The Lady Jays were back in action this past Saturday as the women’s field hockey team looked to remain undefeated in conference play. The Jays traveled to Pennsylvania to play the Muhlenberg Mules in both teams’ second game of the conference. The away side went in with a 4-4 overall record, which included a 1-0 record in the conference. Despite a strong start in the CC, the Jays knew this game would present a different challenge.
“Coach Fraser implemented a new formation that would allow for a more offensive play in the circle,” junior starting goalie Zoey Atabek said. “We also lost three starters from the lineup due to injury and illness so we had to really work with the new personnel to get the flow going. We also practiced corners because we need to become even more proficient on converting our scoring opportunities.”
Despite the work that went into preparing the Jays offense, it was the Mules who proved to be the offensive superiors, on the back of a hat trick by senior Kayleigh Thies. The Mules drew first blood in the game, as senior forward Christine Germaske opened the scoring just five minutes into the game. A well-placed pass from teammate Lauren Jordan gifted Germaske a tap-in goal and gave the Mules an early 1-0 advantage.
“Their first goal came off a penalty corner,” Atabek said. “It was a direct shot from the top of the circle that just beat me to the far post. This week’s practice is mainly focusing on trying to stop 100 percent of direct shots from the top of the circle, because I’ve been struggling with those during the past two games.”
The Mules weren’t done there, however, as they went on to double their lead just before the 20-minute mark. It was Thies’s first of her three goals that night, as she dribbled the ball unmarked into the circle and beat Atabek on a well-placed shot to give the Mules a two-goal cushion. The score remained 2-0 thru the half-way mark, when the Jays tried to recover from their deficit.
“We were all trying to reset,” Atabek said. “We just wanted to keep our heads up and stay in the game. We didn’t want being down at halftime to affect our play. We really wanted to just focus on coming out in the second half hard and playing our game.”
However, it was the Mules again who came out firing on all cylinders, as Thies scored a pair of goals just 54 seconds apart to achieve her hat trick and give Muhlenberg a daunting 4-0 edge over the Blue Jays. Despite the Mules playing like a well-oiled machine, the Jays’ determination never waivered, and freshman Morgan Pothast opened Hopkins’ scoring just one minute after Thies netted her pair of goals. Fellow freshman Clare Kavanagh laid a sublime pass to Pothast, who converted the goal and got Hopkins on the board to remove any possibility of a shutout happening.
The Mules would answer, though, just five minutes later with sophomore Taylor Smith scoring an unassisted goal at the 66th minute mark. Hopkins would round out the scoring in the dying embers of the game as junior Shannon Parker found a loose ball in the Mules’ circle and tucked it away in the back of the net. The game ended 5-2 in favor of Muhlenberg, with the hosts improving to 5-2 overall with a record of 1-1 in the conference, and the Jays stumbling to a 4-5 overall with a 1-1 in conference play. Despite having five fine saves on the night, it was the goals that goalie Atabek most remembers.
“The only things I can really remember from the game were each goal,” Atabek said. “There were definitely some things I wish I had done differently in order to prevent some of them. My coach and I plan on watching the game film and going over some drills in practice to avoid making those mistakes again.”
Hopkins’ next conference game is scheduled for Friday, with the Jays playing host to the Swarthmore Garnet. Face-off will be at 6 p.m. on Homewood Field as the Lady Jays hope to find consistency in conference play.
