The Hopkins women’s lacrosse team took the field at the University of Houston this past Sunday to face the Golden Eagles of Marquette. The game was the first ever D-I women’s lacrosse game to be held in Houston.
“Our program is very committed to growing the game,” sophomore Haley Schweizer said about the ground-breaking game. “We were so thrilled to play a game in an up-and-coming lacrosse area. We wanted to bring our sport to as many young girls as possible to try to instill a love in the game for them. Out of the 650 fans at the game, more than half were young girls there for the Women Empowered program.”
“It was exciting to give them such a thriller of a game to watch,” Schweizer said of the game’s second overtime.
The game started off in favor of the Golden Eagles as Claire Costanza scored with 18:12 to play. Hopkins responded just three minutes later as Schweizer wove through Marquette’s defense, driving the ball into the back of the net.
The Lady Jays claimed the lead with 13:34 to play with junior Dene’ DiMartino capitalizing on a free position shot, sending the ball past Marquette’s goalie, Sarah Priem. The rest of the first half would see an exchanging of goals as both teams went into the locker room tied at three goals apiece.
The Lady Jays hit the field with force at the start of the second half. Hopkins sophomore Alexis Maffucci had a strong half and initiated the scoring. Rolling off the crease, Maffucci threw the ball directly past Priem, putting the Lady Jays up 4-3 at 17:07.
Eight minutes later, junior Jenna Reifler cradled a pass from Maffucci and fired past the goalie, putting Hopkins up by two. Marquette wasn’t going away that easily, scoring two goals in under two minutes and tying up the game.
As the clock wound down, Marquette had one final chance to take the game before time expired, but Hopkins junior Josie George grabbed a loose ball from a ricochet and held onto it, forcing overtime.
“We were told over and over again, ‘believe in your hearts, right now, that you are going to win this game,’” Schweizer said about head coach Janine Tucker as she kept her players focused and motivated heading into overtime. “We were told to stay together and to look at the people standing next to us and to play for them and the name on the front of our jersey.”
Both teams fought hard in the first overtime and kept the fans on the edges of their seats with two goals apiece, forcing a second overtime.
In the end, it would be Maffucci throwing the ball against the back of the net from teammate DiMartino to win the game 8-7 in the second overtime. The game saw five ties and three lead changes from start to finish.
“In such a tight game, possession was a huge factor,” Schweizer said. “We came up with crucial draw controls and some key ground balls from Josie George that led to possession changes.
“While we are still working on developing chemistry on offense, we were fortunate to have such an amazing defensive effort to keep us in the game to have the opportunities that we did,” Schweizer said.
Maffuci had a career-high three points, including the game-winning goal.
“I can attribute my performance to my team. Our defense played awesome. If it weren’t for them, we would not have gotten the ball back on offense and wouldn’t have had the opportunity to score,” Maffucci said.
With such a big win for their first game, the Lady Jays have already set a standard of dominance for their season.
“I think this game was an eye-opener for our team,” Maffucci said. “We can learn from this game and correct our mistakes. We came up with the win, but we are not satisfied, and we have a lot to work on. Our schedule is challenging, but the bar is set high for this season.”
Hopkins returns to play on Saturday, Feb. 14 for its home opener, in which they will face a tough test against the sixth-ranked Boston College Eagles. Opening draw is set for 1 p.m.
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