Freshman Cami Kramer avoids the tough Penn State defense during the Jays' nailbiting 12-11 loss at Homewood.

Penn State squeaks past w. lax in season finale

By: Mike Yuan

Posted: 4/30/09

As Spring Fair kicked into full gear, the Lady Jays lacrosse team was unable to end their two game skid on Saturday as they dropped their third in a row to Penn State. Saturday was senior day at Homewood Field as it not only marked the last home game, but also the last game of the regular season. Despite the special occasion, the Jays came up short in the loss to the Nittany Lions, who are ranked 15th in the nation.

"Our main focus entering the Penn State game was to get a win for our seniors," head coach Janine Tucker said. "We fought hard to the end, but came up short."

The Jays opened up the scoring with freshman Colleen McCaffrey's free position shot 3:35 into play. After back-to-back goals by Penn State, freshman Candace Rossi and junior Angela Hughes retaliated with back-to-back goals in just 75 seconds to take a 3-2 lead.

However, the Lions came right back with three consecutive goals to build up a 5-3 lead. Hopkins soon after went on a two-goal run to tie the game at 5-5 as McCaffrey and Hughes found the net with 7:19 left in the half. The two goals would be the last scored by the Jays for the remainder of the half. Penn State was able to capitalize on the drought, scoring two goals to secure the lead into halftime.

Coming out of the half, Penn State picked up right where they left off, scoring three straight to amass a 10-5 advantage. Halfway through the second, the Jays found themselves down by only two as Hughes added another goal and junior Paige Ibello contributed two more. After giving up another goal, Hopkins senior Gina Maranto scored off a feed from freshman Rachel Ballatori, making it 11-9 with 9:55 remaining. Trailing 12-9 with 8:51 to play, Hopkins began to rally back. Junior Sam Schrum and Hughes made it a 12-11 game with two unanswered goals. After a Blue Jay turnover, and with just 36 seconds left in the game, Penn State lost the ball out of bounds. With time winding down, Hughes made a final surge for the net, but the ball was checked out of her stick before she could get a shot off, ending the near comeback.

Hughes led the Jays with a career-high four goals, while Ballatori added a career-high three assists. McCaffrey and Ibello each scored a pair for Hopkins. Additionally, the Jays used four different goalies who totaled nine saves.

"I was really happy but had no idea that it happened until the end of the game," remarked Hughes on her new career high. "You just try to go out there every game and give it your all and four goals happened to come my way because my teammates were very unselfish and set me up very well."

"We had worked on a new ride and added a set to our slow break for the Penn State game," Tucker said. "I thought we had a number of opportunities in the game, but were unable to capitalize on both ends of the field. We played hard, but have to play smarter."

Hopkins ends its regular season at 5-11, with a 0-4 record in the American Lacrosse Conference. The five wins stand three shy of last year's eight regular season wins. The game was the last regular season game for five seniors.

In reflecting upon the regular season, Tucker praised it as "a tremendous learning experience for our players and coaches alike. As disappointing as it was regarding wins and losses, it forced our team to fight through tough times, continue to work hard everyday, and stick together knowing that we will be better for having gone through a season like this. We have a young team, not just age-wise, but players across the board who are learning how to step up, make an impact and come into their own. No one wants to lose, but the lessons learned in handling losses with dignity and displaying perseverance will make us a stronger unit. I have been proud of the girls and how they keep coming back each day ready to work and grow - that takes courage - and our team will not give up. We play a very tough schedule and are proud of it - taking our lumps this year will set us up for future success because we are embracing the lessons learned - not feeling sorry for ourselves."

The Jays will face off again on Thursday at the ALC Tournament, hosted by Penn State. The fifth seeded Jays will match up against fourth seeded Vanderbilt in the opening round game. The Jays are coming off of a three-game losing streak, while the Commodores just finished off their regular season with an 11-4 win over Cornell, ranked 20th.

"Between now and Thursday, I think we really need to just focus on the little things," said Hughes. "We understand all the concepts but we are letting dropped balls or overthrown passes get in our way."

The winner faces top-seeded Northwestern in the first semifinal game on Friday. This is Northwestern's third straight time entering the tournament as the top seed. In regular season action, the Jays lost to both Vanderbilt and Northwestern, but will look for some post-season magic to reach the ALC final for the first time since 2007. The winner of the meeting against Northwestern will face the winner of Penn State vs. Ohio State game on Saturday in the championship game.