run from eight yards out to score what proved to be the insurance goal for the Blue Jays.
 
Neither defense would break over the final 17:42. Ierlan and McNaney both registered three saves in a scoreless fourth quarter; Maryland would be held off the board for the final 23:51, while the Blue Jays' final goal was the Peshko tally with 2:42 on the third-quarter clock.

Maryland had two looks in the final three minute that would have made it a one-goal game, but Ierlan was equal to an Eric Kolar offering with 2:47 on the clock and stopped Koras in the final 10 seconds to seal the victory.
 
Inside the Box Score – Johns Hopkins
• Ierlan finished with 11 saves and spearheaded a Blue Jay defense that held Maryland to its lowest goal total since March 4, 2017, when the Terps dropped a 5-4 decision to Notre Dame.
• The Johns Hopkins defense held Maryland scoreless for stretches of 12:29, 14:26 and 23:51.
• Degnon finished with the two goals and bumped his goal-scoring streak to 43 games.  He also moved into a tie with Brian Piccola for third place on JHU's career goal-scoring list (154).
• Angelus scored twice and added an assist and Collison chipped in with the one goal and one assist.
 
Inside the Box Score – Maryland
• McNaney matched Ierlan with 11 saves in the game.
• Kelly (2g, 1a) was the only multi-point scorer for the Terps with a three-point game to his credit.
• Luke Wierman was 9-of-15 on faceoffs and had a team-high five ground balls in the victory
 
Notes of Interest
• Degnon tied the Johns Hopkins record for career games played today as he appeared in his 68^th game (Connor DeSimone (2018-22)).
 
Up Next
Johns Hopkins earned a bye into the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament and will play the winner of the quarterfinal game between the number and number seeds.  The semifinals and finals will take place at Ohio State with the semifinals scheduled to take place on Thursday, May 2 (5:30 pm / 8 pm).  All games in the Big Ten Tournament will air live on BTN.