For the seventh year in a row, the Hopkins women’s soccer team has earned a berth in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. The team is also only four wins away from a D-III National Championship by way of successive home victories this past weekend. On Friday night, the team dismantled visiting Farmingdale State University 4-0 and then followed the blowout with a slower-paced victory over the State University of New York (SUNY) at Geneseo 3-1.
The decorated and dominant senior class of the Lady Jays and the team’s abundance of talent have them playing their best at the most crucial point in the season where every game could be their last.
The team’s postseason journey started on a clear, cold night at Homewood Field. Coach Leo Weil’s squad faced off against the Skyline Conference Champions Farmingdale State Rams who came into the tournament having won four of their last five games.
It took 31 minutes for a team to draw first blood, but the Lady Jays scored on a strike from senior forward Sydney Teng. A recent recipient of first team All-Conference honors, Teng bombed in a goal from 27 yards away into the upper left corner of the net. The long-range goal was one of three shots on goal by Teng in the game and one of eight attempts by Hopkins in the first half. Farmingdale mustered only one shot all game, and in the second half, things did not get easier for visiting goalie Breanna Blair.
Teng got in on the scoring action yet again after the break in the 56th minute but this time as a facilitator. After Centennial Conference Player of the Year and senior forward Hannah Kronick corralled a throw-in along the goal line, she flicked it to her left quickly to Teng who then one-touched the ball to junior midfielder Alaina Arthur. Arthur, coming from the top left of the penalty box, put the ball past Blair into the net’s bottom corner.
Less than 30 seconds later, the Lady Jays struck again. Senior defender Amanda Masse, sprinting towards the goalpost, gathered a ball headed her way from the top of the box. She tapped it left to Kronick who then shot it into the open goal point blank.
During the game, junior midfielder Hope Lundeberg came off the bench to deliver a lead pass to sophomore Alexa Rangecroft just beyond the fingertips of the diving Rams goalie. Rangecroft easily scored, capping off the Blue Jay route.
The performance of the defense cannot be ignored during this matchup. The unit, led by All-Conference picks senior Emily Nagourney and sophomore Adrienne Johnson, stifled the Rams, giving them barely any scoring opportunities. Junior keeper Sarah Bennett was between the pipes for another one of her many shutouts of the season.
In an interview following the win, Weil reflected on the game.
“I thought it was an awesome performance,” he said. “If it wasn’t our best performance of the year, it certainly was one of our best. The effort was great, the skill was great; it just seemed like everything came together.”
The Lady Jays returned to Homewood Field Saturday night to face the SUNY Geneseo Knights. Battling through intermittent bouts of sleet, the home team prevailed 3-1 on goals from freshman Bailey Monaco, Arthur and Kronick.
Monaco started the scoring rather quickly when she volleyed in a beautiful cross far post from senior defender Allie Baker. Her 17th minute strike was good for her second goal of the year.
In the 51st minute, Baker delivered a cross from deep outside the penalty box. When Knights goalie Clara Aranguren ran up and punched the ball out, it landed right in front of Arthur, who took one touch to set herself before slamming a shot into the lower right corner of the goal.
Kronick scored the third and final goal for the Lady Jays on an unassisted far post shot from six yards out.
Erin Froehlich put Geneseo on the board three minutes later, though, to finally capitalize on one of their seven shots of the game. From way outside the top right of the penalty box, she floated home a beautifully placed ball out of the reach of goalie Clara Aranguren.
The Jays will travel to Pittsburgh, Pa. this weekend for a Sweet Sixteen matchup against the Carnegie Mellon University Tartans on Saturday, Nov. 22.
