BALTIMORE, MD – The 20^th-ranked Johns Hopkins women's lacrosse team beat visiting UAlbany, 17-10, on a rain-soaked Homewood Field Sunday afternoon in head coach Tim McCormack's JHU debut.
 
Hopkins broke open a 3-2 game with a six-goal goal run that spanned nearly 13 minutes. Junior Megan Kielbasa sparked the run with back-to-back goals just 84 seconds apart late in the first quarter. Junior Jordan Carr pushed the Blue Jays' lead to 6-2 at the end of the first, when she redirected a pass from senior Maeve Barker on the doorstep.
 
Sophomore Annie Marshall and junior Georgie Gorelick scored twice in a 25-second span early in the second and just like that Hopkins led 8-2. Freshman Ava Angello capped the run with her first career goal at 5:43 to push the lead to seven. Angello split a pair of defenders, took a pass from Carr, and beat Aislinn Sweeney from a tough angle. Allie Maloney got the Great Danes back on the board when she scored off the dodge from the right alley at 3:50.
 
The Blue Jays answered quickly when Barker then found Angello on a back-door cut just over a minute later. Senior Bailey Cheetham capped the first-half scoring when she scooped up a loose ball near the crease and dumped it over the UAlbany goalie to send JHU into the half with an 11-3 lead.
 
Hopkins picked up right where it left off, getting goals from Gorelick, Angello and Carr to push out to a 14-3 lead at the 9:50-mark. Bryar Hogg snapped the Blue Jays' run with a free position strike at 5:47, but Gorelick answered with one of her own two and a half minutes later and JHU led 15-4 after three.
 
UAlbany opened the fourth with three straight goals to pull back within eight with six minutes to play. Gorelick and junior Eliza Bowman answered for Hopkins with back-to-back goals just 38 seconds apart to make it a 17-7 game. Junior Campbell Case found Gorelick open in the middle of the fan, she turned and beat Grace Cincebox from in-tight for her game-high fifth goal. Bowman, who missed the entire 2022 season with an injury, then scored from the doorstep on a feed from junior Carly Steinlauf. The Great Danes would score the final three goals of the game to account for the 17-10 final.
 
Gorelick put the Blue Jays on the board early when she dodged the right alley, dropped her stick and beat Sweeney from the doorstep. Sarah Falk tied the game for the Great Danes less than a minute later with a shot to the top left corner. Marshall answered quickly to put JHU back on top and Case followed with her first career goal at 9:27 to make it a two-goal game. A Grace McCauley free position goal for the Great Danes sliced the lead in half, but the Blue Jays answered with that six-goal run, sparked by Kielbasa's back-to-back goals.
 
Gorelick tied her career high with five goals, while Barker handed out a career-best five assists. Angello (3g), Marshall (2g), Carr (2g, 1a), Kielbasa (2g), Cheetham (1g, 1a) and Case (1g, 1a) all had multi-point games for Hopkins. Marshall also controlled a career-high six draws. Senior Madison McPherson and freshman Reagan O'Brien led the defense with three caused turnovers each, while O'Brien also had a team-best three ground balls.
 
Hogg led the Great Danes with two goals and three points. Maloney (2g), McCauley (2g) and Shonly Wallace (2g) also had multi-goal games for UAlbany. Haley Phalines controlled six draws, while Katie Pascale and Kadi Futia had two takeaways each.
 
Hopkins returns to action on Saturday, February 18 as the Blue Jays take on 10^th-ranked Loyola. Opening draw at Ridley Athletic Complex is slated for 3:00 pm.
 
Notes: The 17 goals are the most by JHU in a season-opener since 2019, a 17-9 win at Drexel.