April 9, 2008

Johns Hopkins-Maryland Men's Lacrosse Notes

Johns Hopkins-Maryland Miscellaneous Lacrosse Notes

Game-by-Game Recaps

Setting the Scene: Johns Hopkins welcomes Maryland to Homewood Field for the Blue Jays' annual Homecoming game. This is the 104th all-time meeting in the series, which dates to a 10-0 Johns Hopkins win in 1895.

Looking Back: The Blue Jays slipped to 3-5 with a 17-6 loss at Duke last Saturday. Maryland suffered a heart-breaking 5-4 loss at Navy last Friday night at Byrd Stadium to slip to 7-3.

These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters the game against Maryland with an all-time record of 874-277-15 (.756). The Blue Jays own nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 44 championships.

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.

Honoring the Memory of Chris Gardner: The Blue Jays are taking their battle against cancer to the playing field this week as the game against Maryland will be played in honor of former JHU men's lacrosse player Chris Gardner.
Gardner was a member of the 1996 Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team before being diagnosed with cancer. He lost his battle in the fall of 1997 and the 1998 team dedicated its season to him. Current Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala was an assistant coach at JHU during Gardner's time with the team.
Since 1998 the Blue Jays have played one game each year where they incresed ticket prices by one dollar with all of these proceeds going to the Johns Hopkins Children's Center, where Chris received his treatment. A special player of the game award will be presented to a member of both teams at the conclusion of today's game. Chris's mom will be on hand to present the awards to both players.

JHU's Oldest Rival: This week's game against Maryland represents the 104th all-time meeting between the Blue Jays and Terrapins. Johns Hopkins has played more games against Maryland than any other opponent and the 65 wins the Blue Jays have against the Terps are also the most in program history. The Blue Jays are 5-2 against Maryland under head coach Dave Pietramala and the visiting team has won three straight and four of the last five in the series. Complete series information can be found elsewhere in this week's game notes.

Homecoming: An overflow crowd is expected for this week's Homecoming game against Maryland. The crowds for the last two Johns Hopkins-Maryland games at Homewood Field have been 10,555 (2004) and 9,778 (2006) and Homecoming festivities figure to push the crowd into the 10,000 range.
The Blue Jays have had a great deal of success on Homecoming as they have currently won 11 straight with the alumni in attendance. The last team to beat JHU on Homecoming? Maryland in 1996 (12-9).

That's 597 Games Over .500: Including last week's loss to Duke, the Blue Jays' all-time record is now 874-277-15 ... that's 597 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 would fall just three games below .500.

Poll Position: Johns Hopkins is ranked 13th in this week's USILA Coaches Poll and 15th in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. Maryland is ranked seventh in the USILA Coaches Poll and seventh in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll this week. To clarify, the Johns Hopkins Sports Information Office uses the USILA Coaches Poll to reflect JHU's official ranking at the time of a game.

A Tough Stretch: This week's game against Maryland is the fifth for Johns Hopkins in a brutal six-game stretch against teams that currently rank in the top nine in the USILA Coaches Poll. Based on current rankings, JHU played top-ranked Syracuse on March 15 before taking on third-ranked Virginia a week later. Games over the last two weeks against North Carolina (ranked 8th) and Duke (2nd) are now followed by this week's game against Maryland and next week's tilt at Navy (6th). The combined record of those six teams is currently 53-11 (.828).

April Reign: Flipping the calendar to April has usually been a good sign for the Blue Jays, who won four-of-five games in April last season. Taking it back farther, the Blue Jays are 32-4 (.889) under head coach Dave Pietramala in games played in April. Amazingly, the loss last week at Duke was JHU's first road loss in the month of April since a 10-9 setback at Maryland on April 14, 2001.

Rare Losing Streak: Last Saturday's loss against Duke was JHU's fifth straight. The five-game losing streak is just the second losing streak for the Blue Jays under head coach Dave Pietramala. JHU dropped three straight last season before rallying to win its last nine games en route to winning the NCAA Championship for the second time in three years. These are the only two losing streaks under Pietramala. The five-game losing streak is just the second in school history (1955-56) and the first in one season.

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.

One-Goal Turnarounds: The three straight losses to Hofstra (8-7), Syracuse (14-13) and Virginia (13-12) are rare one-goal losses for the Blue Jays under head coach Dave Pietramala. Johns Hopkins is now 30-9 in one-goal games since Pietramala took over in 2001. Despite the losses, the Blue Jays have won 17 of their last 22 and 21 of their last 27 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 won nine straight overtime games dating back to a 10-9 win at Navy in 2004 before the loss to the Pride. Including the OT loss to Virginia, JHU is 13-5 all-time in overtime under Pietramala's guidance, including an impressive 6-3 in overtime games played on the road.

More Overtime: The three consecutive overtime games for the Blue Jays against Hofstra, Syracuse and Virginia mark the first time Johns Hopkins has ever played three straight overtime games. Twice previously the Blue Jays had played two consecutive overtime games (1982 and 1988).

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 68-16 in its last 84 regular season games dating back to the end of the 2001 season and is 80-20 overall since the start of the 2002 season.

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 Pride 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 25 times since the start of the 2007 season, including eight times in eight games this season.

• The Blue Jays have held 10 of their last 14 opponents - including five of eight 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 again 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 29.6% of their shots through eight games (80-of-270). JHU connected on 28.8% of its shots en route to winning the national championship a year ago. The Blue Jays' highest shooting percentage in the Pietramala era came in 2003 when they connected on 31.7% (224-of-706) of their shots.
• Dating back to the end of last season, JHU has scored in double figures 10 times in its last 14 games and is averaging 10.9 goals per game during that time.

More Offense: Johns Hopkins has scored more than one goal in 24 of 32 full-length quarters thus far this season (overtime periods not included as it is impossible to score more than once in an overtime).

Playing the Possession Game: JHU has won the ground ball war in six of its eight games this season and has a 293-259 ground ball advantage on the year (+4.25 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 (31-29) and Duke (40-38) are the only two teams to win the ground ball battle against JHU this season.

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 and fathers who have coached their sons to championships, 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 Version