BALTIMORE, MD – The 16^th-ranked Johns Hopkins women's lacrosse team nearly pulled off another stunning come-from-behind win on Saturday, but fell just short in a 15-14 loss to Rutgers in the Big Ten Quarterfinals. The Blue Jays slip to 8-8 overall while the Scarlet Knights improve to 8-8.
 
Trailing 15-10 with 7:27 to play, Hopkins rallied with four unanswered to pull within one with 39.1 ticks on the clock. Abbey Hurlbrink sparked the late rally as she won the draw and went right to the goal where she found Maeve Barker open on the back door for the score. Hurlbrink scored on a free position at 3:08 to make it a 15-12 game.
 
Hurlbrink then hit Ava Angello in stride and the freshman blew home her fifth of the afternoon just 30 seconds later. Jordan Carr made it a one-score game when she scooped up a ground ball on the doorstep and buried it. Rutgers won the ensuing draw control and was able to run out the clock.
 
Janey Galski put Rutgers on the board six minutes in to the first but Hopkins answered with a 5-1 run to push out to a 5-2 lead with 1:36 to play in the first. George Gorelick scored off the dodge to tie the game at the 5:45-mark. Just 41 seconds later, Carr took a pass from Bailey Cheetham and scored on the run. Charlotte Smith then found Angelo cutting to the crease and she scored on a quick-stick to make it 3-1 at 3:48.
 
Cassidy Spillis pulled the Scarlet Knights back within one just 35 seconds late, but the Blue Jays responded with goals from Gorelick and Campbell Case and it was 5-2 with 1:36 on the clock. The teams weren't done for the quarter however as the combined for three goals in the final 16.4 seconds. Marin Hartshorn made it 5-3 off a feed from Spillis at 16.4. Just 9.8 seconds later, Lily Dixon scored to make it a one-goal game. Hurlbrink won the draw and sent a long pass to Barker, who scored on a quick shot to beat the horn.
 
Hartshorn and Ashley Moynahan sandwiched goals around a strike from Angello and it was 7-6 with 11:56 left in the second. Angello and Cheetham answered with back-to-back goals in a two-minute span and it was a three-goal Hopkins lead at 7:42. Hartshorn scored an unassisted tally with 6:30 to go to spark a five-goal Rutgers' run. Dixon capped the run with an unassisted score at 3:27 in the third that put Rutgers up 11-9.
 
Angello pulled Hopkins back within one with a score in traffic with 51.4 ticks left. Rutgers responded with four unanswered to push out to that 15-10 lead with 7:27 to play, setting the stage for an exciting final seven minutes.
 
Hurlbrink led the Blue Jays with her second straight six-point outing and a career-high five assists. Angello scored the five goals while Gorelick added a hat trick. Barker (2g), Carr (2g) and Cheetham (2a) also had multi-point days. This is the second time this season that Hopkins has had a player with five goals and a player with five assists. Annie Marshall had a game-high six draws. Maggie Tydings made nine saves while Madison McPherson and Haleigh Moore had a pair of caused turnovers each.
 
Spillis led Rutgers with a game-high seven points on five goals and two assists. Dixon (2g, 3a) and Hartshorn (3g, 2a) also had five-point performances. Meghan Ball added five draws and four caused turnovers while Cardello finished with 11 saves.
 
Notes: Angello now has 46 points on the season, tied for the fourth most points by a freshman in JHU history • Her 34 goals are the fifth most by a freshman • Marshall now has 81 draws on the season, the third best single-season total in JHU history.