D'Amore Scores Five to Lead Hopkins Over Mason

from press release

BALTIMORE - On a blustery day at Homewood Field, the Johns Hopkins women's lacrosse team got goals from 11 different scorers, including a game-high five from freshman Taylor D'Amore, in a 19-9 win over visiting George Mason Saturday afternoon. The Blue Jays open their season with a win for the 11th time under head coach Janine Tucker. The Patriots drop to 0-2 on the season, meanwhile.

Hopkins got things going quickly, scoring three goals in less than two minutes to jump out to a 3-0 lead just over three mintues in. D'Amore put the Blue Jays on the board first as Hopkins capitalized on a failed George Mason clear. Junior Colleen McCaffrey found D'Amore cutting down the middle of the arc and she bounced a shot Brittany Pastrana for her first career goal. Senior Brianna Cronin pushed the lead two less a minute later with a free position goal. Fom behind the goal, senior Brooke Foussadier then found junior Candace Rossi in the right alley, and she fired it just inside the near post.

Mason got on the board when off a restart behind the Hopkins cage, Chelsea Gamble fed a pass to Anna Kopecka on the crease and she snuck one past sophomore Cosette Larsah at 4:36. Hopkins answered with four straight from four different scorers to extend its lead to 7-1. Junior Alyssa Kildare got the first one back for the Blue Jays as she cleared the ball from the defensive end and was able to go right to goal where she fired a shot over Pastrana's left shoulder. Sophomore Katie Duffey scored just 21 seconds later off another Blue Jay clear. She scored on a side-arm shot from about seven yards out as she was knocked to the ground by a Patriot defender. McCaffrey and D'Amore would finish out the run as the Blue Jays led by six with 14:29 to play in the first half.
   
Junior Colleen McCaffrey had two goals and a career-high three assists.
    
The Patriots cut the deficit to four with goals from Madalyn Jamison and Julianne Tela, but the Blue Jays once again answered, this time with a 7-1 run that bridged halftime and saw Hopkins take a 14-4 lead. Junior Rachel Ballatori led off the charge that saw six different Blue Jays scored and included a highlight-reel goal from D'Amore. Following Ballatori's goal, sophomore Courtney Schweizer and Monica Fischer scored back-to-back free position goals in just 18 seconds apart. Kpecka temporarily halted the run with her second of the day with 1:41 to play in the half before D'Amore picked up a loose ball in the slot and whipped a behind-the-back shot past Pastrana to complete her hat trick. Rossi closed out the scoring for the half as she dodged across the arc and buried a hard shot inside the far post.

McCaffrey and D'Amore continued the scoring run to start the second half, pushing the Blue Jays lead to 10 with 27:21 still to play. Mason then got its offense going with a 3-1 run, with a pair of goals from Emily Ellisen, that made it a 15-7 game at 13:32. Freshman Sammy Cermack halted the run and scored her first career goal off a nice pass in transition from classmate Sarah Taylor. Ballatori pushed the lead back to 10 with her second of the afternoon just over six minutes later. Ellisen completed her hat trick with 5:15 to play on a free position shot, but D'Amore and freshman Ana Henrich would score back-to-back goals before a late Kopecka goal accounted for the 19-9 final.

D'Amore led all scorers with five goals and is the first freshman to score five goals in their Hopkins debut since Mary Key had five against Davidson on February 29, 2004. In all 13 different players notched a point for the Blue Jays, as Foussadier, McCaffrey, Ballatori, Rossi, Duffey and Schweizer all had multi-point games. McCaffrey finished with a game and career-high three assists while she also had a game-high five draw controls. Larash finished with nine saves and five ground balls to earn the win for the Blue Jays. For the Patriots, Ellisen led the way with three goals and four points, while Kopecka also had a hat trick. Pastrana finished with 10 saves, including six in the second half, for George Mason. Hopkins held advantages in shots (36-25), ground balls (19-17) and draws (19-11). The Patriots turned it over 18, compared to 14 for the Blue Jays, and went just 10-of-19 on clears.

Hopkins returns to action on Wednesday, February 23 as Mount St. Mary's visits Homewood Field. Opening draw is slated for 4:00 pm.