The Hopkins women’s lacrosse team, sitting at 7-5 overall, traveled to Charlottesville on Thursday to take on the University of Virginia under the lights.
Despite finding themselves in a three-goal deficit just minutes into the second half, the Cavaliers fought back, turning the final minutes of the game into a thriller. However, with just 19.8 seconds remaining in game play, freshman attacker Jenna Reifler scored the go-ahead goal that would seal the victory over UVA.
The win will bolster the ranking of the Lady Jays, who were ranked 20th before beating the 11th ranked Cavaliers and improved their record to 8-5 on the season. This was the Lady Jays’ first ever win at Klockner Stadium.
47 seconds into the match, Sarah Taylor put Hopkins on the scoreboard, scoring on an unassisted dodge. The junior attacker would score her 29th and 30th goals of the season, a team-high. Virginia would fire right back, tallying two consecutive goals to take a 2-1 lead over the Jays.
However, at the 21:47 mark, sophomore attacker Jen Cook tied the game back up at 2-2, after she successfully converted a free-position shot. Freshman middie Dene’ DiMartino would notch another unassisted goal in favor of Hopkins at the 17:59 mark, followed by consecutive strikes by UVA to take the lead at 4-3 with 7:07 remaining in the first half.
Later at the 2:17 mark, junior attacker Taylor D’Amore fed junior midfielder Sammy Cermack the ball, and Cermack promptly put it into the net. Then, with just a minute remaining in the first half, Dene’ DiMartino scored her second goal of the day, allowing for the Lady Jays to take a 4-3 lead.
Going into halftime, the Jays were outshot 13-10 and lost the ground ball race at 5-4, yet they were able to turn Virginia’s 13 fouls into a one goal lead.
Game after game, the duo of D’Amore and Cermack has led the Hopkins offense, and their connection to tie the game with 2:17 remaining in the first half sparked the Jays offense going into the second half. D’Amore would have a team high of five assists on the day, as she would connect with attackers junior Sarah Taylor and freshman Caroline Turco, respectively, at the 28:26 and 24:50 marks of the second half, giving the Jays a 7-4 lead.
The gap in scoring would not last for long as Virginia scored at the 24:39 mark, and then again at the 17:34 mark on a free position shot. With the game now at 7-6 in Hopkins’ favor, D’Amore connected with DiMartino on a man advantage, giving DiMartino a hat trick at the 13:32 mark.
Less than four minutes later with an 8-6 score in Hopkins’ favor, Virginia’s Courtney Swan checked the ball out of senior goalkeeper Cosette Larash’s stick on a clear attempt, and promptly put the biscuit into the basket from close range. Then, at the 4:23 mark, the Cavaliers’ Caroline McTiernan scored on a free position shot, giving her a hat trick, and tying the game up at 8-8.
A little more than three minutes later, at the 1:07 mark, McTiernan was looking to be the hero in Charlottesville, as she drew a free position shot. But veteran netminder Larash stood tall and made the save while clearing the ball, which would set up Reifler’s eventual game-winner at the 0:19 mark, off a feed from Taylor D’Amore.
DiMartino commented on how it felt to win for the first time ever in Klockner Stadium.
“Knowing how excited I was, I can only imagine how the upperclassmen felt after beating them for the first time ever,” DiMartino said. “We played really solid defense and capitalized on our offensive opportunities, which really gave us a spark when it was needed. We fought until the end and we never doubted ourselves which I think was key to our success.”
DiMartino said, energetically expressing her praise for the defensive effort.
“I think us scoring first really got us going especially when we had a defensive stop or when Cosette (nine saves in second half) would come up huge for us making an amazing save,” DiMartino said. “I think we did really well with our clears looking to the open player on the backside, which allowed us to push fast breaks and get the ball over safely.”
Teammate Reifler echoed a happily satisfied tone as she described her goal in the game.
“After a tough loss to Florida, we came out to Virginia with no question of winning, so when the game was tied with 30 seconds left I think we were all confident that the outcome would be ours to decide,” Reifler said.
“After two amazing saves by Cosette and defensive stops, we brought the ball down to our end and Taylor had it behind. She always keeps her head up for cutters so with the time running out I cut and she threw a perfect pass to the middle for me so all I had to do was finish the play. Beating Virginia was an amazing feeling for our whole team and sets us up to continue winning and hopefully make it to the tournament.”
DiMartino expanded on Reifler’s statement, pointing out the team’s cohesion as a key to victory.
“We always say ‘make your teammates look good’ and that’s exactly what Jenna did,” DiMartino said. “It was a great and exciting game and I think across the board collectively we played as a unit and as a team and that’s what it takes to win ball games.”
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