On Saturday, the ninth-ranked Lady Jays defeated the 10th-ranked Buckeyes of Ohio State on Homewood Field. In both teams’ regular season finale, senior attacker Taylor D’Amore became the career leader for assists in helping Hopkins improve to 14-4 overall and 3-3 in the ALC to earn the fifth seed. Ohio State fell to 12-5 overall and 4-2 in the ALC, clinching the second seed.
Ohio State opened up the scoring early when Buckeye midfielder Jennifer Porretto fed a pass to Buckeye midfielder Cian Dabrowski, who cut down the middle and scored on a low shot. The team extended its lead a few minutes later when Buckeye attacker Cara Facchina ripped a shot into the top of the net. The 2-0 lead for OSU took just under three minutes, but Hopkins answered back with an even bigger run of its own.
The run from the Lady Jays took just under 12 minutes and resulted in six straight unanswered goals. Sophomore midfielder Dene’ DiMartino started the Hopkins rally with the team's first goal of the day when she tiptoed down the crease and put it in from in tight at 14:20. Just under three minutes later, senior midfielder Sammy Cermack scored on a quick stick off of a D’Amore assist. After a failed Buckeye clear, the Lady Jays were able to take advantage when D’Amore checked the ball from Buckeye midfielder Christine Easton. After winning the ground ball at midfield, sophomore attacker Erica Matz started the fast break with a dish to D’Amore. After drawing a double team, she passed to DiMartino, who ripped a side-arm shot past Buckeye goalie Tori DeScenza. The assist was the 150th of D’Amore’s career, passing Mary Key’s mark of 149 and establishing her as the career leader for Hopkins.
“Scoring off of Taylor’s record breaking assist was really humbling," DiMartino said. "She works so hard, and being able to finish the play for something that special to her and this program was an amazing feeling, and I am so happy it happened on senior day and ended in a great win.”
Extending the 3-2 Blue Jay lead were senior midfielder Sarah Taylor and junior attacker Jen Cook, who had back-to-back free position goals within a 75-second span to take a 5-2 lead with 7:20 left in the first half. The six-goal Hopkins run was capped by a D’Amore goal with 2:27 left in the half. After an Ohio State turnover in the midfield, Cook had a long pass through the Buckeye defense to D’Amore, who took on DeScenza and scored to extend the lead to 6-2. The run was finally stopped when Dabrowski dumped it down low to Buckeye attacker Allie Ogilvie on the right post, who scored with 1:17 remaining. The 6-3 Hopkins lead would stand until the break.
The Buckeyes opened up the second half right where they left off in the first, scoring three straight unanswered goals in under two minutes to tie the game 6-6. Porretto took an over-the-cage pass from Facchina and scored high-to-low at 23:55. Less than 20 seconds later, Dabrowski followed the goal up with one of her own to bring Ohio State within one. At the 22:01 mark, Porretto scored her second of the game on a pass from Buckeye attacker Jackie Cifarelli after curling around the crease and beating freshman goalie Caroline Federico to even the score at six apiece.
Federico intercepted a pair of Buckeye passes to halt the OSU run in the following minutes. D’Amore then broke the 23 minute scoreless stretch with her second goal of the day, giving the Lady Jays a 7-6 lead with 9:13 to play. Cermack dumped a pass while D’Amore cut from behind the cage, where she turned and roped a shot past DeScenza. It took the Buckeyes just over a minute to tie the game when Dabrowski converted a free position shot in a man-up situation after Federico was given a yellow card.
Hopkins took the lead for good with 3:52 left on sophomore attacker Jenna Reifler’s only shot of the game. D’Amore had her third assist of the game when she dished a pass to Reifler on the shot. Reifler bounced it in the net from the doorstep. DiMartino won the draw that followed, allowing the Lady Jays to run out the clock in the 8-7 victory over the Buckeyes.
Hopkins travels to Evanston, Ill. for the ALC Tournament at Northwestern’s Lakeside Field May 1, 2 and 4. The Jays will take on fourth-seeded and eighth-ranked Penn State in the opener. Draw is set for 2 p.m. CT.
