BALTIMORE, Md. – In their first-ever Centennial Conference Championship game, it seemed that the stars had aligned for the Bryn Mawr field hockey team. The Owls scored 0.8 seconds before the end of the fourth quarter to tie the game 1-1. Less than 40 hours after their biggest win in program history, the Centennial Conference Semifinal, the relentless Owls battled through two overtimes against #4 Johns Hopkins, the three-time defending Centennial Conference Champions. The Owls forced a game-deciding shootout, their second overtime in a row after Thursday's evening win against Franklin & Marshall. But after seven rounds of shootouts, it was the Blue Jays who prevailed 2-1 (5-4 SO). The Owls capped their winningest season in program history at 15-5 while Johns Hopkins improved to 16-3, now awaiting the start of the NCAA Tournament.

Playing their third game in five days, Bryn Mawr struggled to grab a hold of the game in the first quarter. Hopkins earned a pair of penalty corners in the opening minutes and had four shots on goal, but goalkeeper Maggie Titus kept the home team off the scoreboard.

Early in the second quarter, the Owls made their first foray into the Hopkins circle, but Eva Yacura's backhand shot went just wide at the left post. Less than a minute later, Hopkins was awarded a penalty stroke when the ball hit defender Maggie Barilla on the goal line. Emily Amsden stepped to the spot to face Titus, who had saved a stroke against Haverford on Tuesday and covered one onto her right post in overtime on Thursday. Amsden launched hers to the left of Titus, but it went over the cross bar, and the match remained knotted. 

The third quarter brought more pressure from Hopkins and more gutty defending by the Owls. First-year Barilla steered a shot from All-American Abby Birk past the right post, only for the Blue Jays to earn another penalty corner 30 seconds later. After Titus made an initial save, the ball deflected up in the air to Tessa Erickson, who battled the ball down towards the far post. As the Blue Jays jumped in premature celebration, Kate Ervin spun towards the goal line and deflected the ball down into the turf and it bounced wide to keep the game level. Midway through the quarter, Hopkins pulled their own defensive magic as Novy Goetgeluk's penalty corner shot was put onto the post by All-American Anna Scott.

Finally, the Blue Jays found the scoreboard in the 52nd minute of play. After an outlet turnover, Hopkins entered the Owls circle on the right baseline and the ball found Erickson in front. Titus made an initial save, but the rebound deflected back to Erickson, who bobbled it home through traffic for the first goal of the game. Hopkins took the lead 1-0.

This set the stage for late game dramatics, as Bryn Mawr pulled Titus for an extra attacker with 3:53 remaining. Though the Owls pushed, they struggled to maintain possession in the attacking half until the closing seconds. Thekla Jubinville took a fast restart on the right sideline and found Ervin in the center circle with a splitting diagonal pass. She then sent a desperate pass to Goetgeluk. Ervin and Sarah Chapman sprinted forward to fill space in the attacking circle as Goetgeluk created separation from Scott on the left baseline. Her backhand pass deflected out to Chapman who spun and played back to Goetgeluk. Her one-touch sweep found the netting as the final horn sounded to push the game to overtime in the most thrilling of fashions. 

Hopkins dominated possession in the overtime periods, but Titus was up to the challenge with six of her 15 saves coming in extra time. 

For the second time in recorded history, the Centennial Championship went to a penalty shootout, where the Blue Jays finally triumphed 5-4 after seven rounds. 

At 15-5, the Owls completed the winningest season in program history and the Class of 2023 graduates as the winningest class in program history (37-17), despite missing a season due to COVID.