Johns Hopkins University Athletics

BALTIMORE, MD – Johns Hopkins isn't called the Cardiac Jays for nothing. Visiting Stony Brook had the ball and a one-goal lead with 1:39 on the clock. But a pair of Reagan O'Brien caused turnovers and goals from Paige Willard and Taylor Hoss sends Hopkins to its first NCAA Division I Final Four. The Blue Jays improve to 17-4 on the season while the Seawolves end their season at 19-3. Stony Brook's last two losses of the season came to Johns Hopkins – 67 days apart.
 
Isabella Caporuscio scored off the dodge with 13:43 left in the fourth to put Stony Brook up 12-10. As it turned out, that was the Seawolves last goal of the game. The comeback began with a record-setting goal for Ava Angello two minutes and 40 seconds later. Hoss found Angello in the slot, she pumped and then beat Natalia Altebrando for her 78^th goal of the season and to cut the deficit in half.
 
The score would stand at 12-11 for nine minutes and 35 seconds. And then O'Brien, a Tewaaraton Finalist, went to work. After a Seawolves' timeout with 1:39 to play, the Blue Jays triple teamed Caporuscio and it was O'Brien coming up with the check to put the ball on the ground. Hoss picked up the ball and found Willard in the eight and she went low-to-high to tie the game at 12 with 1:28 to play.
 
Hopkins won the ensuing draw but a turnover gave Stony Brook the ball with 33 ticks on the clock. Once again, it was O'Brien with the takeaway and Lacey Downey with the ground ball with 13.7 seconds left, but in their own defensive end. No problem for the Blue Jays. Four passes later, Angello drew a slide on the crease and made one more pass to a wide-open Hoss, who buried it as time expired to send JHU to Championship Weekend.
 
This one had all the makings of a classic from the start. Stony Brook jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the game's opening nine and a half minutes. Angello got the Blue Jays on the board with a scoop and score off a loose ball at the 5:01-mark. Downey followed with back-to-back goals, just 60 seconds apart, to knot the score at three. SBU answered with three straight, including a pair from Hayden Eisfeld in a run that spanned nearly 12 minutes and saw the Seawolves grab a 6-3 lead. Hoss sparked a three-goal JHU run when she caused a turnover on the SBU clear and then got free in the arc and fired home a Downey helper. Downey then blew home an eight-meter with 13 ticks on the clock to make it a 6-5 game at the half. Willard opened the third with another transition goal for the Blue Jays, tying the game at six with 13:43 to play in the third.
 
Just 68 seconds later, Julia Fusco scored on a low shot to ignite a 5-1 Stony Brook run. Caporuscio capped the run seven and a half minutes later, putting the Seawolves up 11-7. Sixty-seven days earlier, the Blue Jays also trailed the Seawolves at the half. That early March day, it took Hopkins just 95 seconds of the third to grab the lead and went on to win 13-11. Today, it took just a little bit longer but the Blue Jays got the lead and another come-from-behind win.
 
It all started with 3:30 on the clock in the third, when Samantha DiCarlo scored on a quick-stick off an Angello feed. That ignited a game-ending 6-1 run that spanned 18 and a half minutes, capped by Hoss' third of the afternoon. The JHU defense forced seven turnovers and held Stony Brook to just four shots in those final 18 and a half minutes.
 
Hoss led the Blue Jays with a career-best nine points and six assists She also broke the school single season assist record and eclipsed the 100-point mark. She now boasts 57 assists and 102 points. Angello finished with six points (4g, 2a) and broke the single season and career goal records. She now counts 78 goals on the season and 236 for her career. Downey added four points (3g, 1a) and broke the 100-point mark as well. O'Brien caused five turnovers to go with four ground balls and two draw controls. Ashley Langdon made seven saves, including back-to-back saves with five minutes to play.
 
Caporuscio finished with a team-high five points with three goals and two assists. Eisfeld added a hat trick, while Mirabella Altebrando totaled three (2g, 1a). Braeden Siverson controlled a game-high 14 draws and Natalia Altebrando tallied seven saves.
 
Hopkins advances to the NCAA Semifinals and will take on winner of top-ranked Northwestern and 10^th-ranked Northwestern on Friday, May 22 in Evanston, IL.
 
Notes: Hopkins' wins its school-record 17^th game of the season, breaking the mark held by the 1994 squad • Hoss' nine points and six assists tie the JHU records for points and assists in an NCAA Tournament game • This is the first time in program history that three players have tallied at least 100 points in the same season (Angello 106 / Downey 103 / Hoss 102)
 
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