COLUMBUS, OH – The Johns Hopkins women's lacrosse team got three goals from senior Maeve Barker and three assists each from senior Bailey Cheetham and freshman Ava Angello as the Blue Jays opened Big Ten play with an 11-8 win at Ohio State Saturday afternoon.
 
Ohio State struck first with a Nicole Ferrara goal just 1:53 in to stake the Buckeyes to the early lead. Hopkins answered with a five-goal run that spanned more than 10 minutes and bridged halftime. Sophomore Ashley Mackin sparked the run with back-to-back goals just 30 seconds apart. Senior Madison McPherson intercepted a clearing pass by the Buckeyes and then quickly passed to Angello, who found Mackin on the doorstep at 7:27 to knot the score at one. Just 30 seconds later, junior Abbey Hurlbrink slipped a pass to Mackin cutting down the middle and she beat Reagan Alexander to the far post.
 
The Blue Jays pushed the lead to 3-1 with another transition goal. Angello scooped up the ground ball at the restraining line and then fed Barker, who was all alone in the offensive third. Junior Marielle McAteer opened the second-quarter scoring with a hard cut to the cage at 12:51. Forty-seconds later, junior Megan Kielbasa scored a free position goal and Hopkins led 5-1. Ohio State cut the deficit back to two with goals from Zoe Coleman and Ferrara in the final seven minutes to make it a 5-3 game at the half.
 
Casey Roberts converted a free position shot at the 9:47-mark in the third quarter to make it a one-goal game. Junior Campbell Case answered at 6:08 when she scored in traffic off a feed from Angello. Again the Buckeyes answered, this time with a back-hand shot from Coleman and once again it was a one-goal game. But it was Barker who had the final say of the quarter as she scored on a rip from six yards to put JHU up 7-5.
 
Cheetham pushed the lead to three just 2:13 into the fourth with a free position goal. Ohio State answered with a pair of goals in less than two minutes, and it was 8-7 with 8:29 to play. Case then sparked a three-goal run over a five-and-a-half-minute span as the Blue Jays pushed out to an 11-7 lead with 2:19 to play. Caly O'Brien would tack on one more for the Buckeyes in the final minute to account for the 11-8 final.
 
Cheetham finished with a career-best four points and matched her career high with the three assists. Case (2g) and Mackin (2g) also had multi-point games, in addition to the three goals from Barker. Sophomore Annie Marshall tied her high with 10 draws, her third double-digit draw game of the season. McPherson and freshman Reagan O'Brien had three caused turnovers each to lead the defense. Senior Haleigh Moore had a team-best five ground balls to go with a pair of takeaways.
 
Jamie Lasda led the Buckeyes with four points (1g, 3a) and two draws. Ferrara added three points (2g, 1a) while O'Brien and Coleman had two goals each. Alexander made 11 saves to go with five caused turnovers and 11 grounds balls.
 
Hopkins returns to action on Thursday, March 23 as the Blue Jays host the third-ranked Northwestern Wildcats. Opening draw at Homewood Field is slated for 1:00 pm.