Last Friday night, the Blue Jays won an exciting season opener against the Washington & Lee Generals. Junior defensive player Francesca Cali had a particularly notable performance to help the Jays solidify their win.
After starting in every game last season and leading the team in defensive saves, the junior returned to anchor the Jays’ back line. The multifaceted defender also posed a threat offensively, as she finished the game with one assist in the first half and the winning goal in the second. However, approaching the first game of the season, Cali admitted the Jays had many nerves to overcome.
“It’s hard in the first game because there are so many nerves and as a passing-focused team, missing connections really hurts our game,” Cali said. “Our plan was just to play our own game – simple, scrappy, and disciplined hockey.”
However, the Jays were able to shake off these early jitters and deliver a strong performance once Friday night came around. Although the Generals were the first to score at the 15-minute mark, the Jays answered back quickly when given the opportunity at the corner. It took just five minutes for the Jays to tie up the game by making the play off of a corner penalty. Cali would make her first big play of the game by assisting freshman midfielder Katie McErlean with her first career goal as a Jay. McErlean sent the ball soaring to the low left post past the Generals’ goalie.
The game remained tied 1-1 going into the second half. As the team settled into the second half, they were able to take control of the game and play with the disciplined style they had been practicing during their off-season. Again, the Jays would take advantage of a corner penalty.
Cali, after assisting her teammate in the first goal of the season, went on to score her first career game-winning goal. Normally on the other side of the field, Cali saw her opportunity during the set-play and delivered the game winning score for the Blue Jays. Junior forward Clare Kavanagh then struck at the corner to assist Cali, who sent the ball sailing past the General’s goalie into the upper right corner in the 46th minute of the game.
Both of the Jays goals would come from penalties off the corners, a clear testament to their work during the off-season.
“We worked hard this preseason, especially on revamping our penalty set-plays, which was definitely visible in the game with both goals off corners,” Cali said.
After finishing 7-10 in the division last year, the win against the Generals is a hopeful start to the 2016 season for the Jays. The team will be returning seven starters from 2015, including the top five goal-scorers. In addition, senior Zoey Atabek and junior Greta Helvie returned, both of whom have displayed excellent poise in goal and bring experience to the position. Atabek started all 17 games as a sophomore and will be returning after not playing in the 2015 season. The Jays are optimistic about bouncing back after the 2015 season under Head Coach Megan Callahan, who will be serving her 20th season coaching at Hopkins.
The hard work put in during this off-season allowed the Blue Jays to live up to their impressive 12-1 record against the Generals.
On Saturday, Sept. 10, the Jays will travel to St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y. The St. John Fisher Cardinals fell 6-0 to Skidmore College in their season opener last Thursday.
The Jays will face the Cardinals at Growney Stadium at noon and will look to continue their impressive early season play. The Jays are certainly confident that they will have a strong season.
They have displayed incredible resilience as a team, and are equipped to handle the challenges that come their way during the season.
A Centennial Conference title is certainly not out of the question for this team.
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