Johns Hopkins got off to a winning start at Homewood Field on Tuesday night, overcoming an early deficit to beat state rival Navy 15-8 in each program's first game of the 2017 season. The sixth-ranked Blue Jays got a trio of hat tricks from Wilkins Dismuke, Joel Tinney and Patrick Fraser to break away from the Midshipmen in the third and fourth quarter.

However, it was the 13th-ranked Midshipmen that came out with the momentum, scoring the only goals in a low-scoring first quarter. Colin Flounlacker and Ray Wardell scored first for Navy, and Greyson added another goal to give the visitors the 3-0 lead in the second quarter.

Johns Hopkins responded with three goals of its own and got two late tallies from Fraser to tie the game at 5 entering halftime. Each team put up 18 shots in the first half, with Navy goalie Ryan Kern stopping seven shots.

It was a different story in the second half. With the game tied at 7 midway through the third quarter, the Blue Jays scored five consecutive goals to take control. The first goal in the rally came from Tinney, who acted as if he passed to teammate Matt Rees, fooling the Navy defense and scoring before the Midshipmen caught onto the hidden ball trick.

Joel Tinney @5tinman21 fools everyone & scores on a hidden ball trick pic.twitter.com/sclLahKUwd

— Lacrosse Film Room (@LaxFilmRoom) February 7, 2017

Johns Hopkins scored eight of the last nine goals to break open what was a battle between two top-20 teams. Tinney, Dismuke and Shack Stanwick each had a pair of goals in the second-half rally that gave the Blue Jays a comfortable first victory.

The Blue Jays outshot the Midshipmen 19-10 in the second half and Navy turned the ball over 13 times in the same period. 

With a win under its belt, Johns Hopkins will host UMBC on Saturday, while Navy will host No. 2 Maryland.