March 4, 2006

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - Junior attacker Mary Key (Stevensville, MD/St. Mary's) scored the first goal of the game and had the game-winner to lead #6 Johns Hopkins to a 8-7 upset of #3 Princeton at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. The win is the biggest in Hopkins history, as the #3 Tigers are the highest ranked team ever beaten by the Blue Jays. Hopkins moves to 2-0, while Princeton falls to 1-0 on the season.

Key, who finished with three goals and three assists, started Hopkins on a 5-0 run when she scored just 2:12 into the game. Just 90 seconds later, sophomore attacker Annie Wagner (Annapolis, MD/St. Paul's) scored the first of her two goals to give the Jays an early 2-0 lead off a feed by Key. Junior attacker Sarah Walsh (Port Washington, NY/P.D. Schreiber) scored her fourth of the season with 10:29 gone in the half to push the Jays lead to 3-0 as Key picked up her second assist of the game.

Junior midfielder Steph Janice (Medford, NJ/Shawnee) scored her first of the season, unassisted at 15:21, as Hopkins pushed out to a 4-0 lead. The Tigers finally got on the board with 8:33 to play in the half, when Katie Cox (Garden City, NY/Garden City) scored her first of the season. Kristin Schwab (Lutherville, MD/Friends School) trimmed Hopkins lead to three with her first of the season with just 1:01 to play in the half.

Hopkins jumped on Princeton to start the half pushing the lead back to 6-2 when Key cashed in her third goal of the game. But the Tigers answered with goals from Katie Lewis-Lamonica (Lawrenceville, NJ/Lawrenceville) and Christine Casaceli (Longmeadow, MA/Longmeadow) to cut the score to 6-4 with more than 21 minutes to play in the game.

Wagner scored her second of the afternoon with an assist from Key extending the Jays lead to three goals. But Casaceli answered with her second of the day to keep the Jays lead at two. Hopkins won the ensuing draw and the ball ended up in Key's stick. She held the ball behind the Tiger net, waiting for an opening. When it came, Key circled around the net and scored behind her back, what would prove to be the game-winner.

The Tigers trimmed the lead to one with goals from Schwab and Olachi Opara (Lutherville, MD/Bryn Mawr School). With 4:25 to play after Opara's goal, Princeton had three chances in the Hopkins end, but the Tigers could not get a shot off for a chance to tie. A turnover with 40 seconds remaining gave the ball back to the Blue Jays for the last time, and they were able to clear the ball and run out all but the final five seconds, by which time it was too late for Princeton to get the ball upfield.

Key led the Jays with three goals and tied a career-high with three assists. The Jays are now 20-1 when Key scores three or more goals. Wagner's two goals tied a career high. Senior Lauren Riddick (Crozet, VA/St. Anne's-Belfield) finished with four saves in her 25th career win. Casaceli and Schwab were the only multi-point scorers for the Tigers, with two goals each.

Today's game kicked off a three-game homestand for the Blue Jays. Next up is Ohio University on Friday, March 10 at 4:00 pm. It will be the American Lacrosse Conference opener for both teams.