2024 NCAA Lacrosse Preview: No. 11 Johns Hopkins (Women)
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© 2024 USA Lacrosse. All Rights Reserved.
© 2024 USA Lacrosse. All Rights Reserved.
The 2024 Division I women's college lacrosse season kicks off February 9. As is our annual tradition, we’re featuring every team ranked in the USA Lacrosse Preseason Top 20 in the lead up to opening day. Check back to USALaxMagazine.com each weekday this month for new previews, scouting reports and rival analysis.
2023 Record: 9-9 (4-2, Big Ten conference)
Final Ranking (2023): No. 15
Head Coach: Tim McCormack
Assistants: Dorrien Van Dyke, Nicole Graziano, Jill Girardi and Tayler Kirtley
The 2023 season marked a changing of the guard at Johns Hopkins, as Tim McCormack stepped into the post held by Janine Tucker for nearly three decades. The season had its ups and downs.
After a 4-6 start, the Blue Jays won four of their last five regular-season games (the lone loss by a goal to Maryland) but then bowed out to Rutgers in the Big Ten tournament. They made the NCAA tournament as an at-large team, scoring a 19-8 win over UMass in the first round before exiting in a 25-8 loss to Syracuse. All in all, it was a solid opening act for the McCormack era.
“The first year — in particular, the first couple months — is a feel-out process,” McCormack said. “We were expecting that, as was the team. Going through that together was a fun journey. To see the ownership the players took was the biggest thing. It was a very different team from the game we played in February to the team we saw in May.”
Will Hopkins be a different team this year? Likely, yes. Many of the names on offense are the same. The Blue Jays return 331 of 339 points from last season. But experience changes things.
And while the Jays’ starting defense lost some key contributors, freshmen and transfers are poised to take those roles. Speaking of transfers, Madison Doucette has returned after a gap year — the former Northwestern netminder has been practicing on Homewood Field, where her Wildcats’ career ended in a Final Four loss in 2022.
Ava Angello, M, So. (40G, 13A, 30DC)
Maeve Barker, A, Gr. (24G, 21A)
Jordan Carr, M, Sr. (19G, 2A, 16DC, 9CT, 17GB)
Ava Angello emerged as one of the game’s top young talents in 2023. She wasn’t afraid to pull out a behind-the-back when she needed to, and she led the Blue Jays in points (53) and goals (40) while also contributing to the draw (30). But if there was one hurdle she had to overcome, it was the mental game. Despite the stat line, Angello lacked confidence at times. That changed at the end of the season and has carried into the fall.
“She came in with the same confidence she left with,” McCormack said. “We didn’t have to go back to square one. She hit the ground running.”
Angello continues to showcase an ability to finish but has developed as a feeder, an area where Maeve Barker shined last year.
“She has the ability to scan the field and get assists, but she can get into the cage and score,” McCormack said.
The Blue Jays will also look to two-way midfielder Jordan Carr, a captain, to boost the defensive unit and play on the circle.
Madison Doucette, G, Gr. (11.47GAA, .422SV% at Northwestern in 2022)
Jenn Barry, M, Gr. (378DC during career at Boston University)
Kacie Riggs, D, Gr. (84DC, 35GB, 14CT during career at Cal)
Doucette is one of four goalies on the Blue Jays’ roster that includes last year’s starter, Maggie Tydings (11.60GAA, .383SV%). McCormack says all four received nearly equal time during the fall, with a “slight edge” going to Doucette. Will Doucette get the starting nod in 2024? McCormack didn’t say, but the former Wildcat didn’t appear to miss a beat after a year away from the college game.
“She had a great fall,” McCormack said. “She saw the ball well. She’s a solid stopper and has done it on some of the biggest stages. She’s continued her growth in the box game.”
Doucette’s experience in box — and having to see a white ball in indoor venues with whiteboards — only added to her stopping abilities.
Doucette wasn’t the only graduate transfer the Blue Jays brought in. McCormack expects Barry to bring huge value to the team by gaining possessions on the draw. And Kacie Riggs should help fill gaps on defense.
“She rarely makes mistakes,” McCormack said. “She’s always right there in the right spot.”
Graduations: Haleigh Moore, D
Transfers: Madison McPherson, M (Stanford)
Alayna Costa, A, Jr. (3G, 3A)
With so much experience returning, it’ll be challenging for anyone to crack the Blue Jays’ offensive lineup. However, McCormack said Alayna Costa appears up to it. The junior out of Smithtown High School East (N.Y.) has seen action in a combined 18 games in two seasons and figures to be a more significant factor this year. Will she put up Angello-style stats? Maybe not, but that’s not what McCormack is looking for out of Costa.
“She has a couple years under her belt and has made strides,” McCormack said. “She’s that person who has friends in all the classes. She’s got a great pulse on the team and has been very consistent. She lives the values. She loves the game.”
Year one was about building confidence and camaraderie through experience. Check and check. Both should lay the groundwork for the second year.
“We have a really deep team with options on both sides of the ball that we can go to,” McCormack said. “Everyone is trusted … to have people back with experience who have been able to do it at a high level consistently is great for the confidence and camaraderie.”
With so much talent coming back — and in — is Johns Hopkins poised to shake up a Big Ten conference long dominated by Maryland and defending champion Northwestern? McCormack would be lying if he said that wasn’t in the back of everyone’s mind.
“Obviously, you always want to be playing the last weekend,” McCormack said.
Words like confidence and camaraderie remain critical. McCormack wants the Blue Jays’ to add one: Consistency. And he wants JHU to subtract another: Complicated.
“The next step is consistently pushing ourselves every single day and enjoying the process,” he said. “I think there’s something about this that people like to overcomplicate, but at the end of the day, what we do is great fun.”
And he hopes that, and by the end of the season, the numbers add up in a way that shows growth.
“If we can manage the day-to-day well enough and push ourselves to be the best we can be every day — and that’s hard enough to do — we believe the results will take care of themselves,” McCormack said.
“I think they’re going to be a strong team all around. They’re physical and tough. Tim’s got a year under his belt with his staff. And he’s done a really great job in a year.”
The Johns Hopkins lacrosse team has expanded its roster, adding 10 more players than last year, potentially a strategic move to deepen the bench strength and bring fresh talent into the fold. An increase of three or four is generally considered significant, but with the new coaching staff in place, perhaps this suggests a change in approach. Tactically, with more players at their disposal, it will be interesting to see if the staff experiments with more combinations of personnel.
Beth Ann Mayer is a Long Island-based writer. She joined USA Lacrosse in 2022 after freelancing for Inside Lacrosse for five years. She first began covering the game as a student at Syracuse. When she's not writing, you can find her wrangling her husband, two children and surplus of pets.
