To say Johns Hopkins women’s lacrosse reached its first Division I Final Four in dramatic fashion would be an understatement.
Hopkins was down, 12-11, with less than two minutes to play in its national quarterfinal matchup against Stony Brook on May 14. Freshman attacker Paige Willard tied the score at 12 with 1:28 to play. Then, junior attacker Taylor Hoss scored a walk-off goal as time expired, setting up a Final Four matchup with perennial national powerhouse Northwestern:
“I think it finally hit me once the ball was in the back of the net,” senior defender Reagan O’Brien said on Glenn Clark Radio May 21. “I think we all turned around and we were like, ‘Did that really just happen?’ I think we were all thinking it was eventually going to go into overtime, so the fact that it went into the goal, we were all so surprised.”
Stony Brook had an 11-7 third-quarter lead, but Hopkins scored seven of the next eight goals to win the game. The Seawolves called a timeout up 12-11 with 1:39 to go, giving the Blue Jays one last chance to regroup with their season on the line.
“We realized that once Stony Brook called the other timeout, it was our time to make a play,” O’Brien said. I think that’s what really sparked us because we were not losing that game. We wanted it so badly. They were beating us the whole game. They’re great competitors, but at the end of the day we wanted it so much. Luckily, it fell our way.”
This season marks the first time Hopkins has reached a Final Four since 1997, when the program competed in the Division III ranks. This season also marks the 50th anniversary of the inaugural Blue Jays women’s lacrosse campaign in 1976. O’Brien mentioned that Hopkins held a banquet earlier this year in which current players were able to connect with former players.
O’Brien is now looking to end her senior season the right way. The 5-foot-9 defender has had a remarkable four-year career in Baltimore, causing 249 turnovers and picking up 193 ground balls in 75 games (68 starts). O’Brien won her second consecutive Big Ten Defender of the Year this season; she won her first in 2025 by setting the single-season record for caused turnovers (103).
In April, O’Brien was named one of the 25 nominees for the Tewaaraton Award and was taken by the New York Charging with the fifth overall pick of the 2026 WLL College Draft.
“It’s definitely a surreal experience,” O’Brien said of her college career. “I think that it’s taken up until my senior year to really realize how fortunate and lucky I am to be in this position. I think that everyone that I’ve experienced has shaped me into the person I am today. It’s a very reflective senior year, but I am just very grateful and excited, from all the way to growing up in my town … to my high school to my club lacrosse team to where I am now.”
Hopkins (17-4 overall) now faces its toughest challenge of the season in Northwestern, which is on a 12-game winning streak and has won eight national championships since 2005. The two teams faced off during Big Ten play in March, with the Wildcats winning, 16-12, in Evanston, Ill.
The two squads now meet back up in Evanston on May 22 at 5:30 EST. O’Brien will be tasked with slowing down Northwestern’s high-powered attack led by Madison Taylor (92 goals, 32 assists).
“I think going into the second half, we had a bad third quarter that we really couldn’t dig ourselves out of,” O’Brien said of the first matchup against the Wildcats. “Focusing on staying consistent through every single quarter, but also not letting the mental side get to us, just focusing on what we can control. … There’s only one ball on the field, so you can only do one thing at a time, so focusing on that and staying really grounded and focused in the moment.”
For more from O’Brien, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Johns Hopkins Athletics