Having a long-standing history of winning, the sixth-ranked Hopkins women’s soccer team came into this season with a target on its back. The Blue Jays returned to action this past weekend at the Seahawk Invitational.
The Blue Jays did not get an easy open to their season facing eighth-ranked Montclair State. The first half saw little advances for either side. Hopkins tallied four shots in the first half, but all were unsuccessful. The Blue Jays also attempted five corners, yet the Jays would not be able to register a goal for themselves in the first half. As the half came to a close, the Blue Jays were up 1-0 due to an error from a Montclair defender who knocked the ball into her own goal.
The second half brought more action as Montclair’s junior forward Kaila Farsano scored in the 60th minute. The goal came from a rebound off a missed shot by teammate Jessica Bonjilone. Blue Jay senior midfileder Sydney Teng was clutch in the 71st minute, scoring the eventual game-winning goal.
Hopkins outplayed Montclair State the entire game— outshooting Montclair 11-8 and attempting 10 corners to Montclair’s one — winning with a final score of 2-1. With such a strong win against a highly-ranked opponent early on in the season, the Blue Jays have defined a solid pace for the season.
Hopkins sophomore defender Adrienne Johnson believes the win gives the team some all-important momentum.
“It is a good win to have early on, especially since the hardest part of our schedule is within the first couple of weeks of our season,” Johnson said.
The Montclair State win was big, but the celebration had to be short, for the Blue Jays faced St. John Fisher the following day.
Hopkins came out with a force, scoring within the first 13 minutes of the game. Senior forward Hannah Kronick’s goal was the only goal of the half, but it started a dominant series of play that would have the Blue Jays outshooting the Cardinals 12-0 in the half.
The second half was much of the same, as Hopkins continued its fierce offensive play. Sophomore midfielder Meg Van de Loo scored in the 53rd minute off of an assist from Teng. Later on in the half, freshman forward Bailey Monaco scored her first career goal as a Blue Jay off of an assist from Johnson, providing the final score of 3-0.
The Blue Jay defense was impeccable in the game, only allowing two shots throughout the entire regulation. Junior goalkeeper Sarah Bennett started in the goal and was credited with the win for the Blue Jays.
It was a stellar weekend for the team, but they do not have a lot of time to celebrate. The Blue Jays return to the field at home on Wednesday to play rival and ninth-ranked Messiah.
According to Johnson, Head Coach Leo Weil will keep the main strategy the same.
“Coach tells us to make teams play our system — not to get caught up in how they play but make sure that we are playing our game,” Johnson said.
Being a top-tiered rival, Messiah always poses a challenge.
“Messiah is always a top team”, Johnson added. ”No matter what they are ranked, they always pose a great challenge ... We need to not get caught up in the, ‘Oh, they are a good team with good players.’ We have one of the best teams in the nation, and we should start out believing we are one of the best, if not the best.”
The Blue Jays spent the middle of August across the ocean playing in Europe. The incoming freshmen were not able to travel with the rest of the team, and as a result, there was not adequate time for the team members to get accustomed to one another. Although there was limited time, the freshmen appear to be finding their niche in Weil’s system.
Starting off the season 2-0, the Blue Jays appear to be on the right track to a championship year. With a challenging first half of the season, the Jays have little time to prepare and are going to have to come out strong early on with the same goal in mind: to win.
