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BY DANNY FRIEL

In print | Published October 1, 2009

It would have been the upset of the year.  Ready to walk away proud for keeping up with No. 7 Johns Hopkins (6-1, 2-0 CC), the Garnet (4-4, 1-1 CC) held the Centennial Conference rivals scoreless through the first half.

It was an impressive showing for a team that had fallen to the Blue Jays in a 7-0 rout just one year ago. 

Maybe Hopkins let their guard down.  But maybe it was just that time.  Whatever the reason, Sophia Agathis ’13 decided to make it interesting with 12 seconds to play.

Connecting with a last-minute pass from Sara McCabe ’11, Agathis found the back of the net for the second time this season, stunning the Blue Jays and sending the cluster of devout fans at Clothier Field into a frenzy.

Goalkeeper Gina Grubb ’10, who made 15 saves including a stellar mid-air deflection in the first period, knew that the game would be a challenge.

“We adopted that attitude of being the underdog,” Grubb said. “We wanted to show them what Swarthmore field hockey was all about.”

And that they did. With the score tied at 1-1, a recharged Garnet forced the game into overtime.
The high was short-lived, however, as Hopkins salvaged the game four minutes later with a second tally from senior standout Brittany Bland.

Even though a loss is a loss, the Hopkins game has a lot of positive consequence for Swarthmore. On the upswing of a two-season slump, the Garnet looks to have a winning season for the first time since 2006. 

The Hopkins game serves as proof that there is potential in this year’s squad.  “It’s a huge confidence-booster for us,” said second-year head coach Lauren Fuchs.  “It will give us a lot of confidence to know that we can compete with anybody in the conference.”

“We were happier than I’ve ever seen us [after the goal]” Grubb said. A highlight indeed, but the near-miss against Hopkins is nothing to dwell upon. “We don’t want to live in the past, but it will be good to remember [the Hopkins game] as we look forward.”

Forcing into overtime a team like Hopkins, whose consistency — Fuchs pointed out that they have been a top-two team in the competitive Centennial Conference for quite some time — creates an aura of annual invincibility says a lot for a team who emerged from 2008 with a record of 5-13 (1-9 CC).  At 4-4 (1-1 CC), improvement seems inevitable.

Team defense, Fuchs noted, was the key to staying competitive with the Blue Jays on Saturday.  “You can’t defend with [just the] three people on the back line.  We played a very aggressive style of defense, and that started with our young forwards.”

Program alumna Maryanne Tomazic ’09, who returned to campus to support her former teammates in the high-profile matchup, had “never seen us play so well against Hopkins.” 

Indeed, the Garnet had been outscored 18-4 in their previous four matchups with the Blue Jays. 
Overtime decisions between the two teams, however, are a familiar result.  Swarthmore beat Hopkins 3-2 in overtime in 2006.  But only one member on the field in that game was still around for this year’s contest. 

On Tuesday, frustrations abounded as the Garnet lost 2-1 to Washington at Clothier Field.
Defender Joslyn Young ’10 scored the lone goal for the Garnet, who suffered an early setback when the Shorewomen scored in the third minute of the game.

“We didn’t play as well as we did on Saturday,” Grubb said.

It appeared there was something missing in the game against Washington, who improved to 5-4 (3-1 CC) with the victory, further acknowleding the value of rising to the occasion against all opponents.
Still, it was an improvement over the Garnet’s 4-0 loss to the Shorewomen last year, a blowout in which Washington jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 12 minutes and never looked back.

The Garnet will travel to McDaniel (3-5, 1-1 CC) on Saturday for a 5 p.m. contest before welcoming non-conference Manhattanville (5-5) to Clothier Field on Sunday at 2 p.m.

In the meantime, the Garnet looks to gear up and return to the form that kept them in the running against Hopkins. “It’s all about having that same intensity. Then we’ll be fine,” Fuchs said.

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