Following a two-game losing streak that saw the Lady Jays drop from their 5th ranking in Division III, the women’s soccer team has turned things around in a big way. After cruising past Roanoke a week and a half ago, the Lady Jays took the field against Stevenson on Wednesday of last week. The offense came out firing on all cylinders, scoring early and often as they eased their way to a 5-0 shutout victory.
Senior Sydney Teng opened up the scoring for the Lady Jays in the 25th minute, taking a pass from senior superstar Hannah Kronick and firing a bullet past the Stevenson goalkeeper to give the Lady Jays an early 1-0 lead. A few minutes later, sophomore Meg Van de Loo found the back of the net off of a rebound inside the 18-yard box. After 45 minutes, Hopkins entered the locker room with a 2-0 advantage.
The offensive surge continued to open up the second half as junior Maryalice McKenna headed a shot into the bottom corner of the net off of a well-placed cross from sophomore Alyssa Morgan. Morgan added her first goal of the season just 10 minutes later before Teng closed out the game in minute 80 by adding her second goal of the match, as the Lady Jays were victorious by a final score of 5-0.
Junior goalie Sarah Benett was excellent between the pipes, recording four saves overall and her second shutout of the season and third victory. Benett remains undefeated on the season when starting for the Lady Jays.
While the Lady Jays savored the shutout, they knew that a lot of work needed to be done in preparation for the 10th-ranked, undefeated College of New Jersey. TCNJ entered the game undefeated on the season, which fueled the motivation for Hopkins as they looked to hand the Lions their first loss of the season.
The two teams stepped onto Homewood Field and battled tremendously to gain an edge in the first half. However, neither teams were able to find the back of the net as both goalkeepers made crucial saves.
Following the scoreless first half, the Lady Jays went on the attack in the second half, opening up the scoring with two goals on the back of Kronick. At the 61st minute, Kronick capitalized on a rebound from a free kick, placing the ball into the bottom right corner to give Hopkins the 1-0 lead. Kronick continued to have the magic touch as she scored again at the 79th minute on a header from a cross from McKenna.
While it appeared the Lady Jays were on their way to yet another shutout victory, the Lions would not go down without a roar, as TCNJ was able to sneak one past sophomore goalie Clara Aranguren at the 89th minute. They continued to put on pressure up until the final whistle, but the Lady Jays were able to thwart the Lions last minute attack to hold on for the win. The win marked the third in a row for the Lady Jays.
The game was noted for its intense atmosphere in which three yellow cards were handed out: one to McKenna and two to TCNJ. McKenna attributed the atmosphere to the past meetings between the two teams.
“The fact that we were both very highly ranked teams, and TCNJ was our only in season loss last year in double overtime caused both teams to come out with a lot of intensity,” she said.
She also speculated that since TCNJ was undefeated without allowing a goal, they “were even more competitive than usual knowing that they were facing better competition.”
McKenna attributed some of the early season struggles to the team preseason trip to Europe, which may have caused the team to come out rusty.
“I think we might have needed a game or two to get back in the swing of things,” she said. “We wanted to keep an attack mentality right from the start. We refused to let them get ahead and dominate too early on in the game.”
Moving forward, McKenna said that the key to more victories is focusing on shooting and generating more scoring chances.
“Once we get more goal scoring opportunities, it will definitely help step up our game,” she said.
The team next plays against St. Mary’s College on Wednesday night at Homewood Stadium. Kickoff will be at 7 p.m., and we wish the team best of luck as the season goes along as they look to add on to their current winning streak.
