The Hopkins women’s lacrosse team continued Big Ten Conference play this weekend against the fourth-ranked Northwestern University Wildcats. The game was exciting from the start, but in the second half, Northwestern started to pull away and secure their lead.
The game started a bit slow for both teams, but after four minutes the Blue Jays got it going off a goal by senior midfielder Ellie McNulty. After another minute had passed, however, Northwestern tied the game at one goal each. A flurry of quick goals by junior midfielder Lexi Souder, sophomore attack Aurora Cordingley and McNulty brought the score to 4-2 in favor of the Blue Jays with 20 minutes left to play in the half.
After a goal by junior attackman Maggie Schneidereith, the score remained 5-2 for nine minutes. Souder took advantage of a yellow card on Northwestern and scored a goal, bringing the lead up another point with 10 minutes to go in the half. Northwestern turned the momentum around in those last 10 minutes, scoring three unanswered goals and bringing the Hopkins lead to only one going into halftime.
Northwestern was issued another yellow card at the end of the first half, and only one and a half minutes into the second half, Schneidereith tried to set the tone by scoring her second goal of the game. Schneidereith talked about her individual performance.
“It’s always a great feeling when you think that you have given your all to help the team no matter what the score is, but it definitely wasn’t an individual performance. It only takes one person on the field to make an impact on the rest of the team. I thought if I am confident and move as fast as I can, it will be contagious to the rest of the team,” she said.
Not even a minute later though, the score was all tied up due to two quick goals by the Wildcats. With just over 23 minutes to go, Cordingley scored her second goal of the game. Unfortunately that would be the last lead the Blue Jays got. Northwestern went on to score six straight goals, bringing the score to 13-8 with 16 minutes remaining.
Schneidereith tried to lead a comeback effort, scoring three of the last five Hopkins goals. But Northwestern would not be denied, as they went on to score four straight unanswered goals, taking the life out of the Homewood crowd. A last-minute goal by senior midfielder/attackman Nicole DeMase wasn’t enough to come back, as the Blue Jays fell 20-13. Schneidereith credited her teammates for helping her put up a good fight.
“Towards the end, we were trying to play catch up so I was trying so hard to help my team get back into the game, but my success in the game would not have been possible without my teammates. They did a great job of moving the ball and I just happened to be the one finishing the shot. Although it feels great to get the points on the stat sheet, we still need to keep working hard as a team to put all the pieces together to get the win!” she said.
After the weekend’s loss the Jays’ record moved to 9-4 overall and 1-2 in Big Ten Conference play. Hopkins is still 14-4 against the Wildcats, but the last three meetings have all fallen Northwestern’s way. Schneidereith scored her 98th career goal on Saturday, bringing her incredibly close to the 100-goal mark, which she soon would accomplish in Tuesday’s game against the 20th-ranked Stony Brook University Seawolves.
In an interview after Saturday’s game, Schneidereith discussed what this achievement would mean to her and how she is hopeful of her reaching the 100-goal mark.
“It hasn’t happened yet, but I know it is going to mean the world to me. I’ve been dreaming about playing college lacrosse at a school like Hopkins ever since I started playing and to be able to make an impact is incredible,” she said. “It would be amazing to get it on Homewood Field [on Tuesday], but the main goal is to get the win, and maybe I will be lucky enough for it to happen on top of that!”
And to no surprise Schneidereith scored her 100th goal on Tuesday and became the 13th player in Hopkins Division-I history to accomplish such an achievement. Unfortunately the Jays weren’t able to use Schneidereith’s scoring momentum to best the Seawolves. Hopkins lost 12-9 against their ranked opponent.
Hopkins travels to Ohio State University on Saturday, April 13 for another Big Ten Conference game. The game will start at 1:00 p.m.
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