EWING, N.J. – The No. 19 TCNJ field hockey grabbed a first-half lead on No. 6 Johns Hopkins but couldn't quite manage to sustain it in a hard-fought 2-1 setback on Saturday.
 
TCNJ (4-1) came flying out of the gates, putting the Blue Jays under pressure with three shots – two of them on frame – and three corners in the first three minutes of game time. The Lions continued to press and put the visitors in a hole just 33 seconds into the second quarter as Jadyn Huff gathered a deflected pass on the right side of the circle, dribbled toward the end line and sent a pass across the face of goal for Mackenzie Hart to punch past the Hopkins keeper.
 
The lead was short-lived, however, as the Blue Jays – who have played in the NCAA championship game three of the last four years – equalized four minutes later and took the lead for good less than three minutes after that with the game's final goal.
 
Johns Hopkins continued to pepper the Lions cage, taking all seven shots in the second half, but Brigitte Racey stood tall with seven total saves and got some help from Rachael Tetzlaff with a defensive save, sweeping away a goal-bound deflection to keep the deficit at one. TCNJ, however, was unable to get either a shot or a corner after halftime as its upset bid fizzled.
 
FOR THE FOES

• Jenna Halpin and Evie Hamm registered four shots apiece and each scored a goal
• Aubrey Kilgore made two saves in her 45 minutes in the cage

STANDOUT LIONS

• Hart and Huff each recorded two shots
• Tetzlaff notched her seventh career defensive save
• Hart scored for the third game in a row

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Hopkins finished with a 12-6 edge in shots and a 10-5 advantage in corners

UP NEXT

• The Lions look to rebound from their first loss of the season when No. 22 Swarthmore visits on Wednesday