BALTIMORE, MD - Senior attacker Mary Key (Stevensville, MD/St. Mary's) scored four goals and added two assists, including the 100th of her career, to lead the 10th-ranked Johns Hopkins women's lacrosse team to a 9-7 win over George Mason at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. The win improves the Blue Jays' record to 2-0 on the year and is the fourth straight win in the series for Johns Hopkins. The Patriots (0-1) were playing their season-opener.

Key ignited a game-ending 4-0 run that covered the final 19 minutes as she scored the first and third goals in the decisive spree. After George Mason freshman Megan Udovich (Ridley Park, PA/Ridley) gave the Patriots a 7-5 lead with 19:14 remaining in the game, Key needed just 29 seconds to draw the Blue Jays to within 7-6 as she scored from eight yards on a deceptive shot in traffic that fooled George Mason goalie Sara Longobucco (Sea Cliff, NY/North Shore). Junior Kadie Stamper (Bel Air, MD/C. Milton Wright) drew the Blue Jays even just over two minutes later when she beat her defender to the inside and eluded a late slide for her fourth goal of the season.

Both teams had chances to take a late lead but it was Key who struck after seven scoreless minutes to give Hopkins its first lead at 8-7 when tallied her fourth goal with 8:49 remaining. A free position goal by junior Lauren Schwarzmann (Sykesville, MD/Century) less than a minute later gave the Blue Jays their only two-goal lead of the game and the Blue Jay defense made it stand for the final eight minutes.

A late-game rally was necessary after George Mason got off to a quick start and sprinted to a 4-1 lead less than 15 minutes into the game. A Melissa Curry (Edgewater, MD/South River) goal just over one minute into the game was answered by Key's first goal of the game two minutes later, but the Patriots scored three straight to take the three-goal lead. Laura King (Springfield, PA/Springfield) and Melissa Venturi (Sewell, NJ/Washington Township) sandwiched goals around Udovich's first of the game to stake George Mason to the 4-1 lead with 15:42 remaining in the first half.

Back-to-back goals by freshman Sam Schrum (Pasadena, MD/St. Mary's) and senior Sarah Walsh (Port Washington NY/P.D. Schreiber) - both of which were assisted by Key - drew the Blue Jays to within 4-3 with just over seven minutes remaining in the first half before Udovich's second goal of the game with 4:06 remaining before intermission made it 5-3 at the half.

Key and Schwarzman sandwiched goals around a Kelly Davis (Eldersburg, MD/Liberty) tally for George Mason in the first nine minutes of the second half before Udovich's goal made it 7-5 at the 19:14 mark. That set the stage for Key's third goal of the game, which ignited the decisive rally for the Blue Jays.

In addition to picking up her 100th career assist, Key also improved her career goal total to 175. Schwarzmann added two goals and one assist and sophomore Amelia Harris (Clifton, VA/J.W. Robinson) had five saves for the Blue Jays, who improved to 6-1 all-time in games played in the month of February.

Udovich scored the team-high three goals in her collegiate debut, while Venturi added the one goal and one assist. Longobucco posted 12 saves for the Patriots, who fall to 3-6 all-time against Johns Hopkins.

Johns Hopkins will next be in action on Saturday, March 3 when the Blue Jays play at Princeton.

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BALTIMORE, Md. - (February 24, 2007) Playing in its 2007 season opener at Homewood Field in Baltimore, Md., George Mason (0-1) nearly upset the No. 10 team in the nation, Johns Hopkins (2-0), before falling by two goals, 9-7.

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2007-02-24