Dec. 5, 2007

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The Johns Hopkins field hockey team had one of the finest seasons in the program's history, posting a 14-6 record and making its seventh NCAA Tournament appearance. The Blue Jays did all this while playing the 11th toughest schedule in the nation with seven of their 18 opponents ranked in the top 20 nationally.

Hopkins opened the season on a high note, upsetting #4 Cortland 4-2 at the Black-Eyed Susan Tournament for the program's first ever win over the Red Dragons. Junior Emily Miller paced the offense with two goals as sophomore goalie Sophia Tieu finished with four saves in the win. The following day, the Blue Jays rolled over FDU-Florham by a 5-1 score to finish in the third place in the tournament. This time it was junior Leah Horton leading the way, scoring two goals in just over 10 minutes.

The Blue Jays returned to Homewood Field, celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2007, to take on the Drew Rangers. The Hopkins' offense exploded again, downing Drew 6-1 on the strength of two-goal outings from Miller and sophomore Andrea Vandersall. Sophomore Meaghan Malloy scored her first career goal in the win for the Blue Jays. Tied for the longest win streak to open a season, Hopkins hit the road to take on #8 Salisbury. Hopkins outshot Salisbury 15-5, including a 12-4 edge in the first half, but junior Adair Landy and the Blue Jays found the cage just once in a tough 2-1 loss.

Three days later, Hopkins opened up its Centennial Conference slate against visiting Gettysburg. The Bullets took an early lead and it took nearly 30 minutes for the Blue Jays to draw even when Horton converted a penalty stroke just over eight minutes into the second half. It would take overtime to decided the game as Miller scored just 17 seconds into the extra stanza to give head coach Megan Callahan Fraser her record 65th Centennial Conference victory. The win, backed by Tieu's season-high nine saves in the cage, pushed Fraser past former Gettysburg coach Carol Cantele. For Miller, it was the fastest overtime goal in program history.

For the second straight game, Hopkins played and won an overtime game. Sophomore Gabi Henn ended a scoreless draw with 5:01 to play in the second overtime, giving the Blue Jays a 1-0 win over the visiting Washington & Lee Generals. Hopkins picked up its third straight win three days later with a 4-1 win over Dickinson. After needing nearly 95 minutes to score on Sunday, the Blue Jays waited just 38 seconds to get on the scoreboard against the Red Devils. Miller scored the first of the Blue Jays' three first half goals. Graduate student Leah Dudley and freshman Jennifer Motylinski each scored their first of the season to give the Jays a 3-0 lead heading into the half. Dickinson got on the board midway through the second, but Hopkins answered right back with sophomore Catie Farrow's first goal of the season. Tieu had another solid outing in the cage, finishing with eight saves.

Hopkins scored four goals in the second half to rally to defeat Haverford 4-1 for its fourth straight win and ninth over the Fords. With the game tied at 1-1 with less than 10 minutes to play, the Blue Jays got goals from Landy, Horton and Henn in the span of less than six minutes to take the win. Just four days later, Henn and Landy combined for four goals to give Hopkins its first win at Swarthmore since 2001. The Blue Jays took a 1-0 lead just 7:21 on a strike from Henn and they did not look back in a 6-1 win. Hopkins made it six straight wins with a 4-0 blanking of Washington College. The Blue Jays once again struck early, as Landy put Hopkins on top just 2:23 in. Landy would pace the offense with her second straight two-goal outing. Vandersall and Horton also scored in the win as Tieu posted six saves to earn her first career shutout.

The Blue Jays win streak came to an end with a 3-1 loss at the hands of #6 Christopher Newport. The Captains took the lead late in the first half, but the Blue Jays struck right back when senior Megan Maguire tipped home a pass from Landy. CNU retook the lead for good with less than five minutes to play in the half and would add a final goal just 36 seconds into the second half. Hopkins rebounded with a 2-0 shutout of #18 Franklin & Marshall with a four save effort from Tieu. Henn and junior Katie Wong provided the offense for the Blue Jays.

Miller led the way in a 4-1 win over Muhlenberg, netting her second career hat trick against the Mules. She had a hand in all four goals in fact, tallying an assist on sophomore Kelly Kimmerling's goal. A two-goal second half was not enough for Hopkins in a 4-3 loss to #5 TCNJ. After taking an early 1-0 lead, the Lions scored three unanswered to take a 3-1 lead into the half. Landy pulled the Blue Jays within one 6:11 into the second, but the Lions came back less than two minutes later to push the lead back to two. With 17:11 remaining in the game, Henn scored her second of the night to cut the deficit to just one. But the Blue Jays could not find the cage again as the Lions held on for the win.

Hopkins returned home and posted its fourth shutout of the season, blanking McDaniel 4-0. Once again, the Blue Jays got on the board early with Landy scoring just 69 seconds into the contest. Miller and Dudley would each chip in a goal as Hopkins led 3-0 at the break. The win set up a Centennial Conference showdown between #7 Hopkins and #6 Ursinus in a battle for the #1 seed in the conference tournament. The Bears jumped on the Blue Jays early and won 5-1 to take the regular season title and home field advantage for the tournament. Hopkins closed out the regular season with a 9-0 shutout of Bryn Mawr on senior day. Six different Blue Jays scored in the win, led by Miller's second hat trick of the season. Three seniors, Webster, Maguire and Sarah Bender, tallied a point in the win as freshman Sarah Jacobs got her first career goal.

In the Centennial Conference semifinals, Muhlenberg took a 1-0 lead into the half after scoring on a penalty corner as time expired. Hopkins rallied in the second with goals from Henn and Horton to set-up a rematch of the 2006 title game. Unfortunately for Hopkins, 2007 would be no different, as Ursinus knocked off Hopkins in the Centennial Conference title game. Hopkins grabbed the lead early when Vandersall punched home a pass from senior Kristin Strief just 4:23 into the game. The Blue Jays looked to take the lead into the half, but the Bears struck twice in the final 1:37 including a penalty corner goal with time expired, to take a 2-1 lead. Hopkins needed just three minutes of the second half to even things up as Vandersall redirected Horton's shot from the top of the circle to make it a 2-2 game. However, the tie did not last long, as Ursinus retook the lead less than three minutes later and added an insurance goal just three minutes after that.

The following morning, Hopkins learned its post-season fate, earning an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament - its first since 2003. The Blue Jays would travel to Huntingdon, PA to take on the Juniata Eagles, winners of the Landmark Conference. Hopkins struck first when Dudley scored off a penalty corner from freshman Ariana Branchini just 7:02 into the game. The Eagles drew even at the 19:30 mark off a goal from Leslie Stern. With play going back and forth for the remainder of the first and into the second, it was Juniata that would find the cage, scoring off a penalty corner with just 4:12 remaining. Hopkins had some chances at the end, but could not find the equalizer and the Blue Jays season ended at 14-6.

Though the season was over, numerous Blue Jays earned post-season honors. Landy, Horton and Tieu all earned First Team All-Centennial honors. Webster and Miller were named to the second team. In addition, Horton, Dudley, Malloy, Vandersall, Farrow. junior Meghan Marshall and sophomore Brittany Bland were named to the Centennial Academic Honor Roll. Horton, Landy, Webster and Miller all earned Longstreth/NFHCA All-Region honors, with Horton and Landy earning First Team honors. Horton and Landy also earned All-American honors from both the NFHCA and womensfieldhockey.com.