W. soccer win streak snapped

Entering their final game of the regular season riding a 13-game winning streak, the Hopkins women’s soccer team entered Homewood field this past Saturday for their last regular season game against the Gettysburg College Bullets. The Lady Jays had a strong warm up and there was a lot of excitement building in the stadium as the team was celebrating senior night. The Lady Jays hit the field with a force, connecting on almost all passes and pushing hard offensively. However, Gettysburg refused to allow Hopkins any room to work with as it matched the Lady Jays with strong defense and made it difficult for the Lady Jays to generate offensive pressure. The first goal came in the 23rd minute as senior Sydney Teng dribbled past two defenders before crushing a shot past the diving Gettysburg goalkeeper and hitting the upper left corner of the goal. The Bullets would not allow the Lady Jays to pull away as Bullet Lauren Schapiro kicked in the equalizing goal just two minutes later. Both teams fought hard in the remainder of the half but neither squad was able to score as the half came to a close leaving the score tied at one goal apiece. Hopkins came back onto the field after halftime determined to break the tie. However, similar to their strategy in the first half, the Bullets were determined to keep the Lady Jays from doing just that. “Gettysburg adjusted their game to cut off our offense,” Hopkins sophomore Adrienne Johnson said. “We were playing strong — we just struggled executing and capitalizing on big plays.” In the 62nd minute, Bullets forward Brigid Behan added a second goal for Gettysburg, which proved to be the ultimate game-winner. The Lady Jays dropped their first conference game with a final score of 2-1, which moves the team down to the second-ranked spot in the Centennial Conference. As the playoffs begin, the Lady Jays lost home field advantage due to the close loss to the Bullets and will have to travel for the tournament. “We always prefer to have home field,” Johnson said. “You lose time for rest and preparation when you are on the bus for hours. We are just upset that we were not able to pull out a win.” Loosing to Gettysburg also dropped the Lady Jays down in the national poll, putting pressure on the team to win the Centennial Conference with the threat of not making the NCAA Tournament a distinct possibility. The Lady Jays played hard in their loss and Head Coach Leo Weil was the first to have pride in his team. “Coach told us not to hang our heads because we did not play bad,” Johnson said. “He told us that we just need to work on capitalizing and that we are completely ready to face any opponent as we move forward.” The Lady Jays will play Ursinus in the first round of the Centennial Conference tournament this Saturday. This week leading up to the game, the team has been mentally preparing as well as shaking off the loss. “The biggest thing that we are working on as a team going into the tournament is our mental game,” Johnson said. “We are physically prepared to play any team, we have been prepared to play any team. At this point, the only thing that could stop us from winning and advancing, is ourselves. As long as we are mentally prepared, then we are ready to win.” Johnson is adamant that the team will be ready for the playoffs. “We know we are the best team,” she said. “And that is all that matters. As we prepare for this weekend’s game, there is an overall feeling of fight. Fight to win. Fight to continue to play. We believe that we can be national champions, and now we want to prove to the nation that we are a national championship caliber team.“ The Lady Jays will face off against Ursinus in Gettysburg, Pa. at 4 p.m. this upcoming Saturday with a conference championship and NCAA Tournament berth on the line.