COLLEGE PARK — The Johns Hopkins women's lacrosse team fell in the first round of the 2014 and 2015 NCAA tournaments, and the Blue Jays didn't take long Friday to show how eager they were to change that.

In their tournament opener against Virginia at Maryland's Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex, the Blue Jays needed just over two minutes to make all the difference in the game.

Dene' DiMartino, the Blue Jays' all-time leader in draw controls, won the first draw and scored on a free position 12 seconds later. Her teammates Josie George (Bryn Mawr) and Haley Schweizer won the next two draws and Schweizer and Shannon Fitzgerald converted them for a three-goal lead in just 2:07.

That spurt carried the Blue Jays to a 12-10 victory over Virginia as they advanced past the first round for the second time in their 18 years as a Division I program. The Blue Jays (11-7) made it to the quarterfinals in 2007.

Hopkins will meet No. 1 seed Maryland, the two-time defending national champion, Sunday at noon in College Park. The Blue Jays gave the Terps (21-0) one of their toughest games this season, falling, 10-8, on April 6.

Goalie Caroline Federico, a Maryvale graduate who had 10 saves Friday, said her team is excited to get the rematch with the Terps, especially with the confidence it gained from the first meeting.

“We were pumped,” Federico said of the Blue Jays' first glimpse of their name in Maryland's bracket Sunday night. “We didn't expect our name to come up in the selection show so fast and when it did, we were like, ‘Yes, this is what we want.' If you want to be the best, you have to play the best, so you're going to have to play them eventually. You might as well get it early.”

The Blue Jays certainly didn't overlook Virginia (9-9) on their way to the rematch.

“We knew they were really good at the draw,” DiMartino said. “She's a very strong girl, No. 2 [Kasey Behr], so to get that draw at first was really good and we kind of stoked that momentum with a three-goal lead, and I think we needed that. It gave us a lot of confidence.”

Virginia coach Julie Myers said that while neither team had played a game in a couple of weeks, the layoff seemed to affect her team more.

“They played a really good game, literally from the opening whistle, whereas it took us a couple of minutes to wake up,” Myers said. “Digging an early hole shouldn't be enough [for Hopkins] to win the game, but I do think they set that tone early and for the rest of the game, we were just trying to play catch-up.”

Twice, Hopkins increased its lead to four, the last time when Fitzgerald fed Jenna Reifler (Roland Park) with 3:57 left.

Coach Janine Tucker's Blue Jays dominated possession for long stretches, staying patient and looking for options for their balanced attack. Six players scored, led by three goals from Schweizer.

The Cavaliers used their quick-strike transition to gain some second-half momentum, but only once did Virginia pull within one goal. Besser Dyson's free-position goal cut the Hopkins lead to 9-8 with 21:11 to go, but DiMartino and Emily Kenul scored free-position goals to push the lead back to three with 7:22 to go.

Federico made five saves in the second half, including two in the final two minutes. She credited the Blue Jays' defenders with forcing the Cavaliers to fire shots that were easier to save, but she made some terrific close-range stops as well.

“We didn't come into the second half thinking we were just going to run all over Virginia,” Federico said. “Virginia's a very good team and we knew they were going to make a run eventually, but we also knew we had to stop it, so my defenders were forcing them to the outside, and I just knew I had to make the save.”

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