HUNTLEY SCORES GAME WINNER TO PROPEL HOPKINS TO ITS NINTH NATIONAL TITLE

Kevin
Huntley is a goal scorer. Long before he netted 214 goals during a
brilliant All-American lacrosse career at Calvert Hall, Huntley was
putting the ball in the back of the net and, now, as a junior at Johns
Hopkins he is still doing it.

Yesterday, in the championship
game of the 2007 NCAA Lacrosse Tournament at Baltimore’s M&T Bank
Stadium, Huntley scored three of the biggest goals of his career,
including the game winner, with 3:25 left in the contest, as Hopkins
held off Duke, 12-11, to claim its ninth NCAA crown.

Huntley was
just one of three former MIAA stars who contributed to yesterday’s win,
but his final goal helped a reeling Blue Jay squad regroup and fend off
a Duke team that dominated the second half.

On the play, Paul
Rabil (one goal and five assists) scooped a loose ball and created
space for Huntley with an excellent entry pass near the Duke crease and
the former Cardinal took it from there. One-on-one with Duke
goalkeeper Dan Loftus, Huntley moved Loftus with a flash toward the top
right corner before dropping his stick and softly flipping the ball
into the left side of the cage.

Hopkins, which was a long shot
to even make the tournament after a three game losing streak in April,
which included an 11-9 home loss to Duke, came in as the underdog but
took charge early.

The Blue Jays scored off the opening face-off
and roared out to a 10-4 halftime lead. Duke, however, scored the
first five goals of the second half and eventually tied the contest at
11 with 4:37 to play. The Blue Devils sent a couple of other shots off
the pipe and appeared poised to race past the Blue Jays to avenge their
one goal loss to Hopkins in the 2005 title game. But, Huntley’s score
slowed the charge and the Hopkins’ defense closed out the win.

Another
MIAA player, junior defender Eric Zerrlaut, from St. Mary’s, received
high praise for his work on Duke star Zack Greer. Zerrlaut limited
Greer to just a single assist. Zerrlaut, who red-shirted during his
first year at Hopkins and graduated this spring, will return next year
while pursuing a graduate degree.

Also back next year will be
freshman attacker Michael Kimmel, from Loyola. Kimmel did not score
yesterday, despite two on-target rockets that were saved, but his
hat-trick was a big factor in Hopkins’ 8-4 semifinal win over Delaware,
on Saturday.

Five other former MIAA players also earned national
championship rings with the Blue Jays yesterday and all five will
return next year. This list includes brothers Nolan (Jr., G) and
Nathan Matthews (Fr., A) from St. Paul’s, Garrett Stanwick (Jr., M)
from St. Mary’s, Chris Boland (Fr., A) from Boys’ Latin and Eric Dang
(Fr., LSM) from Friends.

Duke’s lone MIAA representative in
yesterday’s game was senior captain Ed Douglas. Douglas is a team
leader in every sense of the word and he served as the team’s
representative to the Duke administration throughout last year’s rape
scandal, which caused the cancellation of the team’s 2006 season and
charges to be brought against three former players. Eventually, those
charges were dropped and the players were exonerated of all allegations.