F. Hockey back on track, wins 2 in a row

The Johns Hopkins Field Hockey team earned its second straight victory last Saturday in dramatic fashion with a game-winning goal by sophomore forward Caite Kappel with just over one minute remaining. Kappel's goal sparked the Blue Jays to a 4-3 victory over Franklin & Marshall College to improve Hopkins' Centennial Conference record to 3-1 and its overall record to 5-6.?

After starting the season 2-5, the Lady Jays are on a 3-1 tear over the past two weeks, with their only loss coming against eighth-ranked Eastern Mennonite.

"It's great that after a slow start, we have been able to come back," said senior forward Kelly Hewitt, one of the team's captains. "We have definitely proven ourselves as a force to be reckoned with."

In its game against F&M, the Blue Jays came out strong and maintained a high level of play for most of the match.?They scored first 14 minutes into the game when senior forward Jenny Farrelly blasted a pass from Hewitt into the goal.?The Diplomats answered right back though, evening the score at 1-1 with 7:40 left in the first half on a shot by Brittany Croll.

However, senior forward Rachel Callaway enabled Hopkins to retain a one-goal advantage by scoring an unassisted goal of her own.?As was the case for most of the first two quarters, the beginning of the second half was dominated by defense.

Hewitt finally gave the Jays some breathing room, scoring a goal with 17:25 left in the game. But Croll answered back for the Diplomats with her second score of the day less than a minute later to pull her squad within one of the Jays.?Eileen Keever then tied the score at 3-3 with ten minutes remaining.?Hopkins was a bit shaken up by this sudden comeback, but the team maintained its composure and continued to make solid passes and play aggressively.?Their diligence paid off when Kappel fired the game-deciding shot from 15-yards out goal with 1:05 left in the game.

"I was just excited that our team won," said Kappel. "It was definitely a team effort; we all worked together to score that goal."

The Diplomats immediately went back to work, though, and mounted a strong offensive attack.?Nevertheless, Hopkins goalkeeper Meredith Shifman thwarted their scoring attempt by making a tough save in the final seconds of the game.?Hopkins regained possession of the ball and ran out the clock to secure a 4-3 win.?

Shifman made three saves over the course of the game, while her Diplomat counterpart, Michelle Altman, made eight.?Hopkins held a 15-9 advantage on shots and a 9-4 advantage on penalty corners, indicative of its recent offensive surge.

"We have scored as many goals in the past three games as we did in the previous eight," noted Hewitt.?"Our passing game has been really strong and we keep getting better."

"We executed well on our penalty corners in this game," added Kappel.

Hopkins has also drastically improved the communication aspect of its game, something the team has concentrated on in practice.?Kappel and Hewitt agreed that their hard work and drilling paid dividends in the game on Saturday.

"We were definitely talking to each other more on offense and letting each other know when to shoot and where to pass, particularly in the circle," said Hewitt.?"Our defense was communicating better, too."

Fresh off its successful four-game homestand, Hopkins will hit the road again on Saturday afternoon to face Haverford College in Pennsylvania. The Blue Jays hope to build on their two-game winning streak and recent success as the team sets its sights on the Centennial Conference title.

A major obstacle to the Blue Jays' success has been translating their dominance on turf onto grass fields.?Although Haverford is 0-4 in conference this year, the Blue Jays know that they cannot take anything for granted when playing away from Homewood Field, which is artificial turf.

"Any time a team plays on its home field, it has a slight advantage.?It is important that we play hard against Haverford because anything can happen," said Hewitt.?"Our success comes down to us having the ability to transfer our skills and our game to grass fields.?On grass, it's a much slower game and once the ball gets to one end, it's harder to get it out.?However, if we play solid defense, we can be as strong of a team on grass as we are on turf."

Upon their return from Haverford, the Blue Jays will host another conference rival, Washington College, next Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. on Homewood Field.

"Our ultimate goal is to win our conference, but we need to focus on every game as it comes," said Kappel.