The women’s lacrosse team continued its tough schedule to open the 2014 season, falling 19-7 while visiting the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays on Feb. 22. The Bison are now 0-3 for the season after falling to two ranked opponents last week.

“Playing a team like Johns Hopkins is such a great opportunity for our team to grow,” Christina Manis ’17 said. “The game was definitely challenging but we held our ground and gave it our all from start to finish.”

The Bison struck first after the opening whistle, with Katelyn Miller ’14 finding the back of the net a little over three minutes in. The lead would not last long for the Bison, as the Blue Jays retaliated with four quick goals of their own to give them a 4-1 lead at the 20-minute mark. Though the Bison defense did not allow another goal for five minutes, the floodgates eventually opened, with Johns Hopkins tacking on eight more scores throughout the remainder of the half. Despite looking at a 12-1 deficit, the Orange and Blue managed to tack on one more point before the half, courtesy of a goal from Manis with one second remaining.

Johns Hopkins scored three more points to start the second half, but soon the Bison offense began to find their rhythm. Five of the next seven goals were scored by the Orange and Blue, including three from Emily Kookogey ’15 to complete her second hat trick of the season. Arriana Sajjad ’15 and Sam Rickels ’16 also recorded individual goals.

The Orange and Blue were evenly matched against Johns Hopkins in draw controls, finishing one shy of the Blue Jays (14-13). However, the Bison struggled with turnovers as they finished the game with 19 giveaways, 11 more than Johns Hopkins.

“Our intensity level didn’t die down once, our defense stopped drives by Hopkins’ top scorers, and our attack was able to run through plays successfully against their D[efense],” Manis said. “I can’t wait to see how we perform in our upcoming games. We have worked so hard this past preseason and can’t wait to bring home some wins!”

“We consider the games against these high caliber teams as useful opportunities,” Kookogey said. “The exposure we get in playing teams like Penn State and Johns Hopkins really helps us prepare for our league games that come a little later on in the season. Now that we’ve had the chance to compete with these teams, I really think we’re ready to take on Villanova this Saturday!”

The Bison will look to rebound as they return home tomorrow to face off against Villanova at noon.