After winning its first conference game of the season on Saturday at Homewood Field, the Johns Hopkins field hockey team fell to Washington College this past Wednesday in Chestertown, Md. Hopkins lost to Washington College by a score of 3-1 after beating Haverford, 2-1, on Saturday.
The weekend win also marked the team's first home victory in what has turned out to be a rough season for the reigning Centennial Conference champions. With a 1-1 week, the Blue Jays now sport a 1-6 record against Centennial Conference competition and an overall mark of 4-11.
After finally getting a Conference win, Hopkins failed to capitalize on the momentum from its victory over the weekend. Sophomore defender Leah Dudley, who picked up one goal and one assist in the win on Saturday, broke the ice against Washington off a pass from senior forward and co-captain Anna Rehwinkel less than five minutes into the game. Dudley currently leads the team both goals scored and points tallied with five and 12, respectively.
The Shorewomen knotted the score at 1-1 at the 22:45 mark, however, when Ally Simons set the table for Laura Scimeca's first goal of the game. The teams played a tight first half, as the Shorewomen maintained a 7-6 shot advantage. Hopkins sophomore goalkeeper Dayna Eng made three saves in the half to keep the score tied at the halfway point.
Nine minutes into the second half, Rachel Miller fired a shot past junior goalkeeper Meredith Shifman to break the deadlock, giving Washington a 2-1 advantage. This set the tone for the Shorewomen's offensive dominance in the second half, as they outshot the Blue Jays 5-2.
Scimeca later tacked on an insurance goal, her team-leading 13th of the season. Shifman made one save in the second half, but the offense was silenced, and the Blue Jays could not recover.
Washington improved its conference record in to 5-3 and its overall record to 7-7 with the win, as the Shorewomen are in the midst of a late-season scramble for a seed in the Centennial Conference tournament.
In Saturday's game, Dudley led the team to victory, scoring Hopkins' first point and assisting on the game's decisive goal. Despite an abundance of offensive attacks, Hopkins was unable to score for the first 28 minutes of the game.
The Blue Jays broke through with a goal at the 28-minute mark, when Dudley fired a shot past Haverford's goalkeeper, Amie Roe. Hopkins stayed on the offensive and scored again four minutes later, as senior defender Jen Rolston blasted a feed from Dudley past on a corner. Junior midfielder Shelby Boxenbaum also helped to set up Rolston's goal. Hopkins took a 2-0 lead into halftime without Eng needing to make a save, as the Fords only took one shot in the half.
Haverford came out aggressive in the second half, quickly taking five shots and scoring just under three minutes into the period. Sarah Walker recorded the Fords' only goal of the game off a pass from Jen Chu. The Jays were able to recover from this temporary shift of momentum, though, and made some key plays on defense late in the second half en route to the 2-1 victory. Shifman made four crucial saves in the final 35 minutes and senior defender Kate Rydstrom helped stifle the Fords' offense on two penalty corners in the final two minutes of play.
Overall, Hopkins ended up with a 17-7 advantage in shots and an 8-3 edge in penalty corners. Upon suffering this defeat, the Fords fell to 2-11 on the season and 0-6 in conference play.
The team plays its two final home games of the season in this upcoming week. On Saturday, the Blue Jays will host Bryn Mawr College at 5 p.m. on Homewood Field. Then, on Wednesday, Hopkins will take on McDaniel.
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