BALTIMORE, MD – Johns Hopkins junior Sophia Albano scored the unassisted game-winner with 3:58 remaining in the second overtime period to lift the Blue Jay field hockey team past Babson, 2-1, in the NCAA Semifinals at Trinity (CT) Friday afternoon. The win bumps the Blue Jays' record to 22-1 on the year and, more importantly, sends Johns Hopkins into Sunday's national championship game, where it will meet Tufts, which edged top-ranked Christopher Newport in the other semifinal on Friday afternoon.
Playing a person up for a good part of overtime after the Beavers drew a 10-minute yellow card, the Blue Jays pressured throughout the nearly two full overtime periods, ripping 10 shots at Babson goalie Madison Tibbals, who was up to the task eight times in overtime before Albano stuck the winner.
After intercepting a Babson clearing attempt, the Blue Jays quickly worked the ball to Albano in space near the top of the circle. She turned and dribbled into the circle with a defender on her hip and worked to four yards to the left of Tibbals before lifting the biggest goal of her career inside the far post to push the Blue Jays into their fourth national championship game in five years.
Early on, the Blue Jays capitalized on their first chance of the game to grab an early one-goal lead. After pressure resulted in the first corner of the game just 1:45 into play, the Blue Jays got a strong shot from Jenna Halpin that was saved cleanly by Tibbals, but the rebound kicked directly to Zoey Bennett, who side-stepped a defender and rifled home the first goal of the game at the 1:54 mark.
After giving up the early strike, the Beavers would tilt the field for a majority of the remainder of the first quarter and finally struck with just 21 seconds remaining in the opening period when Grace Mullaney lifted a shot past Aubrey Kilgore from the side after Kilgore had made back-to-back saves off a Beaver corner.
A frenetic first quarter saw the Beavers take seven of the nine combined shots registered by the two teams, but the Blue Jay defense clamped down over the ensuing 30 minutes and didn't allow a shot in the second or third quarter.
For their part, the Blue Jays had several golden chances in the second quarter to grab the lead – notably on a cross that bounced through the goalmouth with 12 minutes remaining and a Grace Waldeck back-hander that whistled just wide midway through the period – but the 1-1 tie held at the break.
To two best chances in the second half for either team came in the fourth quarter. Kilgore made a big kick save on a Mullaney offering and the Blue Jays sprung Waldeck behind the defense in the final minute of regulation, but she clipped the top of the ball on a one-timer from five yards out to send the game to overtime.
Babson's yellow card infraction came with just over three minutes remaining in the first overtime and gave the Blue Jays the one player advantage for the remainder of the first overtime and nearly seven full minutes of the second.
Johns Hopkins peppered Tibbals, but she was up to the task three times in the first extra session and five times in the second, including four times in a 90-second span as the clock dripped towards the five-minute mark.
Shortly after, she turned away an Ava Zimmerman offering from distance and the Beavers controlled the rebound, only to turn it over in the midfield. Exactly 10 seconds later, Albano's sixth goal of the season ended a semifinal that lived up to what a matchup of the second-ranked (JHU) and third-ranked (Babson) teams in the nation should look like.
Johns Hopkins held an 18-11 edge in shots and collected five of the eight corners in the game. Kilgore registered six saves in the victory, while Tibbals recorded 10 saves for the Beavers.
Johns Hopkins and Tufts will meet in the NCAA Tournament for the third time since 2018. The Jumbos topped the Blue Jays, 3-1, in the 2018 semifinals, but Johns Hopkins won the last meeting in 2019 with a 2-1 win in overtime in the quarterfinals.
-30-
Â
Gallery: (11-21-2025) Field Hockey vs. Babson (NCAA SF)
