Nov. 17, 2009
Johns Hopkins Women's Soccer Notes in PDF Format 
A LOOK BACK
The seventh-ranked Johns Hopkins women’s soccer team advanced through the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament last weekend at Homewood Field. The Blue Jays defeated Cabrini, 4-0, and Eastern, 2-1.
Hopkins shut out Cabrini, 4-0, in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament last Saturday. Natalie Held opened the scoring in the 28th minute. Allie Zazzali made the score 2-0 just five minutes into the second half off passes from Sarah Tankard and Erica Suter. Zazzali would also score her fourth goal of the season later in the game. Caitlin Moore closed out the scoring on the day on a long pass from Ava Scheininger. Karen Guszkowski and Kristen Redsun split time for the shutout.
Next on the docket for the Blue Jays was Eastern, who beat Virginia Wesleyan, 1-0, in the first round. Jessica Hnatiuk scored just 7:10 into the game on a direct kick into the upper left corner. Erin Stafford scored her eighth goal of the season on an assist from Suter. Eastern would score with two minutes left in the game, ending the Johns Hopkins shutout streak at six games.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The Blue Jays will host the Sectionals of the NCAA Tournament for the first time. The first game, at 12:00 pm on November 21, will feature #9 Otterbein (20-1-1) and #1 Messiah (21-0-1). Messiah is looking to defend its 2008 National Championship.
#7 Johns Hopkins will face #12 Middlebury at 2:30 pm on Saturday. This will the be the first ever meeting between the two teams. The Sectional Championship will take place at 2:00 pm on Sunday, November 22.
STREAKS
Senior goalie Karen Guszkowski had a shutout streak of 498:51 broken against Eastern. The last goal Guszkowski had allowed was against Gettysburg on October 10. This is good enough for sixth all-time on the Hopkins consecutive scoreless minutes list. It was her sixth shutout streak since October 2007 of 400+ minutes. In addition, five of those six streaks were over 450 minutes.
Sophomore goalie Kristen Redsun had a shutout streak of 496:11 earlier this season, which is good enough to put Redsun seventh on the all-time consecutive scoreless minutes list at Johns Hopkins. The streak ended on October 17 against Muhlenberg. The streak began on October 25, 2008 at Bryn Mawr. In addition Guszkowski had a shutout streak of 479:34 that was snapped in the win over Haverford on October 3. That streak stretched from September 12 to October 3.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Junior defender Jessica Hnatiuk was named the Centennial Conference Player of the Year. She led a Blue Jay defense that has allowed only eight goals this season and has recorded 15 shutouts. She also scored four goals and recorded one assist. Hnatiuk is the third Johns Hopkins Player to earn Player of the Year honors. She is the just the third defender, and first since 1996, to earn Player of the Year Honors.
ALL-CENTENNIAL TEAMS
The Blue Jays placed five players on the All-Centennial teams. Karen Guszkowski, Jenn Paulucci, and Jessica Hnatiuk were named to the first team. Erica Suter was named to the second team and Erin Stafford was an honorable mention.
SISTER ACT
Senior Natalie Held will not be the only Held daughter playing in the NCAA Sectionals this weekend. Held’s sister, Libby, plays for Washington University of St. Louis, who will play Wheaton (IL) in its next game at Augustana (IL).
YEAR OF THE SHUTOUT
The Blue Jays have played 21 games this season and 18 of those have been shutouts. Hopkins has been on the winning end 15 times. The program record for shutouts in a season is 17, set last season. In all, 19 of the Blue Jays’ 23 games last year were shutouts. The 2-1 win at Haverford on October 3 was Hopkins’ first game this year that was not a shutout.
TOUGH SLATE
Head coach Leo Weil does not shy away from playing ranked teams as the Blue Jays enter this week’s action having played five top-20 teams, with four of those ranked in the top 10. JHU is 3-2-0 against ranked opponents this season. Two of Hopkins’ losses this season have come to top-10 opponents, Messiah and William Smith, which boast a combined record of 25-3-2. The Falcons, the top-ranked team in the nation, shutout the Blue Jays, 2-0, on September 9. Three days later, Hopkins lost a heartbreaker, 1-0, at #9 William Smith. The Falcons are ranked first in the nation, while the Herons are currently ranked 14th.
CLOSE CALLS
Eight of Hopkins’ 21 games so far this year have been decided by just one goal and the Blue Jays are 7-1-0 in those games. Since 2004, Hopkins is 40-9 (.816) in games decided by one goal and 87-45 (.659) all-time in one-goal games.
IN THE POLLS
The Johns Hopkins women’s soccer team is ranked seventh in the NSCAA poll this week- moving up three spots from the last poll. The Blue Jays have been ranked in the NSCAA for 22 consecutive weeks. The Blue Jays are ranked second in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Hopkins is ranked eighth in the D3soccer.com poll.
MOVING UP THE RANKS
Sophomore Erica Suter is ninth in program history with 22 career goals and ranks 12th in program history with 52 points.
Suter had two assists last weekend.
Senior Karen Guszkowski enters this week with 188 career saves and 29 career shutouts, ranking her second and third in program history, respectively in each category.
WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS
Johns Hopkins opened its 18th season of women’s soccer with a 1-0 win over then eighth-ranked Washington University. The following afternoon the Blue Jays defeated then 10th-ranked Lynchburg, 1-0, to capture the JHU Invitational title.
AT THE HELM
Head coach Leo Weil has been at the helm of the women’s soccer program at Johns Hopkins since it began in 1992. He has taken the program to new heights in the last decade, recording 12 wins or more each season, including fourth 18-win seasons, a school-record.
Weil boasts an impressive 227-87-27 (.705) career record at Hopkins. In 1997, in just the sixth year of its varsity status and one year following its first winning season, Hopkins went 15-3-1 on its way to clinching its second straight Centennial Conference title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, the first postseason appearance in program history. The Blue Jays have since earned seven NCAA Tournament berths, two ECAC South titles and five more Centennial championships.
OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN
The Blue Jays will be led by captains Karen Guszkowski, Natalie Held and junior Allie Zazzali this season.
CENTENNIAL PRESEASON PICKS
Hopkins was picked to win its fifth consecutive Centennial Conference title in a preseason vote of the conference’s head coaches. The Blue Jays are searching for their fifth consecutive conference title and another NCAA Tournament berth. In 2008 the Blue Jays finished the season a program best 18-1-4 and their only loss came at the hands of William Smith in the Sweet
