GAMBIER, OH – The 15th-ranked Johns Hopkins women’s soccer team entered Sunday’s game at Kenyon facing a problem.
 
Less than 24 hours after their weather-delayed 1-1 tie at Denison, the Blue Jays were facing wan Owl defense that hadn’t allowed a goal in 270 minutes of action this season and, unlike Johns Hopkins, hadn’t played since Friday.
 
Problem solved.
 
Johns Hopkins scored a pair of first-half goals and tacked on an insurance goal in the final 10 minutes of regulation to grab a 3-0 road victory that bumps the Blue Jays to 3-0-2 on the young season.
 
In the process, the Blue Jays also handed head coach Dan Weiler his 350th career victory as today’s win bumps his 24-year record to 350-93-48, including 93-13-12 at Johns Hopkins.
 
It didn’t take the Blue Jays long to net what proved to be the game-winning goal as junior Carolyn Johnson scored her first of the year at the 17:06 mark to give Hopkins a one-goal lead it would never surrender.  Johnson collected a feed near the top of the box and stuck the 17th goal of her career  just under the crossbar.

The one-goal lead held until just over a minute remained in the first half when junior Kendall Frederick capitalized on Blue Jay pressure to net her first of the year.  With Hopkins working in transition, an Owl defender had a chance to clear the ball near the top of the 18, but her attempt deflected off a teammate  towards the goal and Frederick out-touched it past Kenyon goalie Ariel Kite, who was defenseless after coming off her line.

 

Hopkins collected six of the game’s seven first-half shots before the teams evenly split 14 offerings after halftime.  Ella Kruntchev posted both of her saves in the second half and Lila Michael, who replaced Kite at the break, posted a pair for the Owls before Blue Jay freshman Katie Derby scored the first goal of her career in the 83rd minute to close the scoring.  Derby was sprung on a partial breakaway and fired a shot from 15 yards that Michael saved, but Derby collected the rebound in the middle of the box, side-stepped a defender and shot into an open net to make it 3-0.

 

Johns Hopkins held a 13-8 advantage in shots and earned all four of the game’s corners.  The shutout for Kruntchev is her third of the season and the 12th of her career.

 

Johns Hopkins will return to action on Wednesday, September 16 when the Blue Jays welcome Penn State Harrisburg to Homewood Field for the team’s final non-conference game of the year (4 pm).

 

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