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CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - The 17th-ranked Johns Hopkins women's lacrosse team saw its season come to an end in a tough 14-11 loss to seventh-ranked Penn State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday at Klockner Stadium. The Blue Jays finish the season with a 14-4 record, one win shy of the school Division I record for wins. The Nittany Lions improve to 15-4 and will play the winner of Virginia-Winthrop game on Sunday.

The teams were even at six-all with 2:17 to play in the first half after back-to-back Hopkins goals just 48 seconds apart. Hopkins then won the ensuing draw and was looking to hold for the last shot, but Penn State came up with the ball and went the other way. Tatum Coffey then gave the Nittany Lions a one-goal lead at the half when she dodged the middle of the fan and went high to low on Emi Smith with three ticks on the clock.

Coming out of the half, Penn State got a pair of goals in a 37-second span to push its lead to three before the half was four minutes old. Jenna Mosketti opened the scoring off a jess Loizeaux feed. Madison Cyr followed then took a pass from Maggie McCormick in the slot and beat senior KC Emerson to make it a 9-6 game. Freshman Emily Kenul stemmed the tide with a free position goal at the 22:00-mark, but the Nittany Lions answered with a 5-1 run to push out to a 13-8 lead. Mosketti and Kristin Brent scored just 12 seconds apart to spark the run.

Freshman Shannon Fitzgerald got one back for the Blue Jays, scoring a bouncer on the run in the left alley. But the Lions came right back with goals from Mosketti and Ally Heavens, in a 47-second span, to stake PSU to a five-goal lead by the 20:16-mark. Hopkins wasn't going away and cut the deficit to three with 14:35 still to play. Kenul capitalized in transition, cutting across the top of the fan and then dodging the right alley before beating Smith at 16:06. Ninety-seconds later, sophomore Alexis Maffucci took a pass from Fitzgerald, who was goal-line extended and quick-sticked a shot past Smith to make it 13-10.

Penn State was able to hold off the Hopkins comeback as the Lions worked the ball around on offense before Katie O'Donnell scored at the 4:25-mark. Hopkins would get one back when Maffucci dodged through several defenders and scored from close range to make it 14-11 with 3:43 to go. But that's as close as the Blue Jays would get as the Nittany Lions ran out the clock.

This one had the makings off a high-scoring affair right from the start as Penn State scored a pair of goals just 13 seconds apart to take a quick 2-0 lead just 74 seconds in. Coffey opened the scoring off a dodge from right goal line extended, and Mosketti followed with a shot to the far post from the left alley. The Blue Jays answered with a pair of quick goals themselves to tie the game at the 21:09-mark. Senior Jen Cook got Hopkins on the board at 21:19 as she grabbed the ground ball off a Dene' DiMartino shot that hit the post and beat Smith with a sidearm shot from four yards out. Just 10 seconds later, DiMartino fired a shot inside the right post right off the ensuing draw.

The tie was short-lived however as Coffey scored on a left alley dodge just over a minute later to put Penn State back on top. That ignited a three-goal run by the Nittany Lions over a span of nine minutes to build a 5-2 lead. The Blue Jays pulled back within one with goals from sophomore Haley Schweizer and freshman CeCe Finney at the 5:32-mark. But Coffey doubled Penn State's lead, scoring off a dodge from behind to stake the Lions to a 6-4 lead. As was the case for most of the game, the goals came quickly thanks to DiMartino and Finney. Sophomore Nevi Fernandez won the draw off the Coffey goal and DiMartino went right to the cage for her second of the afternoon with 3:05 to go. Just 48 seconds later, the game was tied when Finney scored on a sidearm shot from the middle of the fan. But as it turned out, Penn State would take the lead for good with just three seconds left in the half.

DiMartino and Kenul led Blue Jays with two goals and one assist each, while DiMartino also had six draws. Maffucci and Schweizer added two goals apiece while Fitzgerald had one goal and one assist. Junior Josie George led the defense with two caused turnovers and two ground balls. Emerson finished with five saves in the loss while sophomore Caroline Federico came off the bench to make three saves. Coffey and Mosketti scored four goals apiece to lead the Nittany Lions. McCormick, who came into the game ranked sixth in the nation in assists, was held to just one helper for the game. Smith finished with 11 saves in earning the win.