Johns Hopkins-Hofstra Game Notes

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Opening Draw 
Johns Hopkins hits the road for the first time since the season opener as the Blue Jays travel to Long Island to take on the Hofstra Pride on Saturday. The Blue Jays have won three straight and are coming off a 17-11 win over a tough Saint Joseph's squad on Wednesday afternoon. The Pride had their four-game win streak snapped in a loss to second-ranked Maryland last Saturday. 
 
Last Time Out 
Junior Maggie Schneidereith poured in a career-best six goals and seven points to lead Hopkins to a 17-11 win over Saint Joseph's on a chilly day at Homewood Field. The Blue Jays jumped out to a seven-goal lead and were up 9-3 at the half. The second half was more tightly contested, but Hopkins outscored SJU, 5-2, in the final 16 minutes to secure the win. Redshirt senior Ellie McNulty added four goals and senior Miranda Ibello dishd four assists while senior Haley Crosson posted 11 saves. 
 
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. 
 
I'm Honored 
Freshman Georgia Esmond was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week Tuesday afternoon after a three-point performance against Furman. She scored her first career goal with 18:08 to play in the second half and 10 minutes later, she had her first career assist. Just four minutes after that, Esmond got her second helper of the game, on classmate Sam Leva's first career goal.
 
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.  
 
Junior Maggie Schneidereith leads the Blue Jays with four hat tricks, while redshirt senior Ellie McNulty has three hat tricks and junior Mackenzie Heldberg and sophomore Aurora Cordingley sport two 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 114 career points and joins senior Miranda Ibello (138 points) and junior Maggie Schneidereith (128) 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 dropped one spot in this week's IWLCA Coaches Poll and is ranked 17th with 253 points. The Blue Jays are also ranked 8th in the Nike/Lax Magazine Poll and 10th 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, Penn and Loyola). 
 
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 2 draws to rank 17th, 3 to rank 16th and 11 to rank 15th (has 74)
 
Haley Crosson (Sr. • GK):
• Needs 8 saves to rank 6th and 75 to rank 5th (has 218)
 
Nicole DeMase (Sr. • M):
• Needs 1 free position goal to rank 9th (has 21)
 
Shelby Harrison (So. • M):
• Needs 8 draws to rank 7th (has 114)
 
Miranda Ibello (Sr. • A):
• Needs 3 points to rank 13th and 10 to rank 12th (has 138)
• Needs 11 assists to rank 3rd (has 80)
 
Maggie Schneidereith (Jr. • A):
• Needs 7 points to rank 15th (has 128)
• Needs 4 assists to 7th (has 51)
 
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 80 career assists. She needs 20 assists to become just the fifth player in the 44-year history of the program to total 100 helpers. Her 12 assists this season are tops on the team.
 
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 114. 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 now ranks 18th with 74 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. The trio had 13 of 18 draws in the Blue Jays' win over the Hawks on Wednesday and now account for 64 of the team's 80 (.800) draws on the season. 
 
Against the Pride 
Hopkins and Hofstra meet for the fifth straight season and ninth time since the series began in 2000. The Blue Jays are 6-2 against the Pride and have won six straight, including four straight at Shuart Stadium.    
 
Scouting the Pride 
The Pride wrap up a three-game home stand against the visiting Blue Jays on Saturday as part of a double-header with the men's team. Hofstra is coming off a 17-9 loss to second-ranked Maryland last Saturday, which snapped the Pride's four-game win streak. 
 
The Pride boasts a trio of players with at least 20 points this season. Junior Alyssa Parrella leads the way with 29 points (26g, 3a), followed by junior Alexa Mattera with 22 points (19g, 3a) and sophomore Katie Whelan with 21 points (12g, 9a). 
 
Junior middie Darcie Smith is a force all over the field for Hofstra as she has a team-best 32 draws, 16 ground balls and 11 caused turnovers. She has also scored five goals. Freshman goalie Jess Smith has made an immediate impact in the cage for the Pride. She has started all six games and has posted four double-digit save performances. She boasts a .522 save percentage and a 9.44 goals against average. 
 
We're Streaking!
Seven Blue Jays carry active goal, assist and/or point streaks into Saturday's game at Hofstra. Here's a look at those streaks:
 
Aurora Cordingley (So. • A):
• Has at least one point in 10 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 3 straight games
• Has at least one assist in 4 straight games
 
Shelby Harrison (So. • M):
• Has at least one point in 2 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 2 straight games
 
Mackenzie Heldberg (Jr. • A):
• Has at least one point in 21 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 16 straight games
• Has at least one assist in 2 straight games
 
Miranda Ibello (Sr. • A):
• Has at least one point in 4 straight games
• Has at least one assist in 2 straight games
 
Ellie McNulty (R-Sr. • M):
• Has at least one point in 6 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 6 straight games
 
Maggie Schneidereith (So. • A):
• Has at least one point in 15 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 11 straight games
• Has at least one assist in 7 straight games
 
Lexi Souder (Jr. • M):
• Has at least one point in 2 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 2 straight games
 
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. 
 
At the Helm
Janine Tucker is now in her 26th season at Homewood. The winningest coach in program history, she sports a record of 286-154 (.650), including a 218-138 (.612) 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 436-275-4 (.612) and a 218-138 (.612) 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 131-61 (.680) within the friendly confines of Homewood Field and the Jays are 39-14 (.736) 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 right back at Homewood Field on Wednesday, March 13 to host High Point. Opening draw is slated for 6:00 pm in the first-ever meeting between the Blue Jays and the Panthers.