Players who have been with Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse for at least four years have been through some highs and lows.
The Blue Jays had back-to-back nine-loss campaigns in Peter Milliman’s first two seasons as head coach in 2021 and 2022 before a bounce-back 12-6 campaign in 2023 that ended with the program’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2019.
This year, Hopkins enters its NCAA quarterfinal matchup against Virginia at Towson University on May 19 at 11-4 overall. The Jays are seeking their first trip to the Final Four since 2015. Sophomore midfielder Matt Collison wants nothing more than to break through this year so his older teammates can see the rebuild process through.
“It would mean everything to me,” Collison said on Glenn Clark Radio May 15. “It’d be my best memory in lacrosse, in sports for sure but one of them in my life in general not only for the alumni and the coaches that give us so much and give us so much support but just for my teammates, seeing my guys happy. … Just to see us getting some success and seeing them being happy at the end of it and being able to walk away with a ring, that would really put the cherry on top for me and I’d be able to say, ‘Yeah, I’m content with these guys walking away.'”
Hopkins has already played Virginia once this year, a 16-14 victory in Charlottesville in early March. Then came back-to-back one-goal losses to Syracuse and Navy, which led to five wins in Big Ten regular-season play and a loss to Michigan in the Big Ten tournament.
Collison scored four goals and dished out an assist during the win at Virginia, as did senior midfielder Jonathan Peshko. Graduate attackman Garrett Degnon chipped in with three goals. How much will Hopkins look back on that game in preparation for this one?
“Maybe forget about that game as a whole, but we’ll definitely look back at what helped us and what didn’t and go into this with a completely fresh mindset and just fighting for more time with each other,” Collison said.
Collison was an impact player right away for Hopkins. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound midfielder posted 26 goals and 9 assists in 18 games (14 starts) as a freshman in 2023 and so far has 23 goals and 9 assists in 15 games (11 starts) as a sophomore in 2024.
A native of Scarborough, Ontario, Collison was a hockey player first. He got started in lacrosse by being good friends with current St. Joseph’s attackman Mark Watters, whose father owned the Toronto Rock box lacrosse team and encouraged Collison to give the sport a try.
“The rest is history. I’ve loved it ever since,” Collison said. “I ended up quitting hockey to play lacrosse and I’m forever grateful that I made that decision.”
That decision eventually led him to Baltimore.
“Hopkins obviously is the mecca. It’s where you want to be,” Collison said. “It’s where everyone wants to be growing up as a kid. It’s kind of been my dream landing spot since I learned what college lacrosse is. I got recruited kind of late by Hopkins, in retrospect. All the other schools, credit to them. I obviously was super respectful with all the other coaches, but when Hopkins called it was kind of a wrap for me.”
For more Collison, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Johns Hopkins Athletics