March 30, 2013
BALTIMORE – A goal with five seconds remaining in overtime propelled No. 12 Johns Hopkins past the Vanderbilt lacrosse team on Saturday at Homewood Field, 12-11.
The American Lacrosse Conference rivalry featured nine ties and three lead changes and was not decided until JHU’s Taylor D’Amore scored her third of the game in the 66th minute. With the game tied at 11-11, Hopkins won a draw control and set up their offense with a minute to play. The Blue Jays first shot attempt was saved by VU senior goalkeeper Chelsea Pasfield, but Hopkins won the ensuing ground ball and D’Amore connected on the game-winner.
Vanderbilt had produced its own late-game heroics in the closing seconds of regulation. Hopkins held a one-goal lead with six minutes in regular time when they started stalling the game out. But junior Abby Wheeler came away with a ground ball after a Hopkins miscue to give the Commodores a final possession. Freshman Ashlin Dolan connected with eight seconds on the clock to tie the game at 10-10 and send it to overtime.
“I’m just extremely proud of our team,” VU Head Coach Cathy Swezey said. “To come out the way we did against Stanford and then show up the way we did today… it’s like two different teams. What do you say to your team when the results don’t go your way, even though you do everything right? Our kids are putting in the right effort, they care a ton, and we just believe in them. And we believe that this is going to end; we just have to keep our heads at it.”
In a game that was tight throughout, there were five ties in the first 30 minutes. Vanderbilt held one-goal leads on four occasions, but the Blue Jays answered each time.
Hopkins won the opening draw, but the Commodore defense held strong on the’ first possession. Pasfield registered two saves in the opening minutes, and sophomore Alex Duckenfield picked up the ground ball that led to Vanderbilt’s first opportunity. Freshman Mallory Schonk opened the scoring in the game’s fourth minute with an unassisted goal.
Hopkins would tie the game less than a minute later, and the period continued to go back-and-forth. Freshman Alexa Kunowsky scored on a free-position attempt in the seventh minute, only to see JHU even things up two minutes later. Senior Carly Linthicum scored her first goal of the game off a feed from classmate Olivia Goodman in the ninth minute.
The game’s first run started in the 11th minute and saw Hopkins score three straight goals to take a 5-3 advantage with 16 minutes to play. Vanderbilt rallied with three straight goals of its own. Goodman, Wheeler and Linthicum each tallied goals to give the Commodores a 6-5 advantage. The Blue Jays would score before the half ended to knot the score at 6-6 going to the break.
The Commodores took their only two-goal lead 10 minutes into the second half. After Linthicum netted her 40th goal of the season to give VU a 7-6 lead, Wheeler scored her second of the game on a free-position attempt that was earned by sophomore Meggie Ramzy.
Hopkins again went on a three-goal run to retake the advantage with 14 minutes to play. Schonk’s goal in the 49th minute marked the seventh tie of the game. Hopkins scored again with 7:18 to play before Dolan’s late equalizer forced extra time.
The two teams played the first three minutes of overtime without a goal. Hopkins then struck first on a free position goal at 64:21. But just 27 seconds later, Linthicum’s fourth goal of the game–off a feed from Schonk–made the score 10-10.
Saturday’s game marks VU’s first loss to Hopkins since an ALC Tournament matchup in 2007 at Homewood Field. Hopkins will again host the conference championship this May.
Vanderbilt returns home to play host to Harvard on Monday, April 1. The opening draw between the Commodores and the Crimson is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT at the VU Lacrosse Complex.
