Women’s lacrosse went head-to-head against the Coastal Carolina University Chanticleers for the first time ever on April 10. The Jays proved to be too much for the Chanticleers, cruising to a 16-8 victory.
Two and a half minutes into the first quarter, the Chanticleers scored the first goal of the game. Following this point, however, the Jays took control of the game and never looked back.
Sophomore midfielder Georgie Gorelick kicked off a 6-0 Hopkins run with her goal at just under the nine-minute mark of the first quarter. Senior attackman Georgia Esmond assisted a goal from junior attackman Maeve Barker less than two minutes later.
Graduate student midfielder Shelby Harrison scored the final goal of the first period with 21 seconds left on the clock. The next three Hopkins goals came from sophomore midfielder Jordan Carr, Harrison and Esmond, all of which were assisted by graduate student midfielder Keegan Barger.
Another goal from the Chanticleers and from Harrison brought the score to 7-2 at the half. As dominant as the Jays were in the first half, they proved to be even more so in the second half.
In the third quarter alone, the Jays scored seven goals.
Barker described the message the coaches pushed during halftime that helped the team push the lead in an interview with The News-Letter.
“One of the messages that our coaches reiterated at halftime was support. We had to support each other on our defensive end, midfield and offensive end to win the game,” she said. “Our coaches also emphasized that although we were going into the second half with a lead, Coastal Carolina’s team was not going away.
Outsourcing the Chanticleers 9-6 in the second half, the Jays came out on top. In addition to their resounding victory, several Jays had career games.
Sophomore midfielder Liza Regan topped her personal record in draw controls with four and also recorded her first assist as a Jay. Barger notched a career-high four assists. Both Harrison and Barker recorded a hat trick.
Having scored the three goals, Barker explained what was working for her as well as the rest of the team on the offensive end.
“For me personally, what clicked to allow me to record a hat trick was a focus on finishing. Finishing the play was an area that we had been working on all week, so I made a point to move the goalie and finish my shot,” she said. “For the team I think what was clicking was turning our defensive stops into fast breaks and sharing the ball. We have a very unselfish team, and I think we were moving the ball to the right place at the right time and positioning ourselves in the right places for our teammates as well.”
The Jays also had a remarkable showing on the defensive end. Graduate student goalie Kathleen Garvey made seven saves to lead the defense. Sophomore defender Cameron Levine tallied five ground balls and also forced two turnovers.
Following their victory, the Jays improve to an overall record of 8-6. They will face Big Ten Conference rival and third-ranked Northwestern University on April 16.
Barker gave some insight on the team’s outlook heading into this matchup.
“To prepare for our game against Northwestern, I think we will mainly focus on us. It is obviously going to be an important game, with Northwestern being a top-ranked team as well as a Big Ten Conference opponent, but it won’t be different than preparing for any other game,” Barker said. “Luckily, we have a full week to clean up the things we need to clean up and improve upon the things we are already doing well. If we focus on us, then we will be able to get the job done.”
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