COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – During a rainy afternoon matchup, the Ursinus College field hockey team was downed 3-0 by No. 3 Johns Hopkins University on Saturday in their 2023 Conference opener.
With the loss, Ursinus moves to 4-3 overall and open Centennial Conference play 0-1. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays improved to 6-1 on the season and 1-0 in conference action.
The Blue Jays recorded the first two shots of the afternoon within the first two minutes, as the first missed wide and the second was saved by sophomore goalkeeper
Adriana Palladinetti. Both defenses continued to keep the opposing offenses off-balance as neither team could many scoring opportunities throughout the first stanza. Ursinus tallied the final shot of the period when junior
Amanda Groeling had her opportunity blocked by the Blue Jays defense. Palladinetti opened the second period with a save, before the Bears were awarded a penalty corner at the 2:49-mark of the quarter. First-year
Marie Brainard tallied a shot, but it was saved by the Blue Jays netminder to keep the game scoreless. Johns Hopkins responded by scoring the first goal of the contest after a penalty corner to take a 1-0 lead. The Blue Jays continued the offense pressure firing three more shots before halftime, but the Bears defense and Palladinetti denied each chance to keep the deficit at one.
During the third quarter both teams struggled to put a shot on goal. With under a minute remaining in the period, Hopkins capitalized off a penalty corner as Liz Falterer assisted on a goal by Ava Balacek to increase their lead to two. The Blue Jays would increase their lead to three midways through the final stanza on a goal by Gen Mehra. The Bears defense and Palladinetti continued to battle as the sophomore recorded six of her ten saves during the fourth period.
Palladinetti suffered the loss after tying a career-high 10 saves, while Alexis Loder recorded the victory behind just one save in 60 minutes of action. Junior defender
Maeve Montgomery tallied two defensive saves in the contest, adding onto her conference lead with a total of nine for the season. Montgomery has recorded a defensive save in five of the seven contests including two straight games.
Ursinus will look to bounce back on Wednesday as they host Muhlenberg College for a 7 p.m. start from the Snell Field Hockey Field.
