April 1, 2009

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - The Johns Hopkins women's lacrosse team ran into a tough Penn team, which leads the nation in scoring defense, on Wednesday night, falling 11-3. The Blue Jays drop their third straight as they fall to 4-7 on the season, while the Quakers remain unbeaten at 9-0. The three goals scored by Hopkins ties the program Division I record for fewest in a game and are the fewest since a 12-3 loss to Northwestern on April 22, 2005.

Penn opened the game on a 7-0 run that stretched into the start of the second half, keeping Hopkins off the scoreboard until 6:53 into the second. Ali DeLuca scored back-to-back goals, eight minutes and 28 seconds apart, to give the visitors a 2-0 lead midway through the first half. Samantha Bird then scored on a free position shot, followed by an Erin Brennan goal and Penn led 4-0 with 9:17 remaining in the first. Courtney Lubbe closed out the scoring in the first half with the first of her four on the night, scoring on a bounce shot with just 23 seconds on the clock.

Coming out of the half, Penn needed just 3:52 to push its lead to 7-0 with back-to-back goals from Bird and Lubbe. Freshman Colleen McCaffrey (Mount Sinai, NY/Mount Sinai) ended the Quakers run and finally got the Blue Jays on the board at 6:53 when she scored on a free position shot. DeLuca got that one back for Penn, scoring just over two minutes later off an alley-dodge, and igniting a 3-0 run.

After goals from Bird and Lubbe pushed Penn's lead to 10-1, junior Brett Bathras (Severna Park, MD/Severn School) got on the board with 12:31 remaining as she scored in tight, sneaking the ball between the Emily Szelest and the right post. Just 66 seconds later, the Blue Jays found the cage again, cutting the deficit to seven and prompting a Quaker timeout. Junior Angela Hughes (Manchester, MD/North Carroll), clearing the ball from midfield, cut right down the middle of the box before dishing to a wide-open Gina Maranto (Bel Air, MD/C. Milton Wright), who scored on a low shot to the far post. Penn would slow the game down from there, getting one more from Lubbe with 4:16 left.

Sophomore Julianne Wisner (Parkton, MD/Notre Dame Prep) had another solid game in the cage for Hopkins, posting 13 saves and picking up two ground balls. Lubbe led the Quakers with her four goals, as Bird and DeLuca also netted hat tricks. Szelest finished with five saves in the cage to earn the win for Penn.

Hopkins returns to action on Saturday, April 4 as it travels to Nashville, TN to take on 11th-ranked Vanderbilt in American Lacrosse Conference action. Game time from the Vanderbilt Lacrosse Complex is slated for 1:00 pm CST.