Women's Soccer Season Review

The Blue Jays Reached the Elite Eight for First Time

Printer-Friendly Format

E-mail this article

The Blue Jays have won five straight Centennial Conference Championships.

Women's Soccer Home

HEADLINES

Women's Soccer Season Review

Guszkowski Named First Team All-American

Three Blue Jays are Named to the 2009 ECAC DIII South All-Star Teams

• Email this to a friend

Dec. 14, 2009

Women's Soccer Season Review in PDF Format

The Johns Hopkins women’s soccer team entered the 2009 season looking to win its fifth consecutive Centenial Conference Championship and improve upon the NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in 2008. The Blue Jays were returning their three leading scorers from 2008, a First Team All-American defender, and a Second Team All-Centennial Conference goalkeeper. Head coach Leo Weil was entering his 18th season at the helm with a career record of 209-84-27 (.695). The Blue Jays were ranked sixth in nation in the preseason NSCAA Coaches Poll.

The Blue Jays jumped head-first into the season playing four top-10 nationally ranked opponents. Their first three opponents were eventual NCAA Final Four participants, including national champion Messiah and national runner-up Washington University (St. Lous).

Hopkins started its season on September 5 by hosting the annual JHU Invitational Tournament. The Blue Jays first game was against eighth-ranked Washington University (St. Louis). Senior Natalie Held scored the lone-goal of the game on a penalty kick at 53:31. Senior goalkeeper Karen Guszkowski made five saves in the shutout victory.

The Blue Jays faced #10 Lynchburg in the championship of the JHU Invitational after Lynchburg defeated #4 William Smith in the first round of the tournament. Again, one goal is all Hopkins would need as the Blue Jays won, 1-0. Sophomore Erica Suter found the back of the goal on a header off an indirect kick from junior Jessica Hnatiuk with two minutes left in the first half. Sophomore keeper Kristen Redsun stopped eight shot-on-goal for her first career shutout.

The Blue Jays then traveled to #1 Messiah College. After a scoreless first half, the Falcons scored two goals in the first 15 minutes of the second half and defeated the Blue Jays, 2-0. Messiah outshot Hopkins, 31-2, in the match.

Next up for the Blue Jays was to travel to Geneva, NY for the Heron Cup, hosted by #9 William Smith. Hopkins faced William Smith in its first game and fell by a score of 1-0. Guszkowski made eight saves in the game.

Hopkins defeated Carnegie Mellon, 2-0, in its next game. Senior Caitlin Moore sent a cross to sophomore Ava Scheininger, who headed the ball into the net just before the end of the first half. The Blue Jays added their second at 50:54 as junior Sarah Tankard drilled a ball past the Carnegie Mellon keeper on a cross from junior Erin Stafford. Redsun made six saves in the shutout.

With a record of 3-2, Hopkins dropped to 17th in the NSCAA National Poll on September 15. The Blue Jays would then go on a nine-game winning streak. The first win of the streak would be a 4-0 win over Misericordia. Suter scored the only goal of the first half on an assist from junior Allie Zazzali. Senior Sarah Roeder scored on an assist from Tankard. Zazzali scored on a penalty kick and sophomore Colleen Quinlan scored the fouth goal of the game. Guszkowski made two saves in the shutout.

Hopkins opened its Centennial Conference schedule with 5-0 win at Washington College on September 19. Sophomore Leslie O’Brien, Suter, freshman Laura Moody, Stafford, and Zazzali all scored goals in the contest. Moody’s goal was on a penalty kick at 59:26. Freshman goalkeeper Meredith Maguire saw her first collegiate action in goal as she played 24:03 and recorded one save.

The now 12th-ranked Blue Jays defeated St. Mary’s, 1-0, in a non-conference matchup. Sophomore Sasha Reyes-Guerra scored the only goal of the game on a Stafford cross just three minutes into the second half. Guszkowski made three saves in her third shutout of the season.

The next game, on September 26, would prove to be a huge test as #12 Hopkins would face #20 Swarthmore on the road. The Blue Jays prevailed, 1-0, as Scheininger scored at 36:46. O’Brien assisted on the goal and Guszkowski stopped four shots in the shutout.

The 10th-ranked Blue Jays would record their sixth straight shutout by defeating Dickinson, 2-0. Stafford buried a rebound on a Tankard shot to give Hopkins the lead. Junior Jessica Hnatiuk scored on a free-kick to give the Blue Jays an insurance goal.

The ninth-ranked Blue Jays then defeated Haverford, 2-1, on October 3. Stafford had a goal and an assist in the contest and Suter scored her fourth goal of the season.

The Blue Jays then beat Gettysburg, 4-1, and Franklin & Marshall, 3-0. Hnatiuk scored three goals in the two games. Suter scored two goals at Franklin & Marshall.

The winning-streak came to end with a 2-0 loss to Muhlenberg on October 17 but Hopkins bounced right back with a 6-0 win over Bryn Mawr. Suter and Moore each scored two goals in the game. Stafford and sophomre Alison Smith each added goals as well.

The 13th-ranked Blue Jays finished their regular season schedule with back-to-back 3-0 victories over McDaniel and Ursinus. Stafford and Suter each had two goals over the two-game span.

The Blue Jays earned the second-seed in the Centennial Conference Tournament by going 9-1 in conference play. Muhlenberg earned the right to host by also going 9-1 and beating Hopkins in the head-to-head matchup.

The Blue Jays scored only 29 seconds into their semi-final match against third-seeded Haverford and went on to win, 3-0. Safford scored the early goal on a cross from Zazzali. Moore scored two goals in the game, both unassisted. Guszkowski made three saves in the shutout.

Hopkins faced fourth-seeded Dickinson in the Centennial Conference Championship game on November 8. Sophomore Paulina Goodman scored the game winner at 69:45. Junior Jenn Paulucci and Moore were credited with assists on the goal. The Blue Jays won their fifth consecutive Centennial Title and earned the right to play in their fifth straight and eighth overall NCAA Tournament.

The #7 Blue Jays earaned the right to host first and second round games of the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year. Hopkins beat Cabrini, 4-0, easily in the first round matchup. Held scored the game winner at 27:12. Zazzali scored two goals and Moore added a goal as well. Tankard, Suter, and Scheininger all had assists in the game.

The next test for the Blue Jays was Eastern. Hopkins defeated Eastern, 2-1. Hnatiuk scored 7:10 into the game on a direct kick that went through the keeper’s hands. Stafford made the score 2-0 on a pass from Suter. Eastern scored with two and a half minutes left in the game to make it a one-goal game, but Eastern could not get the equalizer.

For the time in Hopkins history, the Blue Jays earned the right to host Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games. The Blue Jays defeated #12 Middlebury, 1-0, in their Sweet 16 matchup. Suter scored the game-winner just 1:24 into the game by hitting a shot to the left of the Middlebury goalkeeper. Guszkowski stopped two shots in the shutout. The Blue Jays would play in their first Elite Eight since they became a varsity sport in 1992.

Hopkins would face #1 Messiah for the second time this season. Messiah scored two first half goals to take a 2-0 lead at halftime. The Falcons would go up 3-0 at 56:21. Zazzali answered just eight seconds later to put the game at 3-1. Hopkins would get a couple more chances in the game but would not be able to find the back of the net again. The Johns Hopkins season would end with a 3-1 loss to Messiah, who would go on to win the National Championship.

The Johns Hopkins women’s soccer team earned multiple awards for the outstanding efforts put forth by the players. The All-Conference Awards were the first to roll in. Hnatiuk was named the Centennial Conference Player of the Year. Hnatiuk was joined on the All-Centennial First Team by Paulucci and Guszkowski. Suter was named to the second team and Stafford was an honorable mention pick.

The ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Team came next, with Paulucci earning first team accolades and junior Sarah Gieszl was named to the second team. Paulucci was then named to the Academic All-America First Team.

Guszkowski was named the Division III South Defensive Player of the Year by the ECAC. Hnatiuk joined Guszkowski with First Team All-Star accolades and Paulucci earned Second Team All-Star honors.

Guszkowski’s biggest honor of the year was being named a First Team All-American by the NSCAA. Guszkowski was also a First Team All-Mid-Atlantic selection along with Hnatiuk and Suter. Paulucci was named to the All-Mid-Atlantic Second Team.