On the heels of two NCAA tournament wins this past weekend at Homewood Field, the seventh-ranked Hopkins women's soccer team advanced to the sweet sixteen for the second time in as many years.
In the single elimination tournament, on Saturday the Jays blanked the Cabrini Cavaliers 4-0. With the win the Jays played again on Sunday, where they defeated the Eastern University Eagles 2-1.
With the wins, the Jays move onto the third round of the NCAA tournament at Homewood Field against NESCAC conference power Middlebury.
"(Our players) are very focused, confident and should be because they`ve been playing very well," Head Coach Leo Weil said.
"They're very excited to be playing at home again and I`m sure they intend to take full advantage of that."
The game started off with an offensive push from both teams. In just the seventh minute, junior defenseman Jessica Hnatiuk headed the ball into the box towards a streaking Sarah Roeder, who was tripped by a Cabrini defender before she could reach the ball. Roeder took the free kick and just missed putting Hopkins on the board with a shot that hit off the crossbar.
Hopkins scored another one minute later when junior Ali Zazzali took a great pass in the box, but the shot was deflected by a Cavalier defender.
Hopkins started off the scoring in the 28th minute when senior captain Natalie Held found herself wide open in the left corner of the box when a loose ball landed right in front of her. Held planted and drilled a shot from 20 yards out into the right corner of the goal past Cabrini's Gianna Porretta for her second goal of the season.
"It was great getting on the board first," Held said. "Taking the lead really set the tone of the game, and we pretty much controlled the tempo of the game from that point forward."
Despite two corner kicks at the end of the first half, the Jays failed to put any more points on the scoreboard before halftime. But Hopkins piled on the goals in the second half and showed how dominant the five-time defending Centennial Conference champions can be.
"A lot of people call us a second half team," Zazzali said. "But it's only because we always have good things to say and we learn from things that happened in the first half and either correct what we're doing wrong."
Four minutes into the half, sophomore Erica Suter crossed the ball from the baseline to junior Sara Tankard, who headed it to Zazzali right in front of the net. Zazzali tapped the ball in to put the Jays up 2-0.
Zazzali would tack on another goal in the 68th minute. Tankard dribbled around a Cavalier defender and had a shot blocked in front of the net. But Zazzli was there for the put-back and her second goal of the game.
Hopkins would add one final goal in the 87th minute. Hopkins scored the last goal of the day in the 87th minute on a breakaway when senior Catilin Moore dribbled in before hitting nailing a shot to the right of Porretta.
By the end of the game, the Jays did not have a single starter on the field, giving playing time to backups. Guszkowski and Kristen Redsun split time in goal, combining for three saves. The Jays out-shot Cabrini 21-5.
With the win the Jays moved onto to Sunday's second round game, also at Homewood Field where they faced the Eastern Eagles. Eastern had defeated Virginia Wesleyan 1-0 on Saturday to advance to the second round.
The Eagles proved to be a tougher test than the Cavaliers, but once again the Jays struck first. In the eighth minute, Hnatiuk took a direct kick and blazed a shot into the far corner of the post past the hands of Eastern's goalkeeper Alysia Goodman. Hopkins would outshoot Eastern 5-3 the rest of the half, but neither team would score.
The Jays put another goal on the board in the 67th minute when Suter planted a perfect pass from the right side of the pitch to the left, where junior Erin Stafford received the ball and buried it into the upper left corner of the goal for her fourth of the season.
Eastern made a push late in the game, getting their scoring started in the 87th minute. The goal broke a Hopkins six-game shutout streak. The last goal the Blue Jays allowed was in a 2-0 loss to Muhlenberg.
The stats were significantly closer for the Jays second round game than their first. Hopkins out-shot Eastern 13-5, and Eastern actually had six saves against the Jays offense.
The Jays are now preparing to face the Middlebury Panthers on Saturday in Baltimore, the first time Hopkins will host NCAA Tournament sectional contests. Women's soccer has historically done very well in the playoffs, with a 4-0 record at Homewood Field in NCAA Tournament games. If the Jays defeat Middlebury they take on the winner of the Messiah-Otterbein game on Sunday.
Both Coach Weil and his players are very optimistic about this upcoming weekend.
"We`ve played in a lot of big games over the last couple of years, so that will definitely help," Weil said. "We`ve had a great year, and we want to keep the season going as long as we can."
Held feels the fact that this team went deep into the playoffs last year gives the Jays an edge.
"I think it's a huge advantage," Held said. "The Sweet 16 seems less daunting. There's such an exciting energy on the team and with a belief that we can really win a national championship this year." "Out of my four years on this team, this has easily been the greatest group of girls I've played with. I can't wait to play this weekend," Held added.
Game time for Saturday is set for 2:30 p.m.
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