D'Amore's hat trick powers women's lax past Vanderbilt in OT

With the game tied with five seconds left in the second half of overtime, junior Taylor D’Amore came up with a draw and fired the game winning goal for her third tally on the day. The win over Vanderbilt is the first for Hopkins since May 4, 2007.

Vanderbilt’s Mallory Schonk opened the scoring at the 26:33 point of the first half. But neither the Blue Jays nor Commodores could pull away during the rest of the game. The largest lead of the game was only two goals, by the Blue Jays 5-3, and the Commodores 8-6, respectively.

Throughout the game, there were nine ties. Junior Sarah Taylor, gave Hopkins their first lead, spinning around her defender and dodging for the goal with 18:20 left in the first period. Taylor later scored another goal just before halftime. She is the leading scorer for the Lady Jays with 27 goals.

The Jays used transition opportunities and key passing to score. D’Amore led the way in the points department, tallying three goals on seven shots, and three assists. Most importantly, two of D’Amore’s goals came with under two minutes left in overtime. Her clutch goals were the deciding factor in a close contest.

Not to be outdone was junior Sammy Cermack who recorded three goals on six shots and picked up one assist. The two juniors have helped carry the team with D’Amore amassing 23 goals on the year coupled with 27 assists for an even 50 points through 11 games. Cermack is close behind with 18 goals and 15 assists.

Vanderbilt’s Carly Linthicum also performed well, notching four goals to help bring her total for the season to an impressive 41 goals in 12 games.

Also of note was Commodore goalie Chelsea Pasfield who remained in goal for the entire game totaling 66 minutes in the cage for the Commodores on the day.

Other contributors for the Hopkins were freshman Jenna Reifler with two goals and one assist, sophomore Jen Cook with one goal, and freshman Caroline Turco with one goal.

For the Commodores Olivia Goodman notched one goal and one assist while Abby Wheeler was able to sink two goals.

With a number of younger members scoring goals for the Jays, head coach Janine Tucker commented on the exciting contributions from the underclassmen.

“We have a lot of new faces and are excited with how hard the team is working to develop their chemistry,” Tucker said.

With a handful of underclassmen gaining experience through major minutes, Hopkins should continue to improve throughout the remainder of the season.

Tucker went on to express her content with the team’s performance.

“[I was] pleased with the team’s ability to bounce back and capture a hard fought overtime win against a tough Vanderbilt team,” Tucker said.

Just three days previously, the Jays traveled to Washington, DC to play American University and lost a heartbreaker to the Eagles, 10-9 in overtime.

Tucker continued to elaborate on the Jays’ learning process.

“We have learned a lot from our losses and are growing and developing as a team each week,” Tucker said.

With the Jays at 7-4 overall and 1-1 in conference, things are looking up for the women’s lacrosse team.

“We have a number of great games left to play and our focus is getting better each and every practice,” said Tucker. “I love the energy and camaraderie of this team and can’t wait to see how they do over these next couple weeks.”

The Lady Jays will be back in action on April 6th in Gainesville, Florida to take on the Florida Gators.