Resilience. Determination. Grit. Courage. Overwhelming joy.
These are the words that describe the play and passion of the Hopkins women’s soccer team in the D-III NCAA Tournament. After dominating Farmingdale State and SUNY Geneseo in NCAA Regionals at Homewood Field before Thanksgiving Break, the Lady Jays travelled to Pittsburgh, Pa. to take on Carnegie Mellon University in the Sweet Sixteen. The Lady Jays were the underdogs, entering the matchup as the 20th-ranked team in the entire tournament, while the Tartans ranked sixth overall entering the game.
Carnegie Mellon looked dominant in the opening 10 minutes of the game, as the Tartans constantly forced the Lady Jays back on their heels in the Hopkins defensive half of the field. Just a few moments after the ten-minute mark, the Tartans opened up the scoring after freshman forward Tori Iatarola gave the home team the lead after sneaking her way through a maze of Hopkins players and fired an absolute bullet from 30 yards out. The ball was placed perfectly past the outstretched hands of the Hopkins goaltender, junior Sarah Benett, and the Tartans looked poised to carry the momentum through the rest of the first half.
The Lady Jays, however, had other plans, as the team seemed to calm down after looking nervous during the opening moments of the match. The Lady Jays began to maintain longer possessions on the offensive side of the ball, and they started generating more frequent scoring chances. Hopkins nearly netted the equalizer when sophomore Alyssa Morgan headed a beautiful ball off a corner kick, which hit directly off the crossbar. The rebound fell right at the feet of junior midfielder Alaina Arthur, who fired another shot toward the goal but was thwarted by an excellent diving save from Tartan goalie, sophomore Katie Liston.
The two sides were unable to put together any additional scoring opportunities before the halftime whistle blew. With 45 minutes in the books, the Tartans clung to a 1-0 lead.
Entering the second half, it was difficult to tell who held the advantage. The Lady Jays and Tartans battled up and down the field, but both teams were unable to find the back of the net. With just under 10 minutes remaining in the match, Carnegie Mellon nearly found the insurance goal that they so desperately needed after Tartan sophomore forward Megan Bartoshuk rocketed a shot toward goal. To the dismay of the Tartans, the shot rang off the crossbar.
With time ticking away, the Lady Jays needed a spark, and junior Hope Lundberg provided that for them.
Lundberg brought the Lady Jays back to life when she settled a rebound at the top of the box and fired a bullet past the outstretched arms of Liston into the lower left corner. In the 88th minute, the Lady Jays and Tartans were now even once again, and 90 minutes was not enough to separate the two squads.
With additional time, neither of the teams was able to break the stalemate. Once again, the Lady Jays found themselves in another game to be decided by penalty kicks. Hopkins was all too familiar with the heartbreak that can come with penalty kicks after dropping the Centennial Conference championship game to Swarthmore. However, the Hopkins team refused to let the memory of that match spoil everything that it had accomplished on the road to the NCAA tournament. The Lady Jays were poised and prepared to advance.
After playing brilliantly in net for Hopkins, Benett was replaced by sophomore Clara Aranguren for the penalty shootout. Aranguren stopped three Tartans, setting up the Lady Jays to advance to the Elite Eight.
With the teams knotted at 3-3 in the shootout, Benett was given the opportunity to push the Lady Jays forward. In dramatic fashion, she buried her penalty kick into the back of the net, and the Lady Jays erupted into celebration and advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals for the fifth time in six years.
Despite completing the improbable victory over the Tartans, the team was forced to quickly move on, as they were back on the pitch the very next day to take on ninth-ranked Thomas More in the quarterfinals. Since the establishment of the Hopkins women’s soccer program, the Lady Jays had never advanced beyond the NCAA quarterfinals round.
The Lady Jays added yet another impressive record to what has been a season to remember, as Hopkins fought their way to a gutsy 1-0 victory over the Saints of Thomas More to advance to the Final Four for the first time in program history.
“It’s pretty unbelievable,” Hopkins head coach Leo Weil said. “We got a little lucky on the goal, but you need some breaks to get as far as we’ve gotten. I’m really proud of our girls. They hung in there and showed a lot of spirit and a lot of heart, so we’re really excited to go to the Final Four.”
The 20th-ranked Lady Jays entered the Sunday afternoon matchup as the definite underdogs, competing against Thomas More and its unprecedented 23-1 record on the season. The Saints dominated their way through NCAA regional play, disposing of Maryville (Tenn.), Kenyon College and Trinity (Texas) before facing the Lady Jays in the quarterfinals.
After 20 minutes of play, the two teams were thwarted on offense by staunch defensive efforts. The Lady Jays’ defensive unit was stellar, preventing the Saints from generating any sort of momentum.
On the other side of the ball, the Lady Jays struggled as well to gain offensive momentum. The senior duo of Hannah Kronick and Sydney Teng was able to put a bit of pressure on the Saints’ defense, but they were unable to finish their opportunities. Thomas More is known to have one of the best defenses in all of D-III soccer, and the team allowed only two goals total in their 24 games leading up to the matchup against the Lady Jays.
It was going to take something special for either team to break through. Happily for the Lady Jays, a little bit of luck fell their way.
Over halfway through the first half, a beautiful cross from the outside that was heading toward Kronick at the back post found the back of the net after a miscommunication between the Saints’ goaltender and defender. The two Saints collided, and the ball deflected off of the defender and rolled into the back of the goal. The Lady Jays struck first to claim a 1-0 lead.
“We got a little bit lucky,” Teng said. “But you know what, we make our own luck, so we’re obviously very happy with the result.”
The score held as the halftime whistle blew, and the two teams entered their respective locker rooms. The Lady Jays held the slight advantage and knew that the Saints would come out firing on all cylinders during the second half.
“It was huge for everyone to step up,” senior defender Emily Nagourney said. “But we’ve known that all along. We have a really deep bench, and it’s one of the best aspects about our team. People who came off the bench stepped up in a huge way, and we wouldn’t be here today if it hadn’t been for every single player on our team.”
Coming back onto the field, the main goal for Hopkins was clear: play effective and consistent defense. Aranguren was excellent between the pipes for the Lady Jays, turning away six shots from Thomas More. The Saints ended up outshooting Hopkins on the day, but the defensive unit stood tall for the Lady Jays and refused to allow any second chances. As a result of the incredible defensive effort, the Lady Jays held strong with a final score of 1-0.
“I think our defense has been strong all year,” Weil said. “We had to play [Thomas More] without senior Adrienne Johnson, who was injured the game before, but we have good depth, and we were able to slide some people in, and I think everyone did a great job.”
With the victory, Hopkins was propelled into the Final Four for the first time in the history of the program. The Final Four will be hosted at Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City, Mo. The Lady Jays, who have accumulated an overall record of 19-3-2, have bested Farmingdale State, SUNY Geneseo, Carnegie Mellon and Thomas More en route to this phase of the NCAA tournament.
“It’s a great accomplishment for our players,” Weil said. “It’s fantastic for our seniors to have this as a way to go out, so I’m really happy... it’s going to be an awesome experience for our players to play in the Final Four.”
The Lady Jays will be accompanied by fifth-ranked Williams, top-ranked Lynchburg and unranked Illinois Wesleyan. Hopkins will face off against Williams on Friday, Dec. 5 at 8:30 p.m., while Illinois Wesleyan and Lynchburg will play beforehand at 6 p.m. If Hopkins advances, they will play the championship match Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
Kronick expressed her tremendous joy for all that her team has accomplished so far this season.
“There truly are no words to describe it,” Kronick said. “It feels awesome. This is what we’ve been working for the past four years. Every year we’ve been saying how we’re going to get to the Final Four, and to have it be our senior year... it’s just an unbelievable feeling, and I’m just so proud of every single person on this team.”
Hopkins and Williams have only met one other time in the history of the two soccer programs. During last season’s NCAA tournament, the Lady Jays defeated the Ephs 2-1 in overtime. The Lady Jays will look to remain unbeaten against Williams as the team aspires for NCAA Championship glory.
