All Lutherville native Ryan Evans ever wanted to do growing up was follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and play lacrosse at Johns Hopkins.
Now, the junior midfielder will have an opportunity to compete in the NCAA Tournament with Hopkins, which hosts America East champion Bryant on May 14. The Blue Jays earned the No. 6 seed in the tournament with an 11-5 overall mark that includes wins against tournament teams Delaware, Georgetown, Maryland and Michigan.
But this opportunity almost never materialized for Evans. The Boys’ Latin graduate didn’t play as a freshman in 2021 but had a chance to seize an increased role in 2022. However, Evans got into a boating accident ahead of the 2022 season, and he originally feared he’d lose an arm.
“That day was obviously a very traumatic and scary day,” Evans said on Glenn Clark Radio May 11. “I remember getting into the ambulance, just seeing my dad. A total breakdown. I literally thought in my head, ‘I’m never going to be able to play lacrosse again or catch and throw or anything like that.’ Obviously, none of the paramedics were telling me anything.”
Then Evans woke up the next morning.
“The doctor gave me the best worst news ever,” Evans said. “He was like, ‘You’ll be back in four weeks.’ I’m like, ‘Are you serious right now?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah. There was very minimal damage.’ I’m like, ‘Oh my God, am I the luckiest person on the planet right now?’ Because that could have been so much worse. All jokes aside, I could be at the bottom of the ocean right now.”
Evans missed Hopkins’ season opener against Jacksonville but played in the Jays’ 15 remaining games. His first game at historic Homewood Field came against Loyola last February … and he scored two goals, making him feel like “everything was coming full circle. It was a really cool moment.”
And why wouldn’t it feel like everything was coming full circle? His father Dan played lacrosse at Hopkins from 1992-1996. His grandfather Joe Cowan is one of the best lacrosse players to ever step foot at Hopkins, having led the Jays to three straight USILA national championships from 1967-1969.
Evans finished the 2022 season with six goals and three assists. This year, he has posted eight goals and four assists in 12 games in contributing to a turnaround season for Hopkins, which put together its first winning season since 2018.
“To finally bring Hopkins back to the playoffs to begin with is special, but there’s another goal and we’ve got to win a national championship,” Evans said. “We’ve got to put our names back out there. The goal’s not done yet. We’re a group of hungry guys that want to just keep getting after it. I couldn’t be prouder of this team. I’m very thankful for all these guys. We’ve put in so much work over the years, especially this year. All of us are super proud to be where we are. We’re just excited to keep going.”
The drive for a championship begins with Bryant, which enters the NCAA Tournament at 12-4 overall. The Bulldogs are led by America East Rookie of the Year Johnny Hackett (40 goals, 12 assists) and first-team all-conference attackman Kevin Groeninger (38 goals, 30 assists).
The Hopkins-Bryant winner will face the Notre Dame-Utah winner in Annapolis on May 21 for the right to go to the Final Four in Philadelphia from May 27-29. Evans says this Hopkins team is all about heart, trust and focus … and that’s what it’ll take to make an NCAA Tournament run, especially after losing to Maryland in the Big Ten semifinals.
“We did not have a good week of practice leading up to that game. We just weren’t ourselves,” Evans said. “I think we kind of thought that we had the game in the bag. It just didn’t go our way, obviously. I think for the past couple days now, we’ve been pretty focused. We’ve gotten after it on the field against each other these past couple days. We’re pretty hungry. I think it’s a good thing in a sense.”
For more from Evans, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Johns Hopkins Athletics