Ava Angello Much More Than Just an On-Field Leader for Hopkins

Ava Angello kicked into a mad dash when she saw the ball hit the Homewood Field turf in the final 15 seconds of Johns Hopkins’ NCAA tournament quarterfinal against Stony Brook.

The Blue Jays had practiced this scenario on countless occasions throughout Angello’s four years in Baltimore. But their up-and-over drill hadn’t seen comparable in-game stakes until this moment.

Three seconds remained as Angello, the most prolific goal scorer in Johns Hopkins history with 236 goals in 79 games played, fielded a pass with a lane to the cage.

“We couldn’t have drawn it up any better,” Angello said. “Reagan [O’Brien] comes up with an unbelievable check, and Lacey [Downey] picks up the ball. I look at the clock, see there’s 10 seconds left and just book it down the field. I end up getting the ball, but there’s two girls on me. We always talk about that one more pass, and I went with my gut.”

Rather than add to her program single-season record 78 goals, the senior attacker dished a cross-crease feed to Taylor Hoss, who beat the final buzzer and cemented a 13-12 comeback victory.

While Angello has 317 points across four seasons with the Blue Jays, none have proven more significant than her most recent assist. Hopkins coach Tim McCormack said the play encapsulates Angello’s elite lacrosse IQ.

“It shows you everything that she’s about,” McCormack said. “Success of team is of the utmost importance. In that case, she probably gave up a decent shot for a great shot. I guarantee that if you gave her that ball 100 times, 100 of those balls are going to that spot. That’s just a testament to who she is. What a phenomenal play, and a phenomenal read.”

A rush of emotions soon overtook the Blue Jays as they secured the team’s first-ever NCAA semifinal berth as a Division I program.

“We first were kind of in shock,” Angello said. “You’re like, ‘Did that just happen? Is this real?’ We didn’t lead the whole game, except the final second of the fourth quarter, so you’re in shock, and then the emotions hit you. You’re super excited, but you cry those tears of joy. You’re going to the final four, and you really did complete that comeback.”

After Johns Hopkins’ on-field celebrations shifted toward the stands, Angello broke down in her father’s arms.

“You did it — you’re living out your dream,” David Angello told his daughter through tears.

For the Angellos, sports have long been a family affair. Anthony, the eldest Angello sibling, played hockey for Cornell from 2015-18 before pursuing a professional career in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. He made his NHL debut on January 31, 2020.

Angello and her older sister Maria grew up playing lacrosse together in their Manlius, N.Y., backyard. The sisters tried emulating the same tricks they watched Nicole Levy and Taylor Cummings perform on television.

“Just being creative and having fun in the backyard really developed who I was as a player,” Angello said. “To play loose and have fun with it, you can play on the biggest stage like you’re playing in your backyard. It helps keep you composed. My creativity has really come from my sister. She’s shaped me into the player I am today.”

These behind-the-back, sidearm and shovel shots would later be labeled “Juice” by Angello’s college teammates.

From her brother, Angello learned a quote she’s made into a personal mantra.

“There are two types of people in this world: the passers and those being passed,” Angello said. “He got that from one of his NHL coaches, and it just resonated with me when I was younger to keep putting in the work, or someone else is going to pass you who is putting that work in. That’s been the foundation of myself as an athlete.”

Even when COVID limited Angello’s exposure to many top programs in her recruiting summer, this mentality continued to push the attacker forward.

Kate Noel, Angello’s coach with the Salt City Snipers, said Angello was one of the most driven youth lacrosse players she’s ever come across.

“The physical toll that it took for her to elevate her game to where it is today is something that no one’s going to see,” Noel said. “Just being as close to Ava as I am and watching how she plays, without putting 150 percent of blood, sweat and tears into this. She’s over 6-foot, her knees hurt, her body hurts and you would never see it when she plays.

“The minute she puts those goggles on, she’s got this mindset that’s just uber focused. We call it an F-U mindset. She’s out there for the kill. Yes, she’s a God-given athlete. She has natural ability. But the kid has made who she is because of her work ethic and her drive to be the best.”

While Angello committed to Johns Hopkins under Janine Tucker, she soon discovered just how well her skills suited McCormack’s offensive scheme.

“He really is changing the way women’s lacrosse is played, instilling different principles from box lacrosse to basketball,” Angello said. “I use a lot of basketball I played in high school in my lacrosse offense. With footwork on setting a pick and rolling out of it, slipping a pick and reading a defender’s body language, [we’re] using these principles and bringing them into our game.”

During Angello’s freshman fall — a period that coincided with McCormack’s initial months on the job — the Hopkins coaching staff saw a natural finisher find her footing at Homewood Field.

In Angello, McCormack marveled at a rare combination of height and finesse.

“When you have the size advantage that is in combination with the hands and slickness, you really don’t see that a lot,” McCormack said. “She brings something unique to the table with her height, even early on in her career, generating early cutting opportunities, people were able to throw balls into her that couldn’t be handled by others. We saw the full package early on.”

Despite a 53-point freshman campaign in 2023, Angello didn’t afford herself the space to make mistakes and often struggled with confidence early in her career.

As she embraced a progress over perfection approach, Angello’s on-field impact skyrocketed. McCormack said the senior has emerged as a transcendent leader, taking young Blue Jays under her wing. Her mentorship has helped freshmen contributors Paige Willard, Sienna Chirieleison and McKenzey Craig carve out immediate impact roles.

“She’s got a bit of a soft spot for every kid that carries that weight coming in as a freshman,” McCormack said. “She’s got a really good eye to seek them out and put her arm around them and just share her personal experience. None of this has been prompted, either. She’s just done an excellent job of identifying who is in need of that reach out, going out and doing it.”

Midway through the season, Hopkins held a players-only meeting. The Blue Jays discussed support and how it can be both gained and lost. For the team to reach its full potential, it needed everyone.

“That was a defining moment for our team,” Angello said. “Sitting down without our coaches and talking about this allowed a lot of voices to come out in our locker room. Listening to some of the freshmen even speak up in those meetings and voices you don’t typically hear was super exciting. … After that conversation, we’ve been playing on a different level.”

The same themes emerged in the wake of Johns Hopkins’ 15-14 overtime loss to Maryland in the Big Ten tournament semifinals on April 24. The team returned to the locker room, grappled with the heartbreak and vowed to harness it moving forward.

McCormack credited his senior captains in Angello, O’Brien and Hannah Johnson — as well as graduate transfer Sally Zinsner — with forging a dynamic leadership contingent.

“They’ve done a great job of supporting each other and understanding whose words are needed for what message,” McCormack said. “If you’re not the right person to deliver a message, it falls on deaf ears. Watching them learn that and lean into owning who delivers that message and how to properly deliver those messages has been amazing.”

Just as he’s seen the team evolve in four years at the helm, McCormack has watched Angello craft a story of trust and belief at every step of her path.

He considers the attacker’s imprint on the program “as good as anybody could leave.”

“She certainly has left an amazing legacy,” McCormack said. “She’s still writing that legacy. Over the next week or so, she’ll put a bow on it. She’s somebody that came in as her own harshest critic, but she doubled down in her investment, she took ownership in what we were creating together, she really lived it out and then she emerged as a great leader.”

On Friday, Johns Hopkins will take on top-seeded Northwestern at Martin Stadium in Evanston, Ill. Now in the final week of her college career, Angello wants to enjoy every moment and stay where her feet are.

“You think about all the late-night film sessions and practices, doing the extra conditioning over the summer, and you always have that goal in your head of making it to the final four,” Angello said. “To be able to achieve that goal with an amazing group is super special.

“It’s something that younger Ava is freaking out about because I grew up going to championship weekend and watching in the stands. Now fast forward, and you’re the girl playing in those, it’s really special and shows all the hard work does pay off.”