April 18, 2008

Box Score

EVANSTON, IL - Johns Hopkins senior Kadie Stamper (Bel Air, MD/C. Milton Wright) scored a career-high five goals but the Blue Jays upset bid fell just short to #1 Northwestern in front of 918 fans at Lakeside Field Friday night. The Blue Jays slip to 6-8 overall and 0-2 in the American Lacrosse Conference while the Wildcats remain undefeated at 14-0 overall and 4-0 in the ALC.

Hopkins came out of the gate firing as senior Kirby Houck (Baltimore, MD/Garrison Forest) put the Blue Jays on the board just 1:40 into the game. Houck dodged the left alley and scored on a shot over the stick-side shoulder of Morgan Lathrop. Northwestern answered just 35 seconds later as Hilary Bowen rolled the crease and scored to knot the score at 1-1. Stamper pushed Hopkins back on top at 4:45 on a free position goal. Just over a minute later, she gave the visitors a two-goal lead. Senior Lauren Schwarzmann (Sykesville, MD/Century) took a free position shot that Lathrop took off the helmet. Stamper, standing on the crease, picked up the loose ball and buried it for her second of the night.

Bowen cut the deficit to one scoring off a restart after a Hopkins foul to make it a 3-2 game with 19:09 to play. Hopkins then got back-to-back saves from sophomore Lizzie O'Ferrall (Baltimore, MD/Mount De Sales). Hannah Nielsen tied the game again with 12:32 to play, but Houck answered just 20 seconds later to put the Blue Jays back on top. A Danielle Spencer goal on a free position shot tied the game for the third time at 4-4, but goals from sophomore Sam Schrum (Pasadena, MD/St. Mary's), Schwarzmann and Stamper and it looked like the Blue Jays would take a 7-4 lead into half. Spencer won the draw for Northwestern though, who fed it to Nielsen who in turn found Casey Donohoe open on the crease. Donohoe scored as time expired to make it a 7-5 game at the half.

Nielsen quickly put the Wildcats on the board, making it a 7-6 game just 29 seconds in. Hopkins once again answered as sophomore Paige Ibello (Cockeysville, MD/Maryvale) and Stamper found the cage to push the Blue Jays lead back to three. Northwestern won the ensuing draw and Spencer scored on a behind the cage feed from Nielsen. That goal ignited the Wildcats offense as they scored six straight in a span of less than five minutes to take a 12-9 lead. It went back-and-forth in the final 16 minutes as the teams traded goals to account for the final 14-12 score.

O'Ferrall finished with seven saves for the Blue Jays while Lathrop had six for the Wildcats. Stamper's five goals pushes her into eighth place in school Division I history with 91 career goals. She also had three draw controls to give her 199 for her career, just three shy of tying Jamie Larrimore's all-time school record of 202. Bowen led the Wildcats with four goals on the night.

Hopkins returns to action on Saturday as the Blue Jays travel to State College to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions. The ALC match-up is slated to start at 1 pm.