The Hopkins field hockey team has a simple goal this season: win the Centennial Conference championship. Last season, they fell short of the Conference playoffs. That was last year, and they won’t soon forget the importance of every single conference game they play.
The Blue Jays understood that a win in their Conference opener this season, this past Saturday at Washington College, could set the tone for their championship aspirations this season. They took the field, laser-focused on a victory.
Through determination and persistent hard work, the Jays battled back from being down two goals to achieve the victory. It’s come from behind wins like the Jays produced on Saturday that go a long way in preparing a team for must win games by the time playoffs come around.
The Blue Jays were able to rally for an impressive 4-2 victory over host Washington College in their Centennial Conference opener. The Jays captured their second straight victory, bringing their overall season record to 3-1. Washington College fell to 1-4 with the defeat.
The Shorewomen came out strong and the Jays fell behind 2-0 in the first half. “Washington College hit the ground running and pushed most of the game play into our half of the field and into our defensive circle,” sophomore goalie Zoey Atabek said. “[They] got a few good shots on goal, which resulted in two early scores.”
It was not all Washington College in the first half, however. 29:55 into the game, senior Shelby Graham scored off a redirect, assisted by senior Allison Thompson who fed a beautiful pass in front of the net. At the end of the first half, the Blue Jays trailed the Shorewomen 2-1.
During halftime, the coaching staff, led by head coach Megan Fraser (who began her 17th season as the Jays head coach earlier this season) was able to break down what went wrong during the first half and made the team accountable for the mistakes that were made. “I think being down in goals made us want it more and was a big part of us being able to come back and gain the lead,” junior Alexa Lantiere said.
Lantiere set the tone for the second half when she scored her team leading fifth and sixth goals of the year to give the Jays their first lead of the game. She tied the game at two apiece at 44:45 on a tipped blast near the top of the circle off corner. Less than three minutes later, she gave the Jays their first lead on a redirect in front that was assisted by senior Storm Kodde. When asked about her success, Lantiere credited both her teammates and her coaches.
“The ball has to go a long way before it gets to me in front of the goal and I know I wouldn’t have had the same opportunities without such an amazing team and staff behind me,” Lantiere said.
Sophomore Leslie MacManus was able to put the Blue Jays further out of reach with her rebound goal at 57:27. The Blue Jays completed their comeback victory, and scored a huge win to bring their conference record to 1-0.
After letting up two early goals, the Blue Jay defense locked down the Shorewomen for the remainder of the game. Washington College was shut out in the second half and struggled after their initial surge. Atabek recorded 14 saves on the day and notched her second game with at least 10 saves this season. When asked about her effort, Atabek credited a strong defensive effort from the women in front of her.
“Our defense played phenomenally throughout the entire game, especially our corner defense and their ability to clear the ball out of our defensive zone,” Atabek said.
The Jays defense was stifling in the second half and held Washington College to a mere three shots on goal.
The Blue Jays resiliency was put to the test during this game, and they are going to need plenty of it in order to capture a Centennial Conference title. “As far as I can tell since the start of our season, we have been resilient,” Lantiere said. “We sort of learned the hard way after two overtimes and a heartbreaking shootout loss against Denison. We had a lot of games last year that were really close and ended up in overtime losses.”
It seems as if this Blue Jays team has learned from its early mistakes and will take their never-say-die mentality with them for the rest of the season.
The Blue Jays next game will be Wednesday, Sept. 18th at Lebanon Valley as they look to continue their current streak by adding on another conference victory.
