The 22nd ranked Hopkins women’s soccer team bounced back from their 5-1 loss to The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) last week with a win by the same margin against conference rival Haverford.
“We had a drop off against TCNJ and we needed a big win,” junior midfielder Pamela Vranis said. “Haverford is one of the toughest teams that we play and it sent a message that we won by so much. Everyone played well, the offense and defense are finally connecting and we really meshed as a team.”
While the entire team proved dominant on both ends of the field, sophomore forward Hannah Kronick carried the Blue Jays offense with four goals.
“Hannah made the right runs and was where she needed to be all game,” Vranis said.
Junior Kelly Baker sparked the scoring frenzy for the Blue Jays, netting a rebound from a shot by Kronick and giving Hopkins a 1-0 lead in the 15th minute of the contest.
Just 11 minutes later, the Jays struck again as Kronick scored her first goal of the night after she collected a punch-out by the Haverford keeper and nailed a well-placed shot into the upper corner of the goal.
The Jays went into halftime with a 2-0 advantage but added to their lead shortly into the second half when junior Christina Convey fed Kronick on a breakaway for the team’s third goal of the game.
Kronick scored her final two goals of the contest on a breakaway in the 60th minute and a header off of a Convey’s cross in the 65th minute.
The lone goal for the Fords was scored by Allie Chen on a 30 yard shot that beat senior goalie Meredith Maguire.
Maguire recorded two saves on the night to anchor a Hopkins defense that held the Fords to just 7 shots and preserved the win for the Jays.
The thunderous performance by Kronick brings her season total to 18 goals and gives her 35 in her young career.
“It was awesome to score that many goals but none of them would’ve been possible without my teammates,” Kronick said. “I’m just really proud of this team and how we handled the adversity that we faced earlier in the week and turned it around into a big win Saturday night.”
Kronick’s performance was honored with her sixth career “Centennial Conference Player of the Week” award – her third of the 2012 season. The sophomore forward currently sits third in the Hopkins record books in both goals (37) and points (87). Kronick’s third goal of the game also granted her a school-record fifth hat trick this season.
The win over Haverford moves Hopkins to 10-3-1 on the season and 5-1-0 in the conference. With four games remaining, the Jays sit tied with Gettysburg atop the Centennial Conference standings.
Hopkins built on their lead in the conference with their 1-0 win over Dickinson last night. This improved Hopkins to 6-1 in the conference.
Baker scored the only goal of the game in the eighth minute of play. Hopkins goalie senior Meredith Maguire had seven saves. This marks Maguire’s tenth career shutout and fourth of this season.
The team faces off against Brwn Mawr saturday at 3 p.m. at home.
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