Women's Lax rolls, kicks off season 2-0

It is a recurring theme in
NCAA sports that a solid
team must first mature and
acclimate before their talent
starts to shine through.
In football, it has been
the Texas Longhorns in
2005 and the Auburn Tigers
in 2010. In basketball,
it has been the UNC Tar
Heels in 2009.
All three began with
modest beginnings but
evolved into championship
winning squads that eventually
etched their way
into the record books. The
same is to be said of the
Hopkins women's lacrosse
team.
After a couple years of
building a strong system
through experience and
chemistry, the Blue Jays are
poised for a very successful
season.
If Saturday's game is any
indication, the Blue Jays are
starting off as hoped.
The George Mason Patriots
were outplayed, outhustled
and outmatched as
the Blue Jays began their
season with a 19-6 victory.
Amidst the blowout,
Candace Rossi also made
her way into the JHU record
books, becoming the
seventh player in school
history to score 100 career
points.
Hopkins jumped to an
early 2-0 lead after skillfully
placed goals from junior
Monica Fischer and Rossi;
this was Fischer's first and
only of the game and Rossi's
first of five.
Though George Mason's
goals were few and
far between, they jumped
out early to make the score
2-1 after Mary Schwartz
connected at 14:11. Hopkins
to set the tone and
was quick to answer back
as sophomore Taylor
D'Amore scored to push
the lead to two.
The Patriots - looking
strong in the beginning -
bounced back and put two
of their own on the board
after goals by Rachel
Obregon and Schwartz
scored within a minute of
each other.
But this seemed to be
all that the Patriots had left
in the tank, as the 3-3 tie
started to diminish.
After the Patriots tied
the game, the Blue Jays
netted three goals in a total
of 80 seconds scored by
Senior Colleen McCaffrey,
Sophomore Sarah Taylor
and Rossi. The Patriots
then rounded out the first
half with a goal from Obregon
putting the score at 6-4
Hopkins.
"The game was a little
too close for comfort at
halftime, but. . . we made
adjustments our offensive
strategies to play to our
strengths and push our fast
break and get into more of a
flow," said junior Courtney
Schweizer, who had two
goals on the day. "We came
out strong at half and capitalized
on our strengths
and their mistakes."
Rossi started the second
half with back-to-back
goals which was her third
and fourth of the game.
Freshman Sarah Biron then
scored her first goal as Blue
Jay, coming from a solid
free position shot.
McCaffrey then struck
again with a goal off of a
nice feed from D'Amore.
This capped a 7-1 Hopkins
run that spanned both
halves and put the team at
a commanding 10-4 lead.
Obregon furthered her
already stellar day with
another goal to make It 10-
5. Hopkins then went on to
score eight goals consecutively.
McCaffrey scored her
third and fourth, both
within 28 seconds, and
both from sophomore
Sammy Cermack assists.
This was Mcaffrey's
Rossi then scored her fifth
of the game, which also
was her 100th career goal
which makes her just the
20th Division I player in
history to reach this milestone.
With continuous
offense and a strong defensive
effort from junior
Sophia Sheery and senior
Alyssa Kildare along with
goalie Cosette Larash, the
Blue Jays finished out the
game with a massive lead.
The Blue Jays are pleased
about their performance
but know that more work
is needed. "Our ride (when
midfield defense clears it)
was definitely a strength
of ours. We managed the
gaps and got some knock
downs and forced turnovers.
We also played
well together with the
philosophy 'what can I do
to help my teammate' in
each play," said Schwiezer.
"However, there is always
room for improvement. Offensively
we need to find a
balance between patience
and losing flow, we need
to control tempo a little
more, and need to improve
communication in our
ride. Defensively, we need
to improve our man-down
defense, we can also work
on better anticipating what
offenses will do in order to
stay one step ahead."
On Tuesday, the Lady
Jays once again proved
their mite, stomping on
inter-state rival Mount
St. Mary's, 18-8. Hopkins
was led by D'Amore who
scored four goals and three
assists in the contest, good
for a career-high seven
points.
Although the Mountaineers
grabbed an early
1-0 lead, the score-de-force
of D'Amore, McCaffrey
and Rossi quickly turned
the advantage in favor of
JHU. With the game knotted
at one apiece, McCaffrey
scored two goals, both
on nifty assists from Rossi,
to extend the lead to 3-1.
The Mount rallied back
to make it a 5-4 affair in
the middle of the first half,
but after a brief timeout
called by Coach Tucker, the
Jays scored six goals in just
over two minutes to put
the game away for good.
Goals from the sticks of
D'Amore, sophomore midfielder
Sarah Taylor and
senior attackman Rachel
Ballatori gave Hopkins an
11-5 heading into the half.
The Lady Jays ran away
with the game in the second
half, outscoring Mount
St. Mary's 7-3 in the second
stanza. Hopkins received
hat tricks from D'Amore,
McCaffrey, Taylor and Ballatori.
Hopkins will return to
action this Friday in their
home-opener against Denver
College at 3 PM.