On Feb. 15, the Hopkins Lady Jays cruised to a blowout 16-2 victory over the Marquette Golden Eagles in the season opener on a cold and snowy morning at Homewood Field. Despite the large margin of victory, it was Marquette that jumped to an early 1-0 lead, after capitalizing on failed clear. The Lady Jays did not let this discourage them, quickly answering with four unanswered goals with the first being a free position strike from Sophomore Jenna Reifler, who just 50 seconds later, assisted on a tough-angle goal by Senior Taylor D’Amore from the left goal line. Sophomore Dene DiMartino then scored Hopkins’ third goal in 2:26, and D’Amore later assisted Junior Jen Cook to put the Lady Jays up 4-1.
Marquette then cashed in on a free possession goal to cut the lead in half with 15:30 left to play in the half, but it would be the last time the Golden Eagles would find the net for the rest of the game. Just 29 seconds later, D’Amore again assisted Cook with DiMartino scoring from the middle of the arc just after the draw. D’Amore then put the Lady Jays up 7-2 with 13:25 left to play, and the team concluded the half with back-to-back goals just 19 seconds apart from Senior Sarah Taylor and a free position shot from DiMartino, giving her a hat trick and putting Hopkins up 10-2 with 3:51 left, a lead that would hold until the half.
Coming out of the locker room for the second half, the game plan for the Lady Jays was simple: Continue to dominate on both sides of the ball. Hopkins continued to add to their lead as Taylor opened the second half with a goal from eight meters out, thus completing the 11th hat trick on her career, followed by three straight goals from Cook, who then assisted Sophomore Caroline Turco who scored after a streak down the middle of the arc. To cap off the scoring, Freshman Alexis Maffucci scored her first career goal at the collegiate level, capitalizing on a behind the net pass from D’Amore to beat the challenging goaltender and put Hopkins up 16-2. The game saw a milestone for D’Amore as she earned her 200th career point becoming just the fifth player in Division I history to accomplish such a feat. In goal, Junior KC Emerson and Freshman Caroline Federico combined to make four saves, allowing only two goals.
D’Amore commented that the energy the team had going into the game contributed to the win. "We had a pretty long preseason but we were able to polish a lot of our offensive and defensive sets. Having an actual game, we were excited to go out and play someone else. That energy helped us start strong,” D’Amore said.
DiMartino attributed conditioning to the victory. “I think we worked really hard this preseason especially with our conditioning coach and I think we were able to run fast and change direction quickly which really made a difference for us,” she said. “We were able to transition the ball at a fast pace and cause a lot of turnovers in our ride which just showed how conditioned we were and the end result showed that.”
When asked what went well with the team’s play, DiMartino had only positive things to say about the team's play. “I think we played really well all around. We were aggressive on the defensive end, ground balls, the (face off) draw and especially in our ride. We were also always looking for the open man and capitalized on a lot of our shots.”
Still, despite the blowout victory, the team still acknowledged that they had things to improve in the future. "The team needs to just continue to polish what we are trying to do," D'Amore said. "The cleaner and smarter we are able to play, the better off we will be.”
"I think we can always be a little smarter with the ball on the offensive end,” DiMartino added. “We need to look for the highest percentage opportunity instead of something that maybe isn’t there and we end up turning the ball over.”
Moving forward, DiMartino stressed that the team has high expectations for the season. “We have a lot of talent and it would be a shame to not go all the way with these girls. We just have to keep being aggressive all around, run fast and play like it is the last game we will ever play.”
The Lady Jays also took down Mount Saint Mary’s by a final score of 17-2 on Wednesday. D’Amore and senior Sammy Cermack combined for 13 of the goals.
We certainly wish the Lady Jays the best moving forward, as they continue their season at home against Bucknell on Saturday afternoon. The game is set to start at 4 p.m. at Homewood Field.
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