Observers may not find the defender role the most attractive or exciting position when watching lacrosse games. There’s not much shooting, goal-scoring or assists to go around from the position.
Johns Hopkins senior defender Hannah Johnson, though, takes pride in disrupting and locking down the opposition as one of the best in the country at that position. Johnson has become the heart and soul of the team, carrying a leadership role within a program that is ranked among the top teams in the country this spring.
Johnson played for M&D Lacrosse and Bryn Mawr School prior to coming to Hopkins. Then a midfielder, she finished her Mawrtians career with 87 goals, 35 assists and 183 draws in three seasons, with her sophomore season canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Johnson committed to former Johns Hopkins coach Janine Tucker in September 2020. Tucker’s successor, Tim McCormack, took over the Blue Jays in June 2022, ahead of Johnson’s first season in 2023. McCormack described meeting Johnson as a learning experience, as they both navigated the new environment and learned from each other.
“Hannah’s first day at Johns Hopkins was my first day with the team,” McCormack said. “I’ve gotten to know her over the years not only as a Johns Hopkins women’s lacrosse player but also as a friend. We got really fortunate to get somebody so special in our locker room upon getting here.”
After coming to Johns Hopkins, Johnson made the switch from midfield to defense. The new role was not completely unfamiliar to her. Johnson’s parents both played soccer in college, and Johnson herself played through high school. The defensive roles in lacrosse and soccer share major strategic similarities.
“The change of position was very interesting but happens to a lot of people when they enter college,” Johnson said. “Defense was never my specialty until I came to college, and now I do something even more interesting. I’m a back rover because Hopkins plays in a zone defense, and it’s a role that not many people do out there. It definitely is a lot of work, and it took some time to get the hang of, but I feel I’m in a pretty good spot right now.”
Johnson went into more detail about what her position demands.
“My job is to pick up cutters in the middle and … help the on-ball defenders keep applying pressure to the ball — making sure there aren’t many chances for the opposition to score,” Johnson said.
McCormack explained that Johnson plays an “area rather than just one specific person.” Johnson covers one of the hardest areas on the field — the inside crease, where the majority of the shots are coming from.
Johnson has played in 73 career games at Hopkins, starting 66 of them, heading into the Blue Jays’ game at Penn State on April 18. She has just one point total across that span, an assist she picked up in this year’s season-opener against Liberty. That doesn’t tell the whole story, though. The 5-foot-9 defender has picked up 97 ground balls, caused 75 turnovers and controlled 17 draws.
Johnson jokes that she is “the player that runs the most on the team.”
“We have those catapults with GPS trackers, and I think every game, I’m consistently getting over 10,000 yards, and I’m hitting the most miles on the team, which is funny,” Johnson said. “It’s not a goal or anything like that, but it’s a stat in a way. Whenever I get tired running around … I just think to myself, ‘I am a track star.'”
Johnson’s play demonstrates how she handles herself on the field, but what might stand out more is how she carries herself as a teammate.
“She always does the right thing,” McCormack said. “Every time you look over to her, whether that be on the field, off the field, in the locker room, she’s always doing the right thing and living by our core values and playing by our principles on the field.”
That led her to be voted a team captain last season as a junior and once again this year. McCormack said the decision was a no-brainer for the team.
“She’s certainly not your rah-rah leader, but you don’t always need that because sometimes the best leaders aren’t. They just do the right things the most consistently,” the coach said. “With Hannah, she comes across with an immense sense of empathy. She truly gets to know her teammates, the people in the locker room, and forms a connection, so that when she does say something, it means a lot. I’ve been proud to watch her growth in the leadership space.”
Johnson experienced a lot of team success and growth through her first three seasons at Hopkins, with the Blue Jays improving their win total and making it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament every season.
This year’s Hopkins team was 11-3 overall heading into the Michigan game. In describing the Blue Jays’ success, Johnson points to a team value called Teflon, which typically refers to a versatile type of plastic that nothing sticks to. Funny enough, the term connects deeply to Johnson, who is a mechanical engineering major. That pursuit was one of the key reasons she wanted to attend Johns Hopkins.
For the team, Teflon means quickly moving on from things it can’t control, Johnson explained.
“You can only control what you do as a player,” she said. “You can’t control calls a ref makes or what they do. It’s only controlling how you get into a situation and how you react to it. The big emphasis is on how to be respectful on the field and to the refs.”
Asked how she wanted her Johns Hopkins women’s lacrosse career to be remembered at the end of the season, Johnson pointed to trust. The team is built on a foundation of trust and respect.
“I would say that I trusted my teammates, and they trusted me, having that foundation of respect between us,” Johnson said. “I always want to help out the younger girls with any problems they have. I’m an engineer, so I take problem solving seriously in a regimented way. We all have different things we’re doing, but we’re all doing it as a collective.”
McCormack had high praise for the impact Johnson has made at Hopkins.
“She’s imprinting her legacy daily not only as a player but as a woman and is one of the best leaders by example that I’ve ever seen,” McCormack said.
Photo Credit: Marty Corcora/Johns Hopkins Athletics