Johns Hopkins-Furman Game Notes

Watch Live 

Opening Draw 
Johns Hopkins returns to Homewood Field on Saturday to take on Furman in non-conference action. The Blue Jays are coming off a thrilling 12-11 win over the 18th-ranked Hoyas on Wednesday. The Paladins come to Baltimore after a tough loss at home last Sunday to Vanderbilt. 
 
Last Time Out 
Juniors Maggie Schneidereith and Mackenzie Heldberg combined for six goals and four assists and senior Miranda Ibello scored the game-winner with just 8.3 seconds remaining to lift Johns Hopkins to a 12-11 win over 18th-ranked Georgetown. The Hoyas had tied the game just 20 seconds earlier on Morgan Ryan's third goal of the game. Senior Haley Crosson made a season-high 11 saves for the Blue Jays.
 
Season Openers 
Hopkins is 19-7 (.730) in season openers under head coach Janine Tucker and 30-13-1 (.693) all-time. The Blue Jays have won 11 straight and 15 of the last 16 opening day games. 
 
In February 
Hopkins is 34-15 (.694) under head coach Janine Tucker in the month of February. Now in their 44th season, the Blue Jays did not play a game in the month of February until 2002. Hopkins, then in just its fourth season as a Division I program, lost to Vanderbilt, 7-4, on February 24.
 
Hats Off 
Sophomore Keegan Barger notched her first career hat trick in the season-opening win at Drexel. In fact, it was the first three goals of her career as she was a defensive midfielder last season. Barger made the transition to a true two-way middie in the offseason and the move paid off in the first game.  
 
Redshirt senior Ellie McNulty and junior Maggie Schneidereith lead the Blue Jays with two hat tricks each so far this season. In addition to Barger, junior Mackenzie Heldberg and sophomores Shelby Harrison and Aurora Cordingley have one hat trick each. 
 
Century Club 
Redshirt senior Ellie McNulty tallied a game-best five points in the win at Drexel, including the 100th of her career. The midfielder transferred from Princeton, where she totaled 95 points (72g, 23a) in 55 games for the Tigers. She now has 108 career points and joins senior Miranda Ibello (128 points) and junior Maggie Schneidereith (117) in the 100-point club. 
 
Oh Captain, My Captain 
Seniors Nicole DeMase and Haley Crosson have been selected in a vote of their teammates as captains for the 2019 season.
 
B1G Lacrosse 
Johns Hopkins was picked to finish fourth in the 2019 Big Ten Women's Lacrosse Preseason Poll of the league's seven head coaches, it was announced January 28. Defending champion Maryland was the unanimous pick to win the 2019 title, followed by Northwestern, Penn State, and Hopkins. Michigan (5th), Ohio State (6th) and Rutgers (7th) round out the poll. 
 
B1G Players to Watch 
Junior Mackenzie Heldberg and sophomores Shelby Harrison and Jeanne Kachris were named Big Ten Preseason Players to Watch.
 
Harrison and Kachris return after earning All-Big Ten honors a year ago. Harrison led the Blue Jays and set a school freshmen record with 91 draw controls. Her 91 draws are also the second most in school single-season history and ranked second in the Big Ten. Kachris started all 19 games on a defense that ranked second in the Big Ten in scoring defense (10.53) and caused turnovers (8.68). She led the Blue Jays in caused turnovers (22) and ranked fourth in ground balls (32). Heldberg had a breakout sophomore campaign, scoring a team and career-best 41 goals. She also ranked third on the team in points (52) and ninth in the Big Ten in goals. 
 
Poll Position 
Hopkins moved up one spot in this week's IWLCA Coaches Poll and is ranked 16th with 230 points. The Blue Jays are also ranked 11th in the Nike/Lax Magazine Poll and 14th in the Cascade/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. Nine of the Blue Jays' 2019 opponents are ranked in the top-25 by the IWLCA, including four teams in the top 10 (Maryland, Northwestern, Stony Brook and Penn State). 
 
Climbing the Ranks 
Several Blue Jays are making their move up the Johns Hopkins Division I record book. Here's a look at where they rank:
 
Keegan Barger (So. • M):
• Needs 1 draw to rank 19th, 4 to rank 18th and 8 to rank 17th (has 68)
 
Haley Crosson (Sr. • GK):
• Needs 21 saves to rank 6th (has 205)
 
Nicole DeMase (Sr. • M):
• Needs 1 free position goal to rank 9th (has 21)
 
Shelby Harrison (So. • M):
• Needs 18 draws to rank 7th (has 104)
 
Miranda Ibello (Sr. • A):
• Needs 7 points to rank 14th  (has 128)
• Needs 19 assists to rank 3rd (has 72)
 
Maggie Schneidereith (Jr. • A):
• Needs 1 point to rank 18th and 5 to rank 17th (has 117)
• Needs 1 assist to rank 9th, 2 to rank 8th and 7 to rank 7th (has 49)
 
Lending a Hand 
Senior Miranda Ibello led the Blue Jays in both points (64) and assists (40) last season. Her point and assist totals were the most by a Blue Jay since Taylor D'Amore put up 105 points and 53 assists in 2014. In addition, her 40 assists are the fifth most in school Division I history and sixth most all-time at JHU. Ibello ranks fourth in school DI history, and seventh overall, with 72 career assists. She needs 28 assists to become just the fifth player in the 44-year history of the program to total 100 helpers.
 
At the Draw 
Sophomore Shelby Harrison made an immediate impact for the Blue Jays in 2018 as she led the team and ranked second in the Big Ten with 91 draws on the season. That total is the most in school history by a freshman and the second most by any player in school single-season history. In fact, Harrison already ranks eighth in JHU DI history, and 10th all-time at Hopkins, in career draws with 104. Against Penn, she became only the 11th player, in 44 years, to reach 100 career draws. She also holds the school single-game record with 11 draws, which she did twice last year.
 
Sophomore Keegan Barger was also a threat on the draw circle last year, as she ranked second on the team with 54. Her 54 draws are the fourth most by a freshman in school history and are tied for 12th in school Division I history. She had a game-high six draws in the win over Georgetown on Wednesday and is now tied for 20th with 68 career draw controls. 
 
Harrison and Barger picked up right where they left off at the end of last season. Harrison had six draws while Barger had four in Hopkins' season opener at Drexel. In addition, redshirt senior Ellie McNulty tied Harrison with a game-high six draws versus the Dragons. McNulty ranked second at Princeton last year with 59 draws and she ranks fourth all-time with 115 career draws. The trio of Harrison, McNulty and Barger combined for 16 of the team's 18 draws at Drexel and have 41 of the team's 48 (.854) draws on the season. 
 
Welcome to Homewood 
Head coach Janine Tucker welcomes 11 freshmen and a transfer to the Blue Jays this season. Joining Hopkins are Georgia Esmond, Mia Farnella, Carli Freeman, Kylie Kempe, Sam Leva, Annika Meyer, Claire Mills, Kaitlyn Pham, Nadiya Roy, Rachel Scheinberg, Caroline Somerville and Ellie McNulty. 
 
Against the Paladins 
Hopkins has won all four meetings with Furman in a series that began in 2015. The Blue Jays beat the Paladins, 19-0, last March on Homewood Field. It was Hopkins' first shutout since a 19-0 win over Fresno State on April 9, 2009.  
 
Hey I Know You 
Furman head coach Rachel Whitten will see a familiar face on the Hopkins' sideline Saturday in Blue Jay associate head coach Tara Singleton. The two played together at nearby Loyola and later coached together at the University of Denver. 
 
Scouting the Paladins 
Furman returns three of the top four goal scorers from the 2018 team, including the top two goal scorers in Abby Shields (35) and Isabelle Walsh (27). Shields also turned in a team-high 24 assists in 2018, while Sophie Brennan and Morgan Franklin won a combined 113 draws last season and both return for the Paladins.
 
Shields leads Furman in goals (9), ranks second in points (13) and third in assists (4) through four games. Junior Grace Pollak has a team-best 14 points and ranks second in both goals (8) and assists (6). Sophomore Hannah Demis leads the team in helpers (7) while Brennan is the leader in draws (12). Brennan is also tied with senior Savannah Plemmons for the team lead in caused turnovers (5). 
 
The Paladins were selected as the SoCon preseason favorites, in voting done by the league's head coaches, while Shields and Franklin were both named to the preseason all-conference team. 
 
We're Streaking!
Five Blue Jays carry active goal, assist and/or point streaks into Saturday's game versus Furman. Here's a look at those streaks:
 
Aurora Cordingley (So. • A):
• Has at least one point in 8 straight games
• Has at least one assist in 2 straight games
 
Mackenzie Heldberg (Jr. • A):
• Has at least one point in 19 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 14 straight games
 
Miranda Ibello (Sr. • A):
• Has at least one point in 2 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 2 straight games
 
Ellie McNulty (R-Sr. • M):
• Has at least one point in 4 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 4 straight games
 
Maggie Schneidereith (So. • A):
• Has at least one point in 13 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 9 straight games
• Has at least one assist in 5 straight games
 
At the Helm
Janine Tucker is now in her 26th season at Homewood. The winningest coach in program history, she sports a record of 284-154 (.648), including a 216-138 (.610) mark in Division I. Tucker took over the Blue Jay women's lacrosse program in August 1993 and coached five seasons in Division III before successfully guiding the program's transition to Division I in 1999. A 1989 graduate of Loyola (MD) and a member of the Greyhound Athletic Hall of Fame, Tucker has led the Blue Jays to double-digit win totals in 20 of her 24 years on the bench. She has also guided Hopkins to six NCAA Division I Tournament appearances, three ECAC Division I championship games, and four NCAA Division III Tournament appearances. Tucker became the 14th coach in NCAA history to reach 250 wins on February 12, 2016 and she currently ranks eighth in NCAA Division I history in wins. She coached her 400th career game at Loyola on February 22, 2017.
 
A Save for Each Season
Junior goalie Robyn Lipschultz made her first career appearance for the Blue Jays on March 3, 2018 versus Furman and made one save. With that save, she became the first goalie in 21 years to register a save in multiple sports in the same academic year. Lipschultz is also a member of the Johns Hopkins women's soccer team and made 14 saves in 10 games in the fall of 2017. The last to do so was Kelly Hoffman, who turned the same trick for both the field hockey and women's lacrosse teams in 1996-97. Lipschultz is just the second to do so for both women's soccer and women's lacrosse, joining Amanda Miller (1992-93). This past fall, Lipschultz started 17 games for head coach Leo Weil's Blue Jays, making 55 saves and posting a 0.775 save percentage.
 
For the Record
This marks the 44th season for Johns Hopkins, which sports an all-time record of 434-275-4 (.611) and a 216-138 (.610) record as a Division I program. The Blue Jays have posted 32 winning seasons, including 21 straight from 1987 to 2007. Hopkins has also made 16 NCAA Tournament appearances, including seven in the Division I Tournament (2004, 2005, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018). Last year was the 22nd double-digit win season under head coach Janine Tucker and the 28th all-time. 
 
Home Sweet Home(wood)
Under head coach Janine Tucker, the Blue Jays are 129-61 (.678) within the friendly confines of Homewood Field and the Jays are 36-14 (.720) at home since the start of the 2014 season. Hopkins will play 10 of its 17 regular season games, including five straight from February 16 to March 6, at Homewood this spring.  
 
Family Affair
Athletics at Johns Hopkins is a family affair as a pair of Blue Jays have followed in their fathers' footsteps at the Homewood campus while two more are following in their sisters' footsteps.
 
Junior Miranda Ibello is not only following in the cleats of her sister, Paige '10, but also of her brother-in-law, Max Venker '10, who was a four-year standout on the JHU men's soccer team. Junior Shannon Logan joined the Blue Jays and played alongside her older sister, Holly, for two seasons. The Logans are the 11th pair of sisters to don the Hopkins Blue & Black and the first to do so at the same time since Sam and Megan Schrum played together in 2009. 
 
One of Four
Junior Maggie Schneidereith will not be playing alongside her sister or sisters for that matter, in her collegiate career. Schneidereith, who hails from nearby Towson, is a quadruplet and all four sisters are playing Division I lacrosse. Midfielders Jamie and Lucy are playing at Drexel while goalie Georgia is playing for Albany.
 
On Tap
Hopkins is back in action on Wednesday, March 6 to host St. Joseph's in non-conference action. Opening draw is slated for 4:00 pm at Homewood Field.