W. Lax tops two, earning needed third seed

By: Simran Hundal

Posted: 5/1/08

The Johns Hopkins women's lacrosse team broke .500 in both their ALC division (2-2) and their overall record (8-8) after defeating the Penn State and Ohio State teams this past week, on Saturday and Monday respectively.

The sudden burst of team chemistry and good play could not have come at a better time; The women are to play in the ALC Tournament this coming Saturday, in which they are now seeded third.

Sophomore Midfielder Kim Dubansky stated, "Our team is finally playing together and with confidence. This confidence started in our game against Northwestern. Though we lost, we played as a team and realized what we could do when we play together."

While in the Northwestern game the Lady Jays were unable to hold on to the lead they had built over the powerhouse Northwestern Wildcats, they were able to come back from a four-point deficit at halftime against the Penn State Nittany Lions to eventually win with a final score of 10-8.

Hopkins showed signs of great potential, especially towards the end of the game, where in the last 22 minutes 26 seconds of the game the Ladies exploded on an unanswered five-goal run.

Among the key players for the game were Sam Schrum who led the Blue Jays with three goals and an assist. Senior midfielders Kadie Stamper and Kirby Houck also had solid outings, each with two-goal games.

On Monday, the Lady Jays had another key win in a soaked Homewood Field over conference rival Ohio State.

The game was extremely competitive and exciting, with numerous lead changes and star performances.

The first half went back and forth, finally ending with a 7-6 score in Hopkins's favor, despite giving up a three-goal run within 33 seconds. However, in the second half, Hopkins never fell behind OSU and finally held on to win 13-12 after a last two-goal scare from the Buckeyes.

Among the many great performers the Lady Jays boasted, Houck led the way with five points, three goals for herself and two assists to her teammates. Schrum also donated three goals to the Hopkins score for the second game in a row.

These two games came at the most important part of the season, giving the Lady Jays great confidence and seeding heading into the ALC Tournament.

Dubansky realized what was at stake in these two games, stating, "This was a big win for our team because we needed to beat Penn State and then Ohio State to get a bye in our conference tournament and a third seed. In our conference tournament, we hope to play Vanderbilt and make up for our loss against them earlier in the season."

However Vanderbilt is not the only team the Jays hope to face for a second time this season. The Northwestern Wildcats, the number one seed in the tournament, defeated the Lady Jays earlier in April. The Hopkins squad is looking forward to the chance to go heads up against the team again, hopefully in the ALC tournament.

Freshman defender Brooke Lipinski spoke on behalf of the team, stating that they would love to see Northwestern come out of the upper half of the draw, "because we would love to see them again. The last time we played them, we only lost by two but we should have won."

These close losses seem to have been the Lady Jays' story of this season. However, Lipinski is not worried, stating, "Our team has recovered well since those losses; it just causes us to work harder. We want to see all of the teams we lost to earlier this year because we know we can beat them. Our goal is to win the ALC and move on to NCAA."

In the coming week we will see if that hard work will pay off. The Lady Jays will face off against the Vanderbilt team on Saturday in the ACL tournament.