Sept. 8, 2009

     Johns Hopkins opened its 35th season of field hockey with a 4-0 shutout of Virginia Wesleyan at the US National Training Center in Virginia Beach. Four different Blue Jays scored in the team’s first season-opening shutout since 1992. Senior Sophia Tieu and sophomore Kim Stein combined for the shutout with seven saves, while sophomore Carly Bianco scored the game-winner.

     On Saturday, Hopkins rolled to a 7-0 win over Kenyon at the Black-Eyed Susan Tournament. Senior Kelly Kimmerling led the Blue Jays with a pair of goals. Senior Catie Farrow notched the game-winner just 12:50 into the game. Tieu earned the start in goal and played 61:58 while making one save. Freshman Elizabeth Peijnenburg came on in relief and made one save in her collegiate debut to help preserve the shutout.

 

     Senior goalie Sophia Tieu was named the Centennial Conference Defensive Player of the Week on Tuesday. She has made eight saves in just over 122 minutes of action without surrendering a goal. Tieu helped lead Hopkins to wins over Virginia Wesleyan and Kenyon.

     Seniors Brittany Bland and Kelly Kimmerling were named to the Black-Eyed Susan All-Tournament Team after their performance in Saturday's win over Kenyon. Bland scored a goal and added an assist, while Kimmerling scored a pair of goals.

 

     Johns Hopkins travels to Lexington, VA to take on Washington & Lee on Friday evening and Eastern Mennonite on Saturday.

     Though Hopkins leads the all-time series with W&L, 6-0, the Blue Jays have needed overtime to top the Generals in each of the last two seasons. Last year, JHU rallied from an early one-goal deficit to defeat W&L on Leah Horton’s goal just 58 seconds into overtime. 

     Eastern Mennonite leads the all-time series with JHU, 4-3, and has won the last two meetings. However, the two have not met since the 2003 season.

 

     Johns Hopkins opened the season ranked 11th in the NFHCA Division III preseason poll. It matches the highest preseason ranking for the Blue Jays. Hopkins has been ranked in the NFHCA Poll for 22 consecutive weeks, a program record. The first regular season poll is slated to be released on September 15.

 

     The Blue Jays are the road warriors in 2009 as they will play just five of their 17 regular-season games at Homewood Field. Hopkins plays its first five games away from home before hosting Gettysburg on September 19.

 

     Head coach Megan Fraser returns for her 13th season at the helm of the Blue Jays. She is the longest tenured and winningest coach in program history. She boasts a career record of 150-91 (.622). Fraser is also the winningest coach in Centennial Conference history. She has guided the Blue Jays to at least 10 victories in 11 of her 12 seasons, five NCAA tournament appearances, three Centennial Conference titles and two ECAC tournament appearances.

 

     The Blue Jays will be captained by seniors Andrea Vandersall, Chantal Serle and Brittany Bland this season. The trio has helped Hopkins to a 45-19 (.703) record and two NCAA Tournament appearances in three seasons.

 

     Hopkins was picked to third second in the Centennial Conference in a preseason vote of the conference’s head coaches. Four-time defending champion Ursinus garnered 10 first-place votes and 100 points to earn the top spot. Gettysburg edged out JHU for second place with 86 points and one first-place vote. Hopkins, runners-up the last three years, is in third place with 85 points. Haverford (66 points) and Washington College (64) round out the top five.

© 2010 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy (UPDATED) | Terms of Use | About Us | Advertise | Feedback | XML RSS Feeds