F. Hockey gets 'W' over W&L

The Johns Hopkins Field Hockey team won one of two games last week, but, strange as it may seem, the team was more encouraged by the game that it lost than it was by the game that it won. After falling to the No. 1-ranked College of New Jersey by a misleadingly lopsided 3-0 margin last Thursday in Ewing, the Blue Jays narrowly edged Washington & Lee by a score of 4-3 on Saturday at home. Overall, the Blue Jays now sport a 2-2 record.

In Saturday's match, the Blue Jays started out strong by building a 2-0 lead and limiting the Washington & Lee Generals to just two shots in the first half. Sophomore midfielder Meighan Roose put the Blue Jays on the board 13 minutes into the game after converting a penalty corner. Senior forward Kelly Hewitt was credited with an assist on the play.

Soon after, Roose added to Hopkins' lead by scoring on a penalty stroke. The owners of a commanding 2-0 lead, the Jays clearly had the momentum heading into the second half.

Nevertheless, the Generals clawed their way back into it in the second frame.

"I think we came out strong in the beginning, but our intensity wasn't there in the second half," said Hewitt, one of the team's co-captains.

W&L quickly put the pressure on the Blue Jays with a strong offensive run to begin the second half. The attack resulted in a goal by Kelly Taffe just 3:20 into the period. The Blue Jays reestablished their two-goal lead less than two minutes later, though when junior forward Kate Mandel passed to senior forward Jenny Farrelly, who rifled a shot past Washington & Lee goalie Courtney Harrison.

Taffe notched her second goal of the game to make the score 3-2 with 24:59 left to play. Hopkins continued the scoring pattern, which saw the Jays and Generals trade goals back and forth, with an unassisted goal by sophomore forward Caite Kappel with just under 20 minutes remaining, bulwarking the Hopkins' lead to 4-2 in the process.

However, Washington & Lee answered with a goal of its own once again with 5:40 remaining to pull back within one.This would be the final goal of the game, though, as the Blue Jays curbed the Generals' offense for the final minutes of the game. Sophomore goalkeeper Meredith Shifman made seven saves in the 4-3 victory.

"We were lucky to get away with a win the way that we played," said Hewitt. "We weren't as aggressive as we needed to be and we didn't take advantage of a lot of opportunities."

Head Coach Megan Callahan agreed. After the game, she stated, "I was pleased because we never stopped fighting and we ultimately won, but this game showed that there are a lot of little things that this team needs to take care of. We are much better than we played today."

Despite the loss to The College of New Jersey, Hopkins team members took more pride in their game against the top-ranked team last week, saying that game was more indicative of their team's capabilities.

Although they were out shot 17-3, the Jays were solid in goal, thwarting many of TCNJ's scoring chances. Shifman was credited with eight saves and Roose earned her fourth defensive save of the year. Still, TCNJ managed to record three goals over the course of the game. The Lions scored twice in the first half and once in the second half to improve their record to 5-0.

"We were a totally different team against TCNJ than we were against Washington & Lee," said Hewitt. "It was a great game and we played with them the whole time."

Still, the Blue Jays see plenty of room for improvement and would like to see the team get to the point where not only can they compete with highly-ranked teams, but they can beat them.The potential is there.

"We are a well-balanced team with strengths ranging from strong corners to accurate passing," said co-captain Ashlee Duncan. "We have four returning players that had conference awards last year, so our skill on the field is some of the best in the conference and the region."

"Tactically and physically, we are capable of beating any team," added Hewitt. "It just comes down to executing the little things, such as passing hard and stepping in front of the other team's passes. We have all the little pieces, it's just a matter of putting them all together."

The team will have a few more games to try to put things together before Centennial Conference play begins on Sept. 30.

"It is nice to have a few more games before we start facing our conference," Callahan said. "It would be good if we could get all our kinks out now."

The Blue Jays' next game will be against Catholic College in Washington, DC this Sunday at 1 p.m. They will then have an away game against the College of Notre Dame of Maryland Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m. These games should help prepare the Blue Jays for upcoming conference matches.

"They are two tough teams, but hopefully we can score a some goals and give our team some confidence," said Hewitt. "We have the potential to beat both of those teams. I just hope we go into both of those games with the attitude that we can win."