BALTIMORE — It was a battle of the undefeated streaks Friday: No. 11 Johns Hopkins’ 5-0 mark at Homewood Field and No. 1 Northwestern’s 14-0 overall record. It was a close battle, at least for the first 19 minutes.
The Blue Jays’ homefield advantage kept them in the game for the opening half of Friday’s matchup. They scored the first goal and then held a 3-2 lead at the 19-minute mark.
But the night game’s cold weather must have made the Cats feel more at home, because NU then scored 10 unanswered goals and shut out the Blue Jays (10-4, 3-2 ALC) for the remainder of the game for a 12-3 win.
“They came out really, really hard and they were really after us,” NU sophomore Annie Elliot said. “We knew we’d have to fight, and we did.”
The Cats’ defense was the key to their win, rushing the Blue Jays to hold them scoreless in the final 46 minutes of the game.
The Cats also neutralized Johns Hopkins’ leading scorer, Mary Key, who was second nationally in scoring and had scored at least three points in each game this season entering Friday’s game. She scored only once against NU.
“Our defense was more aggressive on everything, and that gave us more opportunity up on offense,” Sarah Albrecht said.
NU beat a top-15 opponent for the third straight weekend, previously topping No. 2 Duke and then-No. 8 Penn State. The Cats now sit atop the American League Conference with two games — both against conference opponents — remaining in their schedule.
Johns Hopkins’ Lacey-Leigh Hentz sang the national anthem before the game, then picked up a ground ball that led to Hopkins’ first goal of the game by Steph Janice.
Johns Hopkins successfully kept NU’s offense from setting up in the beginning of the game, but the Blue Jays’ 14 fouls in the half got them in trouble.
Johns Hopkins’ fouls led to a free position shot for Sarah Albrecht at 5:49 and for Kristen Kjellman two minutes later. Each converted, and the Cats went up 2-1. NU made five of its six free position goals of the game.
Then Johns Hopkins’ Mary Key and Lauren Schwarzmann put Hopkins up 3-2 just less than 14 minutes into the game.
Kjellman tied things up at 19:36 with her second goal of the game off a Lindsey Munday feed. That was the only point of the night for Munday, who entered the game leading the nation in scoring with 5.5 goals per game. The Blue Jays also held Kjellman to only three points, nearly two points below her average.
But although Johns Hopkins tightened up on NU’s leading scorers, that left the rest of the NU attack open to score.
NU notched two more goals in the first half and added seven more in the second.
“In the second half, I think we were so much more poised, and we connected on our shots,” NU coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said. “We were more patient, and that was the difference-maker for us.”
Albrecht finished the game with a team-high four goals, while Laura Glassanos added three. Aly Josephs, Lindsay Finocchiaro and Kate Darmody each scored one goal for the Cats.
The Cats put on a good show for the audience of 600 spectators, roughly double the Blue Jays’ normal home crowd.
“This is the first time we’ve played on the East Coast since people thought we were good,” Amonte Hiller said. “We got to prove ourselves.”
Reach Courtney McCarty at [email protected].
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NU 12
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