Box Score

BALTIMORE – Johns Hopkins University won the penalty stroke shootout 4-2 and the eighth-ranked Blue Jays defeated No. 13 Gettysburg 2-1 in the Centennial Conference field hockey opener for both teams Saturday afternoon at Homewood Field.

It was only fitting that penalty strokes would decide the game, which was nearly dead even statistically. Both teams ended up with 19 shots, and Hopkins finished with a 12-9 edge in penalty corners.

Gettysburg (5-1, 0-1 CC), which suffered its first loss of the season, received an outstanding effort from senior goalie Christina Anderson (Dunkirk, Md./The Calverton School), who tied her career-high with 11 saves. Sophia Tieu was also impressive between the pipes for the Blue Jays, as she turned aside 12 shots.

After a scoreless first half, Johns Hopkins (5-1, 1-0 CC) took a 1-0 lead when Andrea Vandersall scored two and a half minutes into the second stanza. But the Bullets answered just over five minutes later, when sophomore Martha Tahsler (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) registered her first collegiate goal.

Anderson was particularly effective from the second half on, when she collected all but one of her saves. She stopped four shots in the second period before making three saves in each of the two 15-minute overtime periods.

Gettysburg plays its second straight top-10 opponent on Wednesday, when it visits No. 9 Lebanon Valley College at 4 p.m.