Loss concludes Tucker’s storied career

COLLEGE PARK — Minutes after Janine Tucker’s near-three-decade run heading the Johns Hopkins women’s lacrosse program came to a close, Duke coach Kerstin Kimel sought to express her respect and affection for Tucker during their postgame meeting. But Tucker wouldn’t allow it.

“I was trying to get my words out, and she was trying to say some nice things to me, and that’s how Janine is,” said Kimel, who soldiered on and embraced Tucker twice.

“She’s just the ultimate giver. I felt like I needed to linger to make sure I got my words out that I wanted to share in that moment.”

Tucker had a pragmatic answer for her interaction with Kimel, saying, “I just don’t like when people are sad. So I try to take that away.”

Tucker, who on Aug. 27, 2021, announced her retirement as head coach of the Blue Jays at the conclusion of her 29th year, took part in her final game Friday afternoon as Johns Hopkins fell to Duke 17-12 in an NCAA Tournament first-round game before an announced 388 fans at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex.

The Blue Jays (10-9) were hoping to extend their coach’s farewell tour for at least another game but instead lost in the postseason’s opening round for the fourth season in a row.

“Whether or not we were acknowledging it during the game, there was a bigger purpose,”

said sophomore midfielder Abbey Hurlbrink, a Towson resident and Bryn Mawr graduate who scored three goals.

“We’re always thinking about CT on the field. Whether it was the first time I stepped on Homewood Field or this game, it was an amazing opportunity to play for her. I think we were all harnessing that energy.”

Already the program’s winningest coach courtesy of a 311-178 record, Tucker — who turns 55 next month — guided Johns Hopkins from Division III to Division I. She finished with a 235-155 mark at the Division I level, 22 seasons of double-digit victories, nine Division I tournament appearances and four Division III tournament berths.

Despite the end of her coaching career, Tucker could be heard telling Duke players, “You played an awesome game” during the traditional postgame high-five line. She was hugged by several Blue Devils players, including senior attackers Maddie Jenner (McDonogh) and Anna Callahan (Glenelg).

During a team huddle Tucker expressed her pride and appreciation for her players, some of whom wept as she spoke. But she also encouraged them to replace any sadness with joy — one of her favorite words.

“It’s a choice,” she said of her mentality. “I tell my team, ‘It’s OK to be sad, it’s OK to be disappointed, but we’re not going to live in that space.’ What we’re going to choose to do is really enjoy each other to the very bitter end.

“We can still have those emotions because they are competitors and they are fighters. But they also understand that they’re going to give each other the kind of energy to lift each other up versus this incredible despair or sadness and bring each other down.”

That energy was on display when Johns Hopkins rallied from a 4-0 deficit by embarking on a 4-2 spurt spanning the first and second quarters to draw within 7-5 with 11 minutes, 52 seconds remaining. The run was capped by goals from junior attacker Maeve Barker and Hurlbrink within a 10-second stretch.

But the Blue Devils answered with three consecutive goals over a 5:40 span to push the lead up to 10-5 with 4:23 left in the second quarter. When Barker scored her second goal of the game with 3:09 remaining, that was the Blue Jays’ first goal in a span of 8:43.

After two-minute penalties were assessed to Johns Hopkins junior midfielder Bailey Cheetham (slashing at the 2:05 mark) and junior defender and Westminster resident and graduate Haleigh Moore (cross checking at 1:20), Duke scored three goals in the final 25.7 seconds of the first half.

Jenner, an Annapolis resident, converted a pass from senior attacker Eva Greco with 25.7 seconds left. Junior midfielder Olivia Carner corralled the ensuing draw and scored with 13.3 seconds remaining. Then Jenner canned a feed from sophomore midfielder Katie Keller with seven-tenths of a second left.

The Blue Jays outscored Duke 6-4 in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to complete a comeback. Still, graduate student defender Jeanne Kachris said she and her teammates were proud of their mettle.

“We were just going to tell ourselves that we weren’t going to go away,” she said. “We would continue to persist and be a problem for them.”

In addition to Hurlbrink, junior midfielder Madison McPherson, a Baltimore resident, scored three goals for Johns Hopkins, and graduate student midfielder Shelby Harrison, a St. Mary’s graduate, compiled three points on two goals and one assist.

Tucker admitted that she might review the game and wonder if she could have done anything differently to put her players in a better position to succeed. But she insisted that would be temporary thanks to some wisdom passed down from her mother Sharan “Lovey” Kormanik, who died of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“What my mom taught me is, it’s what you choose to focus on,” Tucker said. “So I’m choosing to focus on everything that I got to do and the incredible moments I got to have in my life versus, ‘Oh, my coaching career, it’s coming to an end.’

“OK, it’s a new chapter.”