BALTIMORE, MD. – The 16th-ranked Ursinus College field hockey team dropped their Centennial Conference opener against No. 4 Johns Hopkins University on Saturday afternoon from Homewood Field.
 

The Blue Jays scored both of their goals in the second period to earn the victory and hand the Bears their second consecutive defeat. With the loss, Ursinus falls to 4-3 overall and open Centennial Conference action 0-1, while the Blue Jays improved to 7-2 overall and 2-0 in Centennial play.

 
Ursinus recorded the opening scoring opportunity at the 7:47-mark of the opening period as the Bears were awarded a penalty corner. On the corner, sophomore Marie Brainard had her shot saved, while junior Rachel Buono's shot was blocked by the Blue Jays defense. Johns Hopkins fired the final two shots of the period, but the first opportunity missed wide and the second was saved by junior netminder Adriana Palladinetti to keep the contest scoreless heading into the second stanza.  The Bears responded with consecutive shots on goal during the 15th minute, but each opportunity was saved by the Hopkins' netminder. Senior Amanda Groeling fired the first shot on goal, while junior Gigi Testa gathered the rebound and had her scoring opportunity denied as well. The Blue Jays bounced back by scoring back-to-back goals over the span of two minutes to gain a 2-0 advantage. During the 17th minute, Palladinetti and the Bears defense denied consecutive shots from the Blue Jays, before Johns Hopkins struck first at the 17:14-mark. Johns Hopkins' Sophia Albano sent a cross across the crease finding teammate Megan Chang for the opening score. Just over a minute later at the 18:32-mark, Lila Slattery added an unassisted goal to increase the Blue Jays lead to 2-0. Johns Hopkins added a pair of penalty corners over the remainder of the first half, but the Bears defense stood tall and denied each opportunity and faced a 2-0 halftime deficit.

 
The Bears quickly looked to cut their deficit in half at the start of the second half as they were awarded back-to-back penalty corners starting at the 35:10-mark. After an insert from sophomore Kirsten Johnson, Buono received a pass and fired a shot on her goal, but her opportunity was saved by the Blue Jays. Ursinus took their second corner at the 36:09-mark, but their scoring chance was turned away as a green card was handed out to the Bears. Over the remainder of the third period, Hopkins tallied four corners and a pair of shots on goal, but each chance was denied by Palladinetti and the Bears defense to keep the deficit at 2-0 heading into the final period. Johns Hopkins continued the offensive pressure in the final period tallying the only two shots on goal en route to the 2-0 defeat for Ursinus.
 
 
Johns Hopkins held an 8-3 advantage on penalty corners and an 11-4 edge via shots on goal. For the Blue Jays, Aubrey Kilgore collected the victory behind four saves and her second shutout of the season. Meanwhile for Ursinus, Palladinetti suffered the loss behind nine saves on 16 total shot attempts.
 

The Bears return to action on Wednesday, October 2nd as they travel to Allentown, Pennsylvania for a Centennial Conference matchup against Muhlenberg College.