Nov. 7, 2009

Box Score

COLLEGEVILLE, PA - The Johns Hopkins field hockey team held off a second-half rally from 10th-ranked Gettysburg Saturday afternoon to win 4-3 in the semifinals of the Centennial Conference Tournament at Ursinus. The Blue Jays win their sixth straight over the Bullets and improve to 13-5 overall. The Bullets, the second seed in the tournament, fall to 14-5.

Junior Ariana Branchini (Old Lyme, CT/Choate) scored a pair of early goals off penalty corners to stake Hopkins to a 2-0 lead in the first eight minutes. Senior Brittany Bland (Denver, CO/Colorado Academy) struck both corners, while junior Jenn Motylinski (Medford Lakes, NJ/Shawnee) was the stopper for Branchini. Gettysburg got one back at 19:34 to cut Hopkins' lead to one at 2-1. Nina Emala scored from the left side off a pass from Vanessa Pabon.

Hopkins answered with a pair of goals over the final 10 minutes of the opening half to take a 4-1 lead into the lockerroom. Junior Lindsay McKenna (St. James, NY/Smithtown East) pushed the Blue Jays lead back to two at 25:41, scoring off a reverse, picking the ball out of midair. Branchini picked up the assist on the goal, giving her a career-high five points on the day. Sophomore Carly Bianco (Montclair, NJ/Montclair) closed out the scoring for the half and giving the Blue Jays what appeared to be a comfortable 4-1 lead at 31:18. She beat a Bullet defender and then scored on a reverse stick shot.

Gettysburg got back on the board at 46:27 when Katie Savage tipped in a shot from Alyssa Heimbach, making it a 4-2 game. Just 50 seconds later, Emala and Pabon connected for a second time and Hopkins' lead was down to one at 4-3. That would be all the scoring as Hopkins held on for the 4-3 win.

Sophomore Kim Stein (New Hyde Park, NY/New Hyde Park Memorial) got the start in goal for the Blue Jays and came up with four saves, including one on a first half penalty stroke by Gettysburg's Lexie Hearn. For the Bullets, Christina Anderson had one save in the loss.

The four goals are the most Hopkins has scored in a Centennial Conference Tournament game, since a 4-1 win over McDaniel in the 2006 semifinals. The win advances the Blue Jays into its fourth consecutive and eighth overall Centennial Conference championship game. Hopkins will face top-seeded and third-ranked Ursinus in the championship game, Sunday at 1:00 pm in Collegeville.