The Hopkins women’s lacrosse team is showing early signs of greatness after its first two games of the 2017 season. The Jays dominated their season opener against the American University, running away with an 18-6 win over the Eagles. This past Saturday, the Jays managed to hold off Marquette University to pick up another early win.
The Jays proved to be a dynamic team from the start, with nine different scorers contributing to the win against American University. Leading the Jays was junior attacker Emily Kenul, who had a game and career high of five goals.
From the start, the Jays were in control of the game. In the first 22 minutes of play, Hopkins would score the first six goals of the game, not allowing a single Eagle goal until 7:37 minutes left in the half.
Kenul would close out the first half of the game with her fourth goal of the day. The Jays headed to the locker room ahead 9-1.
Although the Jays allowed five more American goals in the second half, their offense did not slow down one bit. Hopkins managed to double their score in the second half of play, adding nine more goals to close with the 18-6 win.
Accompanying Kenul on the scoreboard, with impressive performances of their own, were sophomore attackers Nicole DeMase and Miranda Ibello. DeMase accomplished her first career hat trick as a Jay. Meanwhile, Ibello tied her career high of four points and led the Jays in assists with two.
The No. 20 ranked Blue Jays, propelled by their season-opener win, traveled to Milwaukee, Wis. to face the Marquette Golden Eagles. The Jays had three different players tally three points against the Golden Eagles to put the Jays on top after being fiercely chased down during the final minutes of the contest.
Less than two minutes into the game, senior midfielder Haley Schweizer put Hopkins on the board with a free position goal to give the Jays an early lead. About four minutes later, junior attacker CeCe Finney took a pass from Kenul, doubling the Jays’ lead.
After the Blue Jays and the Golden Eagles went back and forth, each scoring a single goal, the Golden Eagles went on a quick scoring run to tie the game at 3-3. With just under 17 minutes to play, the Golden Eagles scored back to back goals in just 21 seconds, stripping the Jays of their two-point lead.
However, the Jays responded with a scoring run of their own. Schweizer and junior midfielder Shannon Fitzgerald scored a pair of free position goals, giving Hopkins a two-point lead over Marquette.
While the Golden Eagles were able to cut the lead in half at 6:51 to play, they were unable to defend against the Jays’ duo of Schweizer and Fitzgerald, who once again scored consecutive goals in the span of 61 seconds.
First to score was Schweizer at 5:01 on man-up for her third of the day. 61 seconds later, Schweizer found her teammate at the 30-yard line on a restart. Fitzgerald cut directly to the cage, receiving the pass and scoring her second goal of the day.
Despite quick back-to-back goals by the Golden Eagles, the Blue Jays led 7-6 at the half.
The Golden Eagles then struck first in the second half to tie the game at seven. The game stayed tied for about 90 seconds until Kenul found Hopkins freshman attacker Maggie Schneidereith open on the right post. Kenul then converted a free position shot to give the Jays a two point lead on the Eagles.
With just over two minutes to play, the Jays led by three. However after a save by Hopkins senior goalie Caroline Federico, the Golden Eagles won the draw and found the cage to cut the lead to two. Thankfully the Jays got the final draw of the game and were able to run off the ball to claim the victory.
Kenul, who had her 96th career point against the Golden Eagles explained what she thinks accounts for the Jays’ successful start to the season.
“I think that one of the biggest things contributing to our success this season is our team chemistry,” said Kenul. “We work really well together and are able to have a lot of different people contribute.”
Up next, the Blue Jays will return to Homewood Field, after playing their first three games on the road, and Hopkins will host the University of Pennsylvania this Saturday, Feb. 25.
