BALTIMORE, MD – The ninth-ranked Johns Hopkins women's soccer team struck twice in the first 11 minutes of the second half to break a scoreless tie and the Blue Jays went on to a 2-0 Centennial Conference victory over Gettysburg at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon.
 
The Blue Jays improve to 8-1-3 overall and 6-0 in the Centennial Conference with the win, while the Bullets slip to 1-8-3 overall and 0-5-1 in the Centennial.  The Blue Jays are now unbeaten in their last 11 (8-0-3) after today's win.
 
Johns Hopkins peppered the Bullets with 16 first-half shots, but couldn't solve Bullet goalie Alex Jurow, who made seven saves before the break, including a pair of diving stops, to keep the game scoreless.
 
The Blue Jays pressured early in the second half and drew a penalty kick after Gettysburg was called for handball in the box just 72 seconds after play had resumed.  Senior Juliana Taxter stepped to the line and buried her offering just past the outstretched hands of Jurow. who had guessed correctly on where Taxter was going, to give the Jays a one-goal lead.
 
The 1-0 score held for just over nine minutes, when junior Natalie Smith doubled the Blue Jay lead.  After subbing on in the 53^rd minute, Smith needed less than three minutes to find the net as she controlled a pass from Maria Romo-Nichols and worked her way past a defender near the top of the box.  From there, her left-footed chance snuck just inside the far post beyond the finger tips of a diving Jurow for what proved to be the insurance goal.
 
Johns Hopkins dominated the stat sheet as the Blue Jays held a 31-3 advantage in shots and took 10 of the game's 12 corner kicks, but Jurow finished with 10 saves to keep the Bullets close.  Jurow's counterpart – Tia Harrison – was forced to make just one save in recording Johns Hopkins' seventh shutout of the season, including the fourth straight.
 
After playing at home just three time is in the first 11 games of the year, Johns Hopkins will return to Homewood Field for the second of three straight at home on Wednesday, October 16 when Swarthmore visits Baltimore (7 pm).