PISCATAWAY, NJ –
Lacey Downey scored a career-best six goals to lead eighth-ranked Johns Hopkins to a 15-12 win at Rutgers in both teams' Big Ten opener Saturday afternoon. The Blue Jays improve to 8-1 overall with their fourth straight win, while the Scarlet Knights slip to 5-4.
Hopkins jumped out to a 3-0 lead with a pair of
Ava Angello goals sandwiched around a
McKenzey Craig score in the opening 5:07 of the game. Caroline Ling got Rutgers on the board at the 8:20-mark with a shot in traffic and Delainey Sutley then cut the deficit in half with a quick-stick a little less than four minutes later.
Sienna Chirieleison answered for the Blue Jays when she took a pass from
Paige Willard, dipped under her defender and then picked the right post on the run at 3:33. Angello then completed her first quarter hat trick when she came from behind the goal and beat Stella Quilty with the lefty sidearm with just 17 ticks on the clock. The Blue Jays once again struck in the opening minute of the quarter when Downey scored on a bouncer just 41 seconds in to put the Jays up 6-2.
The Scarlet Knights roared back with five unanswered, including three straight from Kate Theofield, in a span of just 5:33. Payton Tini capped the run when she took a pass from Lily Dixon, turned and scored on a low shot to give Rutgers a 7-6 lead at the 6:32-mark.
Hopkins came right back with three goals in just two minutes and 11 seconds. Downey buried back-to-back eight-meter goals from the same spot to grab the lead back for the Blue Jays. She then she cut across the fan, took a pass from
Taylor Hoss and blew home her fourth of the afternoon to put JHU up 9-7 with 2:40 to go in the half.
Rutgers came out firing to start the third, scoring the first three goals of the quarter to take a 10-9 lead. Ling opened the scoring with a shot off the dodge and then back-to-back goals from Theofield put the Scarlet Knights on top with 9:06 to play in the third.
Samantha DiCarlo and Downey answered with back-to-back eight-meters and Hopkins led 11-10 after three.
JHU picked up right where it left off when Willard scored off a fee from Hoss at goal line extended just 24 seconds into the quarter. Hoss then scored off a left-handed rip while going to the ground to put the Blue Jays up 13-10 at the 12:05-mark. Theofield halted the four-goal run just 59 seconds later with her sixth of the afternoon.
After a Quilty save, Downey intercepted her clearing pass before finding Willard open for the slam dunk at 8:47. Downey then blew home her school-record-tying fourth eight-meter of the day to stake Hopkins to a 15-11 lead five minutes later. Rutgers wasn't done as Ling scored off a Theofield helper just 70 seconds later to cut the deficit to three. The Blue Jays held the Scarlet Knights without a shot in the final 3:27 to secure the win.
Downey finished with the six goals and a career-best eight points to go with five ground balls and four caused turnovers. Four of her six goals came on free position, tying the school single-game record. Angello added a hat trick and Hoss notched four points with a goal and three assists. Willard also had a multi-point game with two goals.
Laurel Gonzalez controlled nine draws and
Ashley Langdon finished with eight saves.
Theofield matched Downey's six goals and added an assist to finish with seven points. Ling also tallied seven points (3g, 4a) while Dixon handed out four assists. Katie Buck had a game-high 15 draws while Bianca Chiarella caused four turnovers. Quilty finished with seven saves in the cage.
Hopkins returns to action on Thursday, March 19 as the Blue Jays host the USC Trojans. Opening draw for the Big Ten contest is scheduled for 4:00 pm.
