Collison Nets OT Game-Winner to Lift Hopkins Past Penn State, 9-8 - Johns Hopkins University Athletics (2024)

BALTIMORE, MD – Johns Hopkins sophom*ore midfielder Matt Collison had a chance to win Saturday's game against seventh-ranked Penn State as the fourth-quarter clock dripped under five seconds. His offering beat Nittany Lion goal Jack Fracyon, but kicked off the post to send the game to overtime. An unkind ending to regulation for the 10^th-ranked Blue Jays.

Equally unkind to-date in 2024 was overtime, which is where two of the Blue Jays' three losses have come.

As fate would have it, Collison would get another chance to win the game just 81 seconds into the extra period and this time he buried a seven-yard shot from the slot off a nifty feed from senior Dylan Bauer to lift the Blue Jays to a 9-8 victory. This was the fifth time the Blue Jays and Nittany Lions have played into overtime since 2015 with Hopkins now owning wins in three of the five; safe to say, none of the previous four resembled this one.

After the teams combined for just 10 goals through three quarters thanks to the standout play of Blue Jay goalie Chayse Ierlan and Fracyon, who posted 13 and 16 saves, respectively, through 45 minutes of action, the offenses found a groove in the fourth quarter.

Down 6-4 entering the final period and still down by that score more than five minutes into the quarter, the Blue Jays got back-to-back unassisted goals from Garrett Degnon in a span of 86 seconds to pull even. When Bauer rolled back on his defender and ripped an eight-yarder inside the near post with 7:10 on the clock, the Blue Jays had their first lead of the game (7-6) and, seemingly, all the momentum.

The Nittany Lions (7-3, 1-2 B1G) would tie it up just under two minutes later when TJ Malone got his hands free off a two-man game with Jake Morin, but the Collison answered less than a minute later when he scored on the run off a feed from Jacob Angelus.

Ierlan was equal to a Mac Costin offering with 3:21 remaining and the Blue Jays cleared, but misfired wide as the shot clock was winding down with just over two minutes remaining. Costin then forced the fourth and final tie of the game as he scored off a feed from Ethan Long with 81 seconds remaining.

A Malone turnover with 17 seconds left set up Collison's last-second chance that dinged off the post. Penn State won the opening faceoff in overtime, but turned it over and Collison's game-winner came 40 seconds later.

Ierlan and Fracyon were on-point early as they combined for nine saves in a first quarter that ended with Penn State leading 1-0. A Russell Melendez behind-the-back goal broke the ice for the Blue Jays at the 9:07 mark of the second quarter and the 1-1 tie held until the final 3:13 of the period. A Matt Traynor goal for the Nittany Lions jump-started a 3-1 half-ending spurt that gave Penn State a 4-2 lead at the break.

The teams traded goals in the third quarter with Jimmy Ayers and Degnon tallies for the Blue Jays being matched by Costin and Malone goals for Penn State. Malone's goal came with 1:03 on the third-quarter clock and gave Penn State a 6-4 lead that set the stage for a fourth quarter and overtime that saw the teams score nearly as many goals in 11 minutes as they did in the first 50.

Inside the Box Score – Johns Hopkins
• Ierlan matched his career high (at Johns Hopkins) for saves with 16 as he posted eight saves in each half.
• The Blue Jays tied the program record for caused turnovers in a game with 14. Beaudan Szuluk and Quintan Kilrain both collected three in the victory and Szuluk's three give him 64 in his career – one shy of the program record of 65 (Tucker Durkin).
• Degnon extended his school-record goal-scoring streak to 41 game with three goals. He needs just one goal to become the fifth player in school history to reach 150.
•Bauer rang up a career-high four points on one goal and a career-high-tying three assists.

Inside the Box Score – Penn State
• Fracyon matched Ierlan's 16 saves on the day. He posted six saves in both the first and third quarters and four in the second as he held the Blue Jays to just four goals through three quarters.
•The Nittany Lions got all eight of their goals from just three players as Malone and Costin registered hat tricks and Traynor scored twice.
• Penn State outshot the Blue Jays 41-34, but had four failed clears and 17 turnovers on the day.

Notes of Interest
• Johns Hopkins is 3-0 in Big Ten play for the first time.
•The Blue Jays now own three wins against teams currently in the top 10 (#2 Virginia, #6 Georgetown and #7 Penn State).
• In the last two games, JHU has 27 caused turnovers – that's the most ever in a two-game stretch for Johns Hopkins (CTs first became an official statistic in 2009).
• JHU improved to 21-1 under head coach Peter Milliman and defensive coordinator Jamison Koesterer when holding the opposition to 10 goals or less.

Up Next
Johns Hopkins will hit the road for the final time in the regular season on Sunday, April 14 when the Blue Jays travel to Ohio State (7 pm / BTN).