The AU women’s lacrosse team lost its third consecutive game March 1 in a road matchup John Hopkins University as the Blue Jays’ high-powered offense proved too much for the Eagles to overcome.
Within 11 seconds of the start of the game, the Blue Jays were up a goal. They capitalized after gaining draw control by Taylor D’Amore to start the game. D’Amore quickly found Sammy Cermack for the games opening score.
Quick to respond was senior midfielder Emily Maher with her sixth goal of the season at 29:15. Junior defender Emily Shields broke through JHU defenders and dished out a pass to Maher to score goal in a tight window.
AU won the next draw and tried to push forward but were met with unyielding Blue Jay defenders. Sophomore midfielder Olivia Mangan was able to cut loose and shoot in the net but the shot was saved by JHU goalkeeper. The Blue Jays recovered and sped down field to position themselves to score a goal of a free position to go up 2-1.
JHU pulled away scoring six consecutive goals, putting them up 8-1 with 13:20 remaining in the first half.
After a couple of fouls on the Blue Jays with 11 minutes left, the Eagles had chases to convert a free position into a goal. After two missed free positions shots and a false start, AU was able to get it in the back of the net. Mangan provided the much-needed goal, her seventh of the season.
Down 9-2, senior midfielder Alex Lugovina reduced the deficit to six with the help of Mangan,
after D’Amore received a yellow card for a slash and was taken out of the game for two minutes and the Eagles were able to outnumber the Blue Jays and score.
AU could still not catch up and was down 12-3 at the half.
The game slowed down considerably in the second half after a opening goal by JHU, both teams suffered turnovers and missed opportunities. Not until 17:18 was AU able to score another goal when Maher tallied her second of the game.
14 minutes and three more JHU goals, Lugovina scored her second goal of the game off a free position, putting the Eagles down 16-5. JHU would score one final goal with 2:12 seconds to complete the route.
AU was outshot 30 to 11 on the afternoon and only was able to win eight of the 22 draws.
The Eagles will travel March 5 to take on Mount St. Marys.
