March 12, 2008

Game Notes in PDF Format
Additional Information Available in This Format

Miscellaneous Notes in PDF Format

Game-by-Game Recaps in PDF Format

Setting the Scene: One of the great rivalries in college lacrosse renews itself for the 45th time as Johns Hopkins (3-1) welcomes Syracuse (3-1) to Homewood Field.

Looking Back: Johns Hopkins and Syracuse are both coming off overtime games with the Blue Jays falling and the Orange winning in extra time. Hopkins tied Hofstra late, but fell 8-7 on a goal just over two minutes into OT. Host Syracuse staged a furious rallly against Georgetown and won in the second extra session.

These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters the game against Syracuse with an all-time record of 874-273-15 (.759). The Blue Jays own nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 44 championships.

Yes, That's 601 Games Over .500: Tuesday's win against UMBC improved the Blue Jays' all-time record to 874-273-15 ... that's 601 games over .500. To put this in perspective: JHU has played an average of just under 15 games per season under head coach Dave Pietramala. Using a 15-game season as a reference, if the Blue Jays posted a 5-10 record for 120 straight seasons, they would still be one game over .500.

Poll Position: Johns Hopkins ranks fourth in this week's USILA Coaches Poll and fourth in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll this week. Syracuse is ranked fifth in the USILA Coaches Poll and the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll this week.

A Tough Road Ahead: Johns Hopkins' next five games are against teams currently ranked fifth (Syracuse), second (Virginia), third (North Carolina), first (Duke) and sixth (Maryland). The combined record of JHU's next five opponents is 25-2 (.926) with the two losses coming at the hands of one of the other teams (Syracuse lost to Virginia and Maryland lost to Duke).

A Rare Loss at Number One: Last Saturday's loss at Hofstra was the Blue Jays' first of the season and was also a rare loss for JHU when ranked number one under head coach Dave Pietramala. JHU slipped to 45-8 (.850) under Pietramala when entering a game as the top-ranked team in the nation. In the five years prior to Pietramala taking over in 2001 (1996-2001), JHU played exactly one game as the top ranked team in the nation.

Number One Perspective: Johns Hopkins has played 53 games as the top-ranked team in the nation since the beginning of the 2002 season. That's more than all of other Division I men's lacrosse teams in the nation have combined to play as the top-ranked team in the nation over the same period of time.

125th Anniversary: The 2008 season marks the 125th anniversary of the Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse program. The Blue Jays are wearing commemorative patches on their uniforms for the 125th anniversary of the program (it is NOT the 125th season) and the logo is being used in a variety of printed pieces to promote the anniversary.

No Program Ties: For the first time this season the Blue Jays will play a game against a team not coached by someone who played with head coach Dave Pietramala (Albany's Scott Marr and Hofstra's Seth Tierney) or who coached Pietramala during his playing days at Johns Hopkins (Princeton's Bill Tierney and UMBC's Don Zimmerman).

One-Goal Turnarounds: The 8-7 loss at Hofstra was a rare one-goal loss for the Blue Jays under head coach Dave Pietramala. Johns Hopkins is now 30-7 in one-goal games since Pietramala took over in 2001. Despite the loss, the Blue Jays have won 17 of their last 20 and 21 of their last 25 one-goal games. In the five seasons prior to Pietramala arriving (1996-2000) the Blue Jays were 5-8 in one-goal games.

More One-Goal Notes: The Blue Jays have come from behind to win 14 times during their last 17 one-goal wins. In 10 of those 14 come-from-behind one-goal wins the Blue Jays have come back from a deficit of two goals or more. The latest of these come-from-behind one-goal wins came against Notre Dame in the 2007 NCAA Tournament, when the Blue Jays erased a 4-1 second-quarter deficit.

In Case We Go Extra: The loss at Hofstra snapped a nine-game winning streak for the Blue Jays in overtime games. The Blue Jays had currently won nine straight overtime games dating back to a 10-9 win at Navy in 2004. JHU is 13-3 all-time in overtime under Pietramala's guidance, including an impressive 6-2 in overtime games played on the road.

Players on the 2008 team who scored game-winning goals in overtime during their career:
• Senior Kevin Huntley punched home the game-winner in the second OT against Duke in 2005.
• Junior Brian Christopher scored 1:22 into OT against Loyola on May 6, 2006.
• Senior Paul Rabil fired home the game-winner 56 seconds into the 2nd OT against Princeton on March 3, 2007 and tallied the game-winner 43 seconds into overtime at Maryland (4-14-07). He is the only player in school history who has scored two overtime game-winners in the same season.
• Sophomore Michael Kimmel became the first freshman in school history to score an overtime goal in an NCAA Tournament game when he netted the game-winner one-minute into overtime against Notre Dame last season.

Comeback Kids: The Blue Jays trailed - albeit briefly- vs. Albany and as late as early in the third quarter against UMBC. Johns Hopkins came from behind to win eight times last season, including six times during the season-ending nine-game winning streak. JHU trailed in its first two NCAA Tournament games, but never trailed during the Final Four.

Streaking: Johns Hopkins is 68-12 in its last 80 regular season games dating back to the end of the 2001 season and is 80-16 overall since the start of the 2002 season.

12-Game Winning Streak Snapped: Johns Hopkins ended the 2007 season with a nine-game winning streak and pushed the streak to 12 in a row with three straight wins to open the season before last Saturday's 8-7 loss at Hofstra. The 12-game winning streak is the fifth wining streak of eight games or longer under head coach Dave Pietramala and the second-longest winning streak in his tenure.

A Defensive Group: Johns Hopkins held all 17 of its opponents scoreless for a span of least 9:30 last season and held the opposition scoreless for a span of 10:45 or longer 23 times during the 2007 season. The Blue Jays have picked up right where they left off last season as they held Albany scoreless for a streak of 27:03 during the season-opening win, kept Princeton off the board for the first 23:04 and held Hofstra without a goal for 37:56. The streak of over 37 scoreless minutes for the Great Danes marks the eighth time since the start of the 2007 season that Hopkins has held an opponent scoreless for 25 minutes or longer. Other scoreless streak notes of interest:

• JHU has held the opposition scoreless for a streak of 14 minutes or longer 23 times since the start of the 2007 season, including five times in three games this season.
• The Blue Jays have held nine of their last 10 opponents - including all four this season - scoreless for a stretch of at least 18 minutes.

More Defensive: Albany scored its first goal just 36 seconds into the game against JHU. The Great Danes scored exactly one more goal in the next 41:21.

Still More Defensive: Princeton scored exactly one goal in the first 35:18 against JHU.

A Final Defensive: Hofstra scored six goals in the first 13:02 against the Blue Jays. The Pride didn't score against until just 9:02 remained in the fourth quarter.

Don't Forget the Offense: While the focus of any Dave Pietramala-coached team will always be defense, the Blue Jay offense has gotten off to a good start this season. Consider:
• As a team the Blue Jays have scored on 30.4% of their shots through four games (41-of-135). JHU connected on 28.8% of its shots en route to winning the national championship a year ago.
• Dating back to the end of last season, JHU has scored in double figures eight times in its last 10 games and is averaging 11.3 goals per game during that time.

More Offense: Johns Hopkins has scored more than one goal in 13 of the 17 quarters thus far (includes overtime periods).

Playing the Possession Game: JHU won the ground ball war in each of its first three games and JHU has a 142-119 ground ball advantage on the year (+5.75 GBs per game). JHU held a 40-31 advantage on GBs against Princeton one week after taking the same battle by a 40-29 count against Albany. Hofstra is the only team that has won the ground ball battle against the Blue Jays this season (31-29).

Kevin and Dave Huntley Make History: When Johns Hopkins slipped past Duke, 12-11, for the national championship last spring, there were plenty of members of the Huntley family in high spirits. After all, then junior attackman Kevin Huntley scored three times in the title game and punched home what proved to be the game-winning goal with 3:25 remaining in the fourth quarter. The national championship is the second for the Blue Jays since Huntley arrived in 2005.
A little research reveals that Huntley's game-winner also lifted he and his father, Dave, into the record books. Dave Huntley was a standout midfielder for Johns Hopkins from 1976-79 and was a member of the Blue Jays' 1978 and 1979 NCAA Championship teams.
It is believed that Dave and Kevin Huntley are the first father and son to win multiple NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championships as players. There are sets of brothers who have won multiple titles (Gary and Paul Gait) and fathers who have coached their sons to championships (Henry Ciccarone, Bill Tierney), but Dave and Kevin Huntley are the only father and son in the history of the sport to each win more than one NCAA Division I title as players.

Player Notes of Interest in PDF Format