Kronick Delivers 2OT Goal Vs. York, Sends Jays to Sweet 16
BALTIMORE, MD – Down to the final five minutes of double-overtime with a berth to the Sweet 16 on the line, the Johns Hopkins women’s soccer team was looking for a saving grace. Once again Junior Hannah Kronick answered the call, scoring on a left footed shot in the 106th minute to give the Blue Jays a 1-0 victory over York College. Both teams challeneged with scoring chances throughout regulation, but it was the Westfield, NJ native who broke the tie to push Hopkins into the next round.
“So much relief in getting this victory,” said Kronick. “It was pretty unfortunate we had to go to overtime, but I think it was a test of character for us. I think we really prevailed through it and to come up that big at the end of overtime was a great feeling. It showed how hard we worked all game to finally get that in the end.”
The match proved to be a battle of wills, as York gave Hopkins everything they could handle from the get go. The Spartans got early shots from Jordan Neilheiser and Beth Bunn in the opening minutes, and tested senior goalie Kelly Leddy throughout the match. York’s tall experienced midfielders and tight defense forced Hopkins to change their approach.
“The biggest thing we really wanted to focus on was winning the ball in the air, because they were taller than most of our players,” said senior defender Kylie Fuller. “[York] was very physical and that started from their backline and spread up. Defensively they also played kind of a weird formation so we had to talk more and shift more than we normally do.”
Despite an initial slow start, the Blue Jays began producing chances, the first of which came from senior Christina Convey. The Roslyn Harbor, NY native had took a shot that hit off the post in the 15th minute, but was quickly collected by York goalie Melanie Glessner. Minutes later, Kronick produced her first shot of the game with the left foot, but Glessner was there again for the stop
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With four minutes to play, York got perhaps its best opportunity of the match off a transition play. The Spartans put a well played cross into the center of the box, but the crashing forward came in just late as the ball trickled out of bounds. In the 44th minute, junior Sydney Teng got her head on a beautifully played cross from freshman Alyssa Morgan. The ball deflected wide, and both teams were knotted at zero going into halftime.
In the second half, the Jays held a 10-8 shot advantage but could not produce the elusive first goal. The team’s best chance came in the 84th minute, as Kronick ripped a shot from the left side of the 18 that hit the top of the post. York was pressuring heavily in the closing minutes of regulation, but JHU held off any last second opportunities to force overtime.
To set up the final play of overtime, Fuller took a ball down the left side after receiving a pass from sophomore Maryalice McKenna with space. Fuller played into the middle of the box where senior Kelly Baker was waiting. Baker took two touches before sending Kronick down the left side, which she collected and shot to an open left side of the net.
“It was funny, right before the second overtime, [Assistant Coach Tim Wittman] said to me ‘you’re going to score a goal; you’re going to do it. The ball is going to come to you at your feet you’re going to turn and finish,’ and that’s exactly what I did. Kelly played me a great ball and I literally just turned, touched a few times and hit it lefty. Somehow it beat [the goalie] to the post.”
Hopkins now advances to the NCAA Sectional Final/Sweet 16 round next weekend at a site yet to be determined. JHU has now advanced to the Sweet 16 for the sixth straight season, and will face Williams College (14-3-2) in its mext match. Stay tuned to HopkinsSports.com for news and information on next weekend’s games.
Notes:
- With her goal today, Hannah Kronick became the program’s all-time leading scorer in NCAA tournament games, with 15 points on five career goals and assists.
