COLLEGE PARK, MD – Top-seeded Northwestern hung on for a 16-15 win over fifth-seeded Johns Hopkins in the Big Ten semifinals Friday night. The Blue Jays fall to 12-6 on the season while the Wildcats improve to 15-2 and advance to Sunday's title game.
 
Leading by two at the start of the fourth quarter, Northwestern got goals from Niki Miles and Madison Taylor to push out to a 15-11 lead at the 9:27-mark. Hopkins responded with two goals in a 32-second span spark a 4-1 run. Laurel Gonzalez got things going when she got open on the backdoor and slammed home a pass from Taylor Hoss at 8:56. Samantha DiCarlo then scored off a Charlotte Smith helper and the deficit was two.
 
DiCarlo made it two in a row when she back-handed a pass from Lacey Downey at the 6:42-mark and it was a one-goal game. The Wildcats answered quickly with a Taylor Lapointe goal on the doorstep 48 seconds later. Hopkins turned defense into offense when a Reagan O'Brien caused turnover led to a Charlotte Smith goal with four minutes on the clock. Hopkins had a chance to tie it after a Morgan Giardina save on Riley Campbell with 2:17 to play, but the Blue Jays could not get the equalizer.
 
Lauren Archer put Northwestern on the board early in the first, but Hopkins answered with goals from Ava Angello and DiCarlo to go up 2-1 at 7:20. Miles converted an eight-meter, one of 11 eight-meter shots for the 'Cats, to ignite a 5-0 NU run. Miles capped the run at 11:39 in the second quarter to put the Wildcats up 6-2. Hoss halted the run with a lefty rip off a Charlotte Smith behind-the-back pass just 73 seconds later. Charlotte Smith and Angello followed with back-to-back goals and in a matter of just one minute 45 seconds the deficit was back to one.
 
Sam Smith and Downey traded goals in a 25-second span and Northwestern took a 7-6 lead into the half. The 'Cats came out of the half with a pair of goals in the opening two minutes to push out to a 9-6 lead. Angello blew home an eight-meter shot at 11:13 and Gonzalez followed with a quick strike from the left alley and once again it was a one-goal game. Miles then sandwiched a pair of scores around a Campbell Case goal and it was 11-9 with 5:47 to play in the third. Megan Kielbasa made it an 11-10 game with an eight-meter goal just 28 seconds later. NU answered with goals from Taylor and Sam Smith and the 'Cats lead was three with 2:01 on the clock. The Blue Jays took advantage of another O'Brien takeaway in the final minute with a Hoss breakaway goal to end the quarter.
 
Charlotte Smith led Hopkins with a career-high five points and three assists to go with two goals. Hoss tallied four points (2g, 2a) while Angello (3g), DiCarlo (3g) and Downey (1g, 2a) had three points each. Angello notched her 200^th career point with her third goal, becoming just the eighth player in school Division I history to reach the mark.
 
O'Brien broke both the NCAA single season record and the Johns Hopkins' career record for caused turnovers in the game. She broke the NCAA mark with her fifth and the JHU mark with her sixth. She finished with seven caused turnovers, six ground balls and an assist. Gonzalez also controlled seven draws to go with her two goals. Giardina made a career-high 12 saves and picked up two ground balls.
 
Miles led the Wildcats with five goals and six points while Taylor had four goals and five points. Sam Smith controlled a game-high 13 draws to go with her two goals. Delaney Sweitzer made 10 saves in the win.
 
Hopkins will wait for a possible NCAA Tournament at-large berth with the announcement of the field on Sunday, May 4. The NCAA Selection Show is scheduled for 9:00 pm on ESPNU.