April 25, 2008

Johns Hopkins-Mount St. Mary's Men's Lacrosse Notes

Johns Hopkins-Mount St. Mary's Miscellaneous Lacrosse Notes

Game-by-Game Recaps

Setting the Scene: Johns Hopkins plays its final regular season home game of the year as the Blue Jays host in-state rival Mount St. Mary's. The Blue Jays are 6-5 entering the game, while MSM carried a 2-10 record into Saturday's game against Siena.

Looking Back: The Blue Jays improved to 6-5 with a 16-7 victory over Towson last Wednesday night. Mount St. Mary's snapped a five-game losing streak with an 11-8 win over VMI last Wednesday afternoon.

These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters the game against Mount St. Mary's with an all-time record of 877-277-15 (.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.

That's 600 Games Over .500: Including last week's win against Towson, the Blue Jays' all-time record is now 877-277-15 ... that's 600 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 even their record 1,477-1,477-15.

Poll Position: Johns Hopkins was ranked sixth in the USILA Coaches Poll and sixth in Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll last week. Mount St. Mary's was not ranked in either poll. 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. JHU's official ranking at the time of tonight's game will be based on the USILA Coaches Poll released Monday (4/28).

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 to jump-start their run to the national championship. Including last week's win over Towson, the Blue Jays are 35-4 (.897) under head coach Dave Pietramala in games played in April. Amazingly, the loss at Duke (Apri 5) was JHU's first road loss in the month of April since a 10-9 setback at Maryland on April 14, 2001.

State Rivalries: Without question the Blue Jays play one of the most difficult schedules in the nation and a big part of that schedule are the in-state rivalries the Blue Jays have. Tonight's game against Mount St. Mary's will be the fourth of the year for Johns Hopkins against a team from the state of Maryland. JHU has won all four of its games this season against in-state rivals (UMBC, Maryland, Navy, Towson) and the Blue Jays are 36-2 (.947) against teams from Maryland under head coach Dave Pietramala.

Halftime Speech is Working: During the current three-game winning streak the Blue Jays have outscored the opposition 15-4 in the third quarter.

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.

Players on the 2008 team who have 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.

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 have come from behind to win three times this season (Albany, UMBC, Towson). 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 71-16 in its last 87 regular season games dating back to the end of the 2001 season and is 83-20 overall since the start of the 2002 season.

Defensive Turnaround: Johns Hopkins allowed 57 goals in consecutive losses to Syracuse, Virginia, North Carolina and Duke. However, the Blue Jay defense has rebounded nicely in the last three weeks with standout showings in wins over Maryland (10-4), Navy (12-5) and Towson (16-7). This is the first time JHU has held three straight opponents to seven goals or less since turning the trick against Towson (4), Loyola (6) and Marist (6) late in the 2005 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 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 at one point. In the win against Navy the Blue Jays kept the Midshipmen off the scoreboard for a stretch of 32:34 bridging the second and fourth quarters. Hopkins then held Towson scoreless for a span of 23:33 midway through its games with the Tigers.
Hopkins has held an opponent scoreless for 25 minutes or longer nine times since the start of the 2007 season. Other scoreless streak notes of interest:

• The four goals the Blue Jays allowed against Maryland are the fewest Hopkins has allowed against a team ranked in the top 10 under head coach Dave Pietramala. The last time JHU held a top-10 opponent to four goals or less was on April 16, 1999, when JHU beat then seventh-ranked Maryland, 13-3. Prior to the Maryland game the Blue Jays had allowed 13 or more goals in four straight games.

• JHU has held the opposition scoreless for a streak of 14 minutes or longer 30 times since the start of the 2007 season, including 13 times in 11 games this season.

• The Blue Jays have held 13 of their last 17 opponents - including eight of 11 this season - scoreless for a stretch of at least 18 minutes.

More Defensive Notes of Interest:
• 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.
• Princeton scored exactly one goal in the first 35:18 against JHU.
• 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.
• Maryland scored exactly two goals in the first 40:24 against JHU.
• Navy scored three goals in the opening 56:46 before scoring twice in the final 3:14.
• JHU held Towson scoreless for stretches of 23:33 and 16:27 in the win over the Tigers.

Don't Forget the Offense: While the focus of any Dave Pietramala-coached team will always be defense, the Blue Jay offense has been effective as well this season. Consider:

• As a team the Blue Jays have scored on 32.2% of their shots through 11 games (118-of-366). 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 13 times in its last 17 games and is averaging 11.2 goals per game during that time (190 goals in 17 games).
• The 16 goals the Blue Jays scored against Towson are the most for JHU since a 17-goal outburst at Syracuse last season.

Playing the Possession Game: JHU has won the ground ball war in nine of its 11 games this season and has a 390-346 ground ball advantage on the year (+4.0 GBs per game). 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 Included in PDF Version