April 30, 2008

Johns Hopkins-Loyola Men's Lacrosse Notes

Johns Hopkins-Loyola Miscellaneous Notes

Game-by-Game Recaps

Setting the Scene: Johns Hopkins plays its final regular season game of the year as the Blue Jays make the one-mile trip up Charles Street to take on Loyola. Both teams enter the game with a record of 7-5.

Looking Back: The Blue Jays won their fourth straight game with a 12-1 win over Mount St. Mary's on Monday nigh (4-28) at Homewood Field. Loyola had a three-game winning streak snapped as the Greyhounds dropped a 10-6 decision at Hobart.

Tourney Talk: The bracket for the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Tourament will be announced on Sunday, May 4 between 9 pm and 10 pm. The bracket announcement will air on ESPNU.

These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters the game against Loyola with an all-time record of 878-277-15 (.756). The Blue Jays own nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 44 national 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 601 Games Over .500: Including the win against Mount St. Mary's, the Blue Jays' all-time record is now 878-277-15 ... 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 is ranked fifth in the USILA Coaches Poll and the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. Loyola is ranked 17th in the USILA Coaches Poll and 16th in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media 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.

Prepping for May: Johns Hopkins closed out another successful run in April with the 12-1 win over Mount St. Mary's on Monday night. Including the win over the Mount the Blue Jays are 36-4 (.900) 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.

May Day: The success of April has carried over into the month of May for Johns Hopkins. JHU is 23-5 (.821) in the month of May under head coach Dave Pietramala, including a perfect 12-0 mark at Homewood Field. In addition, the Blue Jays are 8-0 in regular season games played in the month of May under Pietramala and have not lost a regular season game in the month of May since suffering a 9-8 overtime loss at Hofstra on May 8, 1999.

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. The game against Loyola will be the sixth of the year for Johns Hopkins against a team from the state of Maryland. JHU has won all five of its games this season against in-state rivals (UMBC, Maryland, Navy, Towson, Mount St. Mary's) and the Blue Jays are 37-2 (.949) against teams from Maryland under head coach Dave Pietramala.

Halftime Speech is Working: During the current four-game winning streak the Blue Jays have out-scored the opposition 18-4 in the third quarter.

Man-Down Unit Improving: One area where the Blue Jays struggled during the middle of the season was in man-down situations. The opposition converted on 9-of-15 (.600) chances in a six-game span that started against Hofstra and ended against Maryland. However, in the last three games the Blue Jays have found their way in man-down situations as Navy, Towson and Mount St. Mary's have combined to convert on just 2-of-13 (.154) extra-man chanes.

Extra-Man Unit Rolls On: Johns Hopkins has been opportunistic when given extra-man opportunities as the Blue Jays rank fifth in the nation in man-up offense as they've converted on 14-of-30 (.467) chances this season. The 30 chances are the fewst of any team ranked in the top 25 in the nation in this category. JHU converted on its only EMO opportunity against Mount St. Mary's. Senior Paul Rabil leads the team with five extra-man goals, while freshman Kyle Wharton (3) and seniors Michael Doneger (2) and Kevin Huntley (2) have also cashed in on these chanes.

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 72-16 in its last 88 regular season games dating back to the end of the 2001 season and is 84-20 overall since the start of the 2002 season.

Additional Notes of Interest in PDF Version Above