BALTIMORE, MD – The 21^st-ranked Johns Hopkins women's soccer team scored twice in a span of 30 seconds midway through the first half to grab a 2-0 lead and the Blue Jay defense turned in a smothering performance in a 3-0 victory against Muhlenberg Saturday afternoon at Homewood Field.  The win, the third straight and eighth in nine games for the Blue Jays, bumps Hopkins' record to 11-4-1 overall and 6-2 in the Centennial Conference, while the Mules had a three-match unbeaten streak snapped and slip to 5-9-2 overall and 2-5-1 in the Centennial.

With the win, the Blue Jays set up a big final week of the regular season, but first things first.
 
On Saturday, the Blue Jays pressured from the start as they fired 23 first-half shots and collected eight corners in the opening 45 minutes.  Still, all the damage was done in a 30-second span midway through the half as they struck twice in that span to grab a 2-0 lead.
 
The Blue Jays would open the scoring in the 26^th minute when senior Maria Romo-Nichols challenged the defense from the top and was taken down in the box to draw a penalty kick.  Romo-Nichols slipped her PK just inside the post and just out of reach of Muhlenberg goalie Dani Klingener, who guessed right but couldn't quite reach Romo-Nichols' offering.
 
Shortly after the ensuing kickoff, it was Romo-Nichols coming up with possession and pushing forward into the area, where she slipped a pass through the legs of a defender and onto the foot of sophomore Carolyn Johnson, who one-touched it past a charging Klingener into the corner of the goal.
 
The Blue Jays would tack on a goal from senior Megha Salvi less than two minutes into the second half.   Salvi collected a bouncing ball near the top of the box, split a pair of defenders and fired a left-footed blast into the top of the goal to close the scoring.
 
The Blue Jay defense would allow just one Muhlenberg shot, which came in the 79^th minute, and junior Stephanie Wyszkowski was not forced to make a save in recording the team's eighth shutout of the season.
 
Romo-Nichols etched her name in the Blue Jay record book with her effort as her goal was the 20^th of her career.  With that, she becomes just the fifth player in program history to amass 20 goals and 20 assists; her assist on Johnson's goal was the 25^th of her career.
 
With two games remaining, the Blue Jays currently sit in third place in the Centennial Conference standings, one point behind second-place Dickinson, which will visit Homewood Field on Wednesday, October 29 (7 pm).  Dickinson will wrap up the coveted number two seed in the upcoming Centennial Conference Tournament with a win, while a victory for the Blue Jays would give Hopkins a two-point lead in the standings heading into the season finale at Ursinus next Saturday.  There is no way for Johns Hopkins and Dickinson to end up in a tie for second place; the first and second-place teams in the final regular-season standings earn a bye into the semifinals in the upcoming Centennial Conference Tournament, while the teams seeded third and fourth will host first-round games.