The Hopkins field hockey team defeated Gettysburg, 5-2 on a cold, wintry day at Homewood Field to advance to the Centennial Conference tournament as the number three-seed.
With their third place regular season finish, the Blue Jays receive a first round bye in the tournament. The team will travel to tournament host Franklin & Marshall in Lancaster, PA this weekend to face long-time rival Ursinus in the two vs. three-seed semifinal matchup on Saturday. Franklin and Marshall, the number one seed, will play in the other semifinal match against the winner of Haverford and Washington, the four and five seeds. The winners of the two semifinal matches play each other on Sunday for the Centennial Conference championship, and the victor will secure an automatic trip to the NCAA tournament.
With Saturday's win, Hopkins closed out the regular season with a 10-7 overall record and 7-3 conference record. The team honored 13 seniors prior to the game as a senior day celebration. The victory over Gettysburg marks the senior class' 50th overall win, making them one of only eight classes to hit the milestone.
"We couldn't have asked for a better 50th," senior midfielder Ali Bahneman said after the game. "It was a great win, and now we don't have to play on Wednesday [in the first round of the tournament]."
On a night where many critical conference match-ups were postponed due to inclement weather, the Blue Jays and the Bullets bundled up and battled on.
"It was freezing out there!" junior midfielder Liane Tellier said. "But the win was worth it."
Senior midfielder Annie Shepard opened up scoring for the Blue Jays only eight and a half minutes into the game, scoring off of a corner play assisted by senior forward Carly Bianco and Tellier. Just 51 seconds later, Bianco dribbled through multiple Gettysburg players and fired off a reverse sweep to extend the Blue Jays' lead to 2-0.
Once the Blue Jays jumped ahead in the first half, they did not looked back. Junior forward Maggie Phillips, the team's leading scorer, added her first goal of the day ten minutes after Bianco's goal. Phillips buried a rebound off of a Bahneman long hit.
Tellier closed out the first half scoring by slamming home a shot from the top of the circle for her fifth goal of the season.
The Bullets fought back with two goals of their own at the beginning of the second half. The first came five minutes into the half, and the second tally followed just two and a half minutes later.
Hopkins responded quickly to the goals, however, scoring six minutes later. Phillips scored her 14th goal of the season by tipping in a hard shot from Bahneman.
The final twenty minutes of the game were scoreless, but it was hardly immemorable when Head coach Megan Fraser substituted in all of the seniors to conclude the game. The seniors finished their last ever home game together with the 11 active players on the field and the two injured supporting from the sidelines.
"It was a great way to end the game," senior midfielder Amy Wharton said.
Senior captain and goalkeeper Kim Stein got the win in the cage for the Blue Jays and made eight saves on the day. The Blue Jays had three defensive saves on the day, with one going to co-captain senior defender Zoe Koven and two going to Bahneman.
The Blue Jays are now preparing for a ferocious tilt against Ursinus. Hopkins dropped their regular season match to the Bears by a score of 1-0. This team is determined to emerge victorious and continue on with their season.
As senior midfielder Olivia Ross said, "We want to host the first round of NCAAs."
