There was a time not too long ago when Johns Hopkins got the best of Duke in huge postseason men’s lacrosse clashes.

In 2005, the Blue Jays ended a 17-season NCAA championship drought by denying the Blue Devils in the title game, 9-8. Two years later, Hopkins jumped on them early, before holding off Duke, 12-11, to win its ninth crown. In 2008, the Blue Jays took a 10-9 victory over favored Duke in the national semifinals.

Those tables have turned significantly since, as Duke has left three large bruises on the Hopkins ego with playoff routs.

In 2010 and 2014, Hopkins was a postseason steppingstone for Duke, which won its first crown two weeks after crushing the Jays in the 2010 first round, 18-5, and won its third and most recent NCAA title after dispatching Hopkins in the ’14 quarterfinals, 19-11.

Then came the embarrassment of last year. One year after injury-riddled Hopkins got dismantled in 2016 at Brown in the first round by a 17-8 count, the Blue Devils crushed Hopkins, 19-6 – its worst NCAA tournament loss ever at Homewood Field, which matched the same losing margin in Durham seven years earlier.

Dave Pietramala, the 18th-year head coach of fifth-seeded Hopkins (12-4), expressed enormous respect for the fourth-seeded Blue Devils (14-3) and also vowed things would be different when the two teams square off in Sunday’s quarterfinals at Navy.

Hopkins, which lost by a goal to archrival Maryland in the NCAA semifinals in 2015, this year beat Maryland to win its second Big Ten tournament and, as they have done numerous times down the stretch in 2018, showed impressive late kick while doing it. The Jays exploded for eight, second-half goals to take a 13-10 victory.

In Sunday’s first-rounder against visiting, unseeded Georgetown, the Blue Jays erased a five-goal, second-half deficit by scoring five, fourth-quarter goals, before pulling out a 10-9 win in overtime.

That marked Hopkins’ ninth win in its last 11 games. Since March 24, when Hopkins erased a 9-2 halftime deficit at Virginia and won, 15-13, the Blue Jays are 7-2. Every game has been decided by three goals or fewer. Hopkins is 4-1 in one-goal affairs over that stretch.

“You can make the argument that we’re facing the best team left in the tournament,” Pietramala said. “We’ve come a long way since that day last year. Our seniors have been through so much together. One thing I can guarantee is this is going to be a fight.”

Loyola-Yale Should be a Dogfight with Fireworks

Saturday’s quarterfinal clash at Hofstra between sixth-seeded Loyola (13-3) and third-seeded Yale (14-3) is arguably the most anticipated game of the weekend, for good reason.

Who doesn’t enjoy offensive fireworks in May? That’s what likely is about to occur.

In one corner is Yale, with the best team head coach Andy Shay has put on the field in his 15th season at the helm in New Haven. This is his sixth NCAA tournament team in the past seven seasons. Yale is trying to get to its second final four – and first since 1990.

In the other corner is Loyola, in its ninth NCAA tournament under 13th-year head coach Charley Toomey and its sixth go-round dating to the school’s first and only Division I championship in 2012. Loyola is trying to reach its second final four in the past three seasons.

PHOTO BY RICH BARNES

Yale, the second-highest scoring offense (13.94 gpg), is led by 6-foot-2 senior attackman and Tewaaraton Award finalist Ben Reeves, the fourth overall pick in the Major League Lacrosse draft – one of a six Bulldogs selected this year.

Loyola, the nation’s fifth-highest scoring team (13.63 gpg), is led by 6-1 junior attackman Pat Spencer, a Tewarraton Trohy finalist again who already is the school’s all-time leader in assists (165) and the owner of the Patriot League record for career points (263).

Both teams play an aggressive, up-tempo style and always are looking for transition offense. Yale has bullied opponents all year with hard rides. Loyola can dish it out and does not get intimidated.

Both teams can play stretches of shut-down defense. Loyola junior goalie Jacob Stover is hot and might have a decided edge over Yale freshman Jack Starr. Yale could enjoy a similar edge in the faceoff game with senior Conor Mackie.

Let’s get it on.

“[Yale] is the most physical team and probably the biggest team that we’ve faced, and we’ve played two ACC teams [Virginia and Duke] and the Big Ten [Hopkins],” Toomey said.

“I don’t think they will do anything we haven’t seen, but we have to be prepared to grind with a true, blue-collar Ivy League team,” added Toomey, who recorded 12 saves as the Greyhounds goalie in the 1990 NCAA semifinals. That day, Loyola scored the game’s last four goals to take a 14-13 overtime decision and move on to the school’s first title game.

“We’re not changing anything. We’re not going to be dodging down alleys and taking fake shots [to retain long possessions and keep the ball away from the Bulldogs],” Toomey said. “Both teams are going to push it. Both teams are coming after each other, because that’s what we do. I’m hoping we’re faster than them, and we’ve got to avoid a bad stretch. If anybody gives up a five- or six-goal quarter, that team is probably going home.”