The Johns Hopkins Field Hockey team took part in the Centennial Conference Tournament this past weekend on Saturday and Sunday. The winner of the tournament earns a bid to the NCAA tournament, and the Blue Jays were hopeful to take advantage of this opportunity.
The first semifinal game for the Blue Jays in the Cenntenial Conference Tournament came on Saturday against the No. 2 ranked Franklin & Marshall. Hopkins had faced them earlier in the season and lost, so their focus now was readily apparent. Sophomore Jenny Farrelly commented, "Before the game our captain Ashley Robbins said that it was unacceptable for us to lose to them twice. We were really psyched for the game."
They showed it as they came out strong with a goal by Kelly Hewitt. The defensive efforts of Franklin & Marshall were weak and Hopkins continued the barrage. "Franklin and Marshall never really challenged us except for the first five minutes when we came out a little sluggish. But then we got into our groove and just had a lot offun out there," says Farrelly. Goals by Beth Pollock and Ashely Robbins increased the lead to 3-0, as the Jays held the Diplomats to five shots.Three saves falling into the hands of Missi Schafhauser, and another shutout victory for Hopkins.
With the win, the No. 3 ranked Blue Jays advanced to the Centennial Conference Finals. There they would face the No. 4 ranked Gettysburg who topped the No. 1 ranked Washington College.
Hopkins had beat Gettysburg in a very close game in the regular season to assure themselves of a spot in the tournament, and now would have to beat them again to reach the NCAA tournament. Senior Camille Fesche scored the first goal of the game shortly into the game to give Hopkins the lead.
Gettysburg responded 12 minutes later to tie the game up, and then took the lead with yet another goal at the start of the second half.
Hopkins did a good job holding Gettysburg defensively, as Schafhauser had a total of 14 saves.
"We had lots of time to get back into the game and score again but we just couldn't connect," says Schafhauser.
Time continued to tick away from the Johns Hopkins Field Hockey team's 2001 season, yet somehow down 2-1 with no time left the Blue Jays still had a chance.
Hopkins had earned a penalty corner as the time ended, but as rules state the game cannot end on a penalty corner, as long as the ball remained in the shooting circle the game could not end.
During the first attempted penalty corner another penalty was called and thus a second penalty corner occurred.
Fesche, who had the only Blue Jay goal in the game, was able to send the ball into the goal once again to tie the game up.
The miraculous goal was called and then recalled by the referees because of a question of whether the ball had hit a player's foot, which would be a foul.
With that the game was concluded, and Hopkins received its final defeat to end their season. The controversial end showed that the Blue Jay would not go down easy.
Farrelly commented about the finish that, "We were heartbroken. Even though that goal only would have earned us overtime, it was a devastating loss."
But with that loss also comes a great deal of motivation for next season.
