Lady Jays lose first game to Vanderbilt

The Hopkins’ women’s lacrosse team did something this past weekend that hasn’t happened all season: They lost. The Lady Jays dropped their first game of the season in Nashville on Saturday, losing 12-11 to the Vanderbilt Commodores. A 6-0 run that bridged the first and second halves was the key to Vandy’s victory. The ninth-ranked Blue Jays had previously won a DI program best 10 straight to start the season, before losing to the Commodoreds, bringing their American Lacrosse Conference record to 1-1 on the season. 

Vanderbilt improved to 4-6 for the year and 1-1 in conference play. Saturday’s game marked their second win over a ranked opponent, while four of their losses had come to teams ranked in the top 13.

Hopkins got off to a rough start, allowing two goals to Kelly Chandler less than two minutes apart in the first four minutes of gameplay. The Blue Jays immediately responded with a 4-0 run spanning 20 minutes that put them up 4-2. Senior star Taylor D’Amore started the scoring for the Lady Jays with a good juke from the back of the crease and then a finish. Sophomore Jenna Reifler then scored on a shot from the left crease on a feed from D’Amore at the 24:30 mark. 

Sophomore Dene’ DiMartino, last year’s ALC rookie of the year, then gave Hopkins their first lead of the match with a crafty side-arm shot with 20:54 left in the half. Scoring suddenly became a luxury as both sides buckled down on defense to force a 15 minute scoring drought, the longest stretch of the game without a goal. D’Amore ended the stalemate with her second goal of the game with a free position goal at the 5:55 mark.

The Commodores took control of the game from here, scoring four goals in just 63 seconds to take a 6-4 lead over the Jays. Chandler and Abby Wheeler collectively had three goals and an assist to buoy the ‘Dores. With just 7.7 seconds remaining in the half, Mallory Schonk scored on a free position goal to send Vanderbilt to the locker room with a 7-4 lead.

Another goal for Vanderbilt 57 seconds into the second half put the Jays down by four goals, but DiMartino and senior Sammy Cermack scored back to-back goals cut the deficit to two by the 24:50 mark. D’Amore found a wide-open Cermack from behind the goal on the right post for an easy score, and DiMartino scored on a dodge from the left side. As they did all game long, Vanderbilt shut down the Jays’ run with a Schonk transition goal on a two-on-one opportunity to make it 9-6. Cermack answered on a feed from junior Jen Cook, finishing a beautiful cut over the shoulder of Vanderbilt goalie Callahan Kent.

Once again, the Commodores responded, as Jill Doherty and Chandler scored back-to-back goals to provide Vandy with a commanding four-goal lead with 13 minutes remaining. D’Amore scored off the ensuing draw, but Vanderbilt’s Amanda Lockwood scored a free position goal at 12:08 that would end up being the deciding point.

A furious rally from the Blue Jays would fall just short. D’Amore forced a turnover at the 8:55 mark, then ran downfield uncontested for the score to bring the Jays within three. A free position shot by D’Amore four minutes later deflected off the goalie and was corralled by sophomore Erica Matz, who proceeded to whip a shot past Kent. With 2:11 remaining in the game, D’Amore put her fifth goal in the net to bring the Jays within striking range. Sophomore Josie George won the resulting faceoff, but the Blue Jays turned it over with 1:52 remaining and Vandy was able to run out the clock for the victory.

Turnovers would prove to be the Blue Jays undoing on Saturday afternoon, as they coughed it up 21 times compared to Vanderbilt’s 16 giveaways.

“Many of our turnovers led to scoring opportunities for them,” DiMartino said. “We really just need to focus on taking care of the ball and limiting those turnovers so we can capitalize more on the offensive end."  

D’Amore moved into second place in school Division I history on the all-time scoring list by bringing her total up to 258 points with her five goals and two assists from Saturday. She also broke Mary Key’s program record for consecutive games with an assist by racking up her streak to 19 straight.

“Losing to Vanderbilt was a bit of a wake-up call for us, but Florida is our main focus right now and we hope they bring their A-game because we’re going to bring ours,” DiMartino said. The Jays will look to get back to their winning ways in a game against the fourth-ranked Gators on Saturday at Homewood Field. This will be one of the toughest matches that Hopkins will play all season.