Over the past week, the Hopkins Lady Jays picked up two impressive wins against the number five Loyola Greyhounds and the American Eagles. The wins put Hopkins at 5-0 to start the season, as the team is now ranked #14 in the nation. Against Loyola, the Lady Jays held the Greyhounds to their lowest score under Coach Jen Adams, who has headed the Loyola program for six years. The win was also Hopkins’ first against a top-five team since toppling number two Northwestern in 2011.
Just three minutes into the game, Senior forward Taylor D’Amore opened up the scoring, putting Hopkins up 1-0 after deking out her defender and finding the back of the net. Senior midfielder Sammy Cermack quickly followed up with two back-to-back goals, giving her 100 points on her career.
With 11:26 left in the half, Senior midfielder Sarah Taylor converted on an opportunity from the top of the arch, to put Hopkins up 4-0. The Greyhounds quickly rebounded, scoring a goal of their own with 11:00 left to play. However, D’Amore quickly regained Hopkins’ four-goal lead just two minutes later, scoring off the reset following a miss on a free position by Taylor, putting Hopkins up 5-1.
Hopkins would then let the lead slip, as Loyola scored the next four goals to tie the game 5-5 with 9:01 left to play. However, with 5:50 left to play, Sophomore attack Jenna Reifler scooped up her own rebound and capitalized on the scoring opportunity to give Hopkins the 6-5 lead. The Lady Jays were able to maintain possession for the majority of the remaining time with the Greyhounds only holding on to the ball for the final few seconds, during which they were unable to generate any offensive opportunities, thus sealing the upset victory for Hopkins.
Freshman midfielder Haley Schweizer said that leading up to the game, the team “knew that [they] had to play with all heart and that it would be a battle from beginning to end” adding they also made sure that they “were very prepared going into the game as far as knowing what we [they were] going to be facing.” During the game, Schweizer said that the key to victory was “the draw control as well as running time off of the clock and taking time in our offensive sets.” She also credited the team’s consistent effort and defensive prowess as being instrumental in pulling off the upset.
The Lady Jays followed up their win against Loyola with a 17-5 blowout of the American Eagles at Homewood Field. Just 11 seconds into the game, D’Amore assisted Cermack, to open the scoring and give Hopkins a 1-0 lead. The lead, however, was short lived, as the Eagles tied the game just 33 seconds later.
From then on out, Hopkins dominated with D’Amore, Cermack, junior attack Jen Cook and sophomore midfielder Dene DiMartino all scoring in a seven-goal run over the course of 12 minutes. The lead was cut to 9-3 with 7:40 left to play in the half, but the Lady Jays finished strong, scoring three consecutive goals, including career firsts for Schweizer and Sophomore midfielder Kristen Cannon, thus giving Hopkins the 12-3 lead at halftime.
Cook pushed the lead to 10, just 13 seconds into the half, before the scoring slowed down for the next 12 minutes with neither team finding twine. American finally got one back at the 17:18 mark, but the Lady Jays proceeded to score the next two with strikes from Cermack and Reifler to put Hopkins up 15-4. The Eagles would score one more with DiMartino and Sophomore attack Caroline Turco also scoring for Hopkins, putting the final score at 17-5.
Despite playing an inferior opponent in American, Schweizer said that the team knew they that “coming off of a win like Loyola, they couldn't let down at all. The momentum they had needed to keep going and even improve if it could.” Moving forward, she said that the team “needs to keep the momentum [they] have now as team that is 5-0 and keep playing like [they] are undefeated” concluding that they “cannot let up one bit.”
The Lady Jays next host another in-state rival in #15 Towson at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night at Homewood Field. Hopkins is off to its best start since going 8-0 to begin the season in 2006 and hopes their success continues moving forward.
