Johns Hopkins is suddenly right there in the mix.

Chronicling the Big Ten in 2021 — outside of writing a capital “W” next to Northwestern every time it plays — has been a chore. Why wouldn’t Sunday be any different?

No. 19 Penn State trounced No. 9 Maryland (more on that below), opening the door for unranked Johns Hopkins to possibly find its way into the Nike / US Lacrosse Division I Women’s Top 20 come Monday morning.

Because Hopkins topped Penn State on Wednesday and earned a 17-10 win over Rutgers Sunday, the Blue Jays are quickly making up ground after a nearly four-week layoff.

BIG TEN STANDINGS

1. Northwestern (10-0)
2. Maryland (6-4)
3. Johns Hopkins (4-4)
4. Michigan (3-4)
5. Penn State (4-6)
6. Rutgers (3-7)
7. Ohio State (3-8)

Against Rutgers on Senior Day at Homewood Field, Hopkins’ 11 seniors and graduate students fittingly combined for 11 goals and 11 assists. Aurora Cordingley, a senior, scored her 100th career goal and finished with a career-high seven points (six goals). Mackenzie Heldberg, another senior, also set a career-best mark with seven points (six assists).

Hopkins was in control from the jump, taking a 10-4 lead into halftime on Maeve Barker’s eighth goal of the season. Eliza Bowman’s tally with 18:21 remaining gave Johns Hopkins its largest lead of the day at 14-6.

Janine Tucker is now just one win away from becoming the ninth coach in Division I history to win 300 games.

Penn State Upends Maryland

For the second time this spring, Penn State took care of business at Panzer Stadium against Maryland.

The Nittany Lions sprinted to a six-goal lead in the game’s first 21 minutes and led by as much as 10 goals midway through the second half in an all-out dominant performance. Freshman Kristin O’Neill had five goals and one assist and junior Mary Muldoon added five goals of her own in a 16-9 win.

Maryland did close the game on a 4-1 run with goals from Julia Hoffman, Libby May, Hannah Leubecker and Brindi Griffin, but the spark was lit too late.

As mentioned above, the result is just the latest in a season of Big Ten befuddlement. Penn State’s two wins over Maryland would hold significant weight were it not for two losses to Ohio State and another to Johns Hopkins.

Rutgers also joins the conversation with one win over Johns Hopkins and two over Ohio State. Meanwhile, Michigan split season series’ with Maryland and Penn State but beat Rutgers twice and lost to Ohio State once.

Postseason resumes should be fun for the NCAA selection committee to sort through, that’s for sure.

Nike / US Lacrosse Top 20

No. 19 Penn State 16, No. 9 Maryland 9

No. 6 Stony Brook at New Hampshire, PPD
George Washington at No. 14 Richmond, PPD
No. 15 Drexel at Delaware, PPD
Oregon at No. 16 Stanford, PPD

Other Scores

Davidson 16, George Mason 4
Denver 11, UConn 7
Duquesne 16, St. Bonaventure 7
Elon 19, VCU 3
Furman 18, Mercer 12
Georgetown 20, Marquette 10
Johns Hopkins 17, Rutgers 10
Oregon 13, Fresno State 12
Quinnipiac 15, Manhattan 11
Saint Joseph's 19, La Salle 9
Temple 10, Cincinnati 8
UC Davis 19, San Diego State 10
Villanova 15, Butler 10

Colorado at Cal, 5 p.m.