Box Score

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Scott Bukoski scored this fifth career goal against Gettysburg in the third minute and visiting Johns Hopkins held off a late Bullets surge in the final period for a 1-0 Centennial Conference victory at Clark Field Wednesday night.

With both teams fighting for their playoff lives, Johns Hopkins (11-3-3, 4-2-2 CC) wasted no time in taking the advantage as Bukoski controlled a pass out of the backfield, maneuvered away from a pair of defenders, and beat the goalie for his fourth goal of the season at 2:27. Bukoski narrowly missed another goal less than a minute later, clanging a shot off the post at 3:10.

Not too long after Johns Hopkins' score, junior Teddy McCarthy (Longmeadow, Mass./Loomis Chaffee School (Conn.)) turned in the host's only attempt on goal, bouncing a shot off Blue Jay keeper Ravi Gill in the eighth minute.

The visitors controlled the tempo in the first half and finished with a 12-1 shot advantage in the period. Only two attempts were on target with freshman goalie Connor Darrell (Cream Ridge, N.J./Allentown) smothering both to preserve the score going into the half.

The final period went back-and-forth with neither team gaining a clear advantage. Gettysburg had two shots at the cage following a corner kick in the 53rd minute, but both were wide of the mark. Ten minutes later, Johns Hopkins recorded back-to-back shots that were both stopped by Darrell.

With less than 10 minutes left to play, the Bullets pressed the action into the visitor's side of the field, resulting in a pair of corner kicks in the 88th minute. After the first was tapped out-of-bounds by Gill, the second kick was cleared out of the box by a Blue Jay defender right to freshman Andrew LaFontaine (Summit, N.J./Pingry) who blasted the ball towards the cage. His aim was just off as the ball grazed the left post before hitting the safety net behind the goal.

Another shot by first-year Devin Geiman (New Freedoming, Pa./Susquehannock) with under a minute to play sailed wide right, ending Gettysburg's hopes of tying the match.

Gettysburg was out-shot 23-10, but the team nearly broke even with the Blue Jays in the second half at 11-9.

The Bullets odds of gaining a playoff berth in next week's Centennial Conference Tournament got slimmer with the loss, but hope remains. The squad sits in sixth in the standings, just one shy of the fifth and final playoff spot.

The Orange and Blue will enter Saturday's affair against McDaniel College (5-11, 2-6 CC) in a must-win situation. The match, which will also be Senior Day for the Bullets, will start at 4 p.m. at Clark Field.