WASHINGTON, DC — Johns Hopkins senior defenseman Tucker Durkin is one of 25 men’s lacrosse players named a Tewaaraton nominee today. From the 25, the Tewaaraton selection committee will select five finalists; the finalists will attend the foundation’s award ceremony on May 30 with the 13th annual recipient announced that night.

Johns Hopkins also produced one of the 25 women’s nominees as junior attacker Taylor D’Amore was also named.

Durkin is one of just two close defensemen among the 25 men’s nominees. He is the leader of a Johns Hopkins defense that currently ranks ninth in the nation in scoring defense (8.08 goals/game). He counts 24 ground balls and 15 caused turnovers to his credit and has routinely drawn the assignment of marking the opposition’s top attackman.

A starter in all 58 games he has played in during his career, Durkin has 119 ground balls and a school-record 64 career turnovers.

Durkin earned Second Team All-America honors as a sophomore and first team honors as a junior last season, when he also won the Schmeisser Award as the nation’s top defenseman.

Johns Hopkins is currently 8-4 and will host seventh-ranked Loyola on Saturday, April 27 at 2 pm.

Television:  ESPNU

The Game: Johns Hopkins (8-4) welcomes Charles Street rival Loyola (10-3) to Homewood Field for a key late-season game. JHU is ranked 11th in this week’s USILA Poll, while Loyola carries a number seven national ranking into the game.

A Look Back: Johns Hopkins will carry a two-game winning streak into this week’s game against Loyola as the Blue Jays followed their win two weeks ago at top-ranked Maryland with a 15-4 win over Navy last Saturday. Seventh-ranked Loyola made the long return trip from Hobart an enjoyable one as the ‘Hounds raced past the Statesmen, 19-11.

Series History: This week’s game will be the 51st in a series that dates to a 20-1 Johns Hopkins win in 1939. The Blue Jays lead the series 47-3 and have won 13 straight against the Greyhounds.

Senior Day: The 11 seniors on the 2013 Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse team will play their final regular season home game at Homewood Field this week. The 11 have helped the Blue Jays to a 40-19 record, three trips to the NCAA Tournament and two appearances in the NCAA Quarterfinals during their time at Homewood. There will be a ceremony recognizing the 11 before the game.

Program Ties: Johns Hopkins associate head coach Bill Dwan is the older brother of Loyola assistant coach Matt Dwan.

These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters this week’s game against Loyola with an all-time record of 932-302-15 (.752). The Blue Jays own nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 44 national championships.

1,250 and Counting: This week’s game against Loyola will be the 1,250th in the history of the Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse program.

That’s 103 Games Over .500: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala picked up his 169th career win with Johns Hopkins’ victory over Navy last week and he now stands at 169-66 overall. Included in that mark is a 146-49 record at JHU and a 23-17 record in three seasons as the head coach at Cornell.
Pietramala ranks second all-time in school history in career coaching victories as only Hall of Fame coach Bob Scott (158 wins from 1955-74) has more victories than Pietramala while patrolling the sidelines at Homewood.

April Reign: Flipping the calendar to April has usually been a good sign for the Blue Jays, who are 52-11 (.825) under head coach Dave Pietramala in games played in April. JHU is 29-5 at home, 21-4 on the road and 2-2 on a neutral field in April under Pietramala’s guidance.

Must be the Speech: There must be something to what Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala says in the locker room that sparks the Blue Jays as Johns Hopkins holds decided scoring advantages in the first and third quarters through 12 games. JHU has outscored the opposition 43-23 in the first quarter and 40-24 in the third.
The Blue Jays also hold a 28-20 scoring margin in the second quarter and a 37-29 advantage in the fourth quarter.

Attack Oriented: The Johns Hopkins starting attack trio of John Kaestner, Brandon Benn and Wells Stanwickfueled last week’s 15-4 win vs. Navy as they combined for nine goals and eight assists.
Kaestner totaled career highs of three goals, three assists and six points, while Benn tied his career high with five goals on the day. Stanwick scored once and matched his personal best with five assists.

Balancing Act: Johns Hopkins counts nine players with six or more goals and nine players with 12 or more points through 12 games. In all, 18 different players have found the back of the net for JHU and 22 players have at least one point.

It’s Been a While – Part I: Johns Hopkins held Navy to just four goals – and none in the final 28 minutes – in last week’s 15-4 victory. This defensive effort came seven days after JHU held Maryland to four goals in a 7-4 win. This marks the first time the Blue Jays have held back-to-back opponents to four goals or less since 2008, when JHU held Hofstra (10-4) and Navy (10-4) to four goals in victories in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

It’s Been a While – Part II: More than six years had passed since Johns Hopkins last won a game when scoring seven goals or less. Prior to the 7-4 win at Maryland, the Blue Jays’ last win when scoring seven or less came on March 3, 2007, when JHU topped Princeton, 7-6, in double overtime in the Face-Off Classic at M&T Bank Stadium. Ironically, the win against Princeton that day came one week after a one-goal loss to Albany; as did this year’s win at Maryland.

The Key to Victory – Part I: Johns Hopkins is 7-1 on the year when scoring in double figures. The Blue Jays are 1-3 when scoring fewer than 10 goals. JHU scored its first win of the season when scoring less than 10 goals with the 7-4 win at Maryland.

The Key to Victory – Part II: Johns Hopkins improved to 8-0 on the year when holding the opposition to less than 10 goals with the win against Navy. On the flip side, JHU is 0-4 when allowing 10 goals or more.

EMO Among Nation’s Best: The Blue Jay extra-man offense is 25-of-56 (.446) on the year and currently ranks eighth in the nation in man-up offense.
Seven different players have scored at least one extra man goal for the Blue Jays with freshman Ryan Brown(8), junior Brandon Benn (6) and sophomore Wells Stanwick (4) leading the way. Brown’s eight extra man goals are already the most by a Johns Hopkins player since 2004, when Matt Rewkowski had 12 and Conor Ford had eight.

Welcome Back: Junior midfielder Rob Guida returned to the lineup at Maryland after missing eight games with injury. Guida took his customary spot on Johns Hopkins’ first midfield and scored one goal with two ground balls to his credit. He added another goal and two more GBs against Navy and now has three goals, one assist and eight ground balls on the year. Two of his goals are extra-man tallies.

Kaestner Enjoys Career Day: Senior attackman John Kaestner fueled JHU’s 15-4 win against Navy with the most productive game of his career. Starting again for an injured Zach Palmer, Kaestner totaled career highs of three goals, three assists and six points to go along with three ground balls on the day.
Despite playing in just eight of JHU’s 12 games, Kaestner now ranks seventh on the team in scoring with eight goals and seven assists for 15 points. In 21 career games played before this season, he had four goals and two assists.
He also represents the third-generation of Kaestners to play at JHU as his grandfather (Benjamin “Bud” Kaestner, Jr.) and uncle (Benjamin “Hank” Kaestner, III) both played lacrosse at Johns Hopkins, are members of the All-Time Johns Hopkins Team and the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. His uncle was a two-time recipient of the Schmeisser Award as the nation’s top defenseman (1966 & 1967), His father, John, played lacrosse at Maryland, was a three-time All-American and the 1972 recipient of the Turnbull Award, which is presented annually to the nation’s top attackman.
In addition, Kaestner’s two older sisters were also accomplished Division I lacrosse players. His oldest sister, earned All-America honors three times at Georgetown, while another sister, Christie, played at Duke and was a First Team All-America pick for the Blue Devils.

Stanwick Leads Team in Scoring: Sophomore attackman Wells Stanwick had a nine-game streak with multiple points come to an end at Maryland as he was held scoreless for the first time this season, but he bounced back in a big way in the 15-4 win over Navy with one goal and a career-high five assists for six points.
Stanwick continues to lead the team in scoring with 23 goals and 21 assists for 44 points on the year and he has far surpassed his goal (9), assist (13) and point (23) totals from last season. He currently ranks 15th in the nation in points per game (4.00), 19th in assists per game (1.91) and second in shooting percentage (.535).
Stanwick has recorded at least two points in 10 of the 11 games he has played in this season and, despite not registering a point at Maryland, still has 36 points in his last eight games (4.5/game).
Stanwick enjoyed the finest game of his career in the 19-9 win over Mount St. Mary’s earlier this season as he totaled five goals and four assists for nine points. Previously he had never had more than two goals, three assists or four points in a game. Stanwick is the first Johns Hopkins player to post nine points in a game since Kyle Barrie had five goals and four assists in a 17-3 win over Navy in 2003. He is also the first JHU player with back-to-back six-point games since Dan Denihan did it against Villanova (8), Ohio State (6) and Maryland (7) during the 2000 season.

Poppleton Rolls On: Senior Mike Poppleton continued to enjoy a standout season as he won 15-of-17 faceoffs and grabbed 10 ground balls in last week’s win over Navy. It was the 11th time in is career he has won 14 or more faceoffs in one game.
Poppleton, who ranks second in the nation in faceoff winning percentage, is now 150-of-220 (.682) on the year and leads the team with 83 ground balls. He also improved to 340-of-530 (.642) in his career with his showing last week against Navy and now ranks seventh in school history in career faceoffs won and eighth in faceoffs attempted.

Palmer Ranks Third in Scoring: Despite missing the last two games after suffering an injury in practice, senior attackman Zach Palmer is still ranked third on the team in scoring with 12 goals goal and 12 assists on the year. He posted three goals and one assist at North Carolina and added one goal against Albany before missing the games against Maryland and Navy.
Palmer now has career totals of 71 goals and 68 assists for 139 points. He enters this week’s game against Loyola needing just two assists to become the 11th player in school history to amass 70 goals and 70 assists.

Benn Leads Team in Goals: Junior Brandon Benn continues to pace the team in goals (28) and ranks second in points (29) after punching up a career-high-tying five goals in last week’s win over Navy. He has scored 58 of his 63 career goals since the start of the 2012 season and has scored at least one goal in all 11 games this season and 14 straight dating back to last season.
Benn’s 14-game goal-scoring streak is currently the ninth-longest active streak in the nation.

What Brown Does For Us: Freshman Ryan Brown has stepped in and made an immediate impact for the Blue Jays in his first year at Homewood. Brown has 14 goals and four assists through 12 games and leads the team with eight extra-man goals. He has registered at least one point in nine of 12 games this season and his eight extra-man goals are already the most by a Johns Hopkins player since 2004, when Matt Rewkowski (12) andConor Ford (8) led a potent JHU extra man unit.
Brown fired home the first hat trick of his career and added an assist for a career-high four points in the 15-8 win over Virginia and added two goals at North Carolina. He now has six multi-point and four multi-goal games to his credit this season.

Sanders Breaks Through: Junior midfielder Rex Sanders entered the 2013 season with one career goal to his credit. He has already far surpassed that total as he has scored 13 goals through 12 games. Sanders ranks fifth on the team in goals (13) and ranks ninth in points (13).

Cattoni Emerging: Freshman Holden Cattoni played in two of the Blue Jays’ first three games, but didn’t register a point in those two outings.
That changed quickly as the hard-shooting lefty punched up back-to-back two-point games against Princeton and Mount St. Mary’s. He fired home a pair of goals against the Tigers and added one goal and one assist against the Mount. He scored an extra man goal against Syracuse, added one goal and one assist vs. Virginia, one goal against Albany and an assist vs. Navy. He now has six goals and three assists for nine points on the year.

Bassett Among National Win Leaders: Senior Pierce Bassett enters this week’s game against Loyola with a 7.89 goals against average and a .591 save percentage after posting seven saves while allowing just four goals in last week’s win against Navy. He currently ranks ninth in the nation in both save percentage and goals against average.
Bassett enjoyed one of his finest games of the season against Virginia as he posted 16 saves and allowed just seven goals in 59:02. The 16 saves are tied for the second-highest total of his career and he followed that with a 15-save performance against Albany, a 12-save showing against Maryland and the seven-save effort against Navy that boosted his career total to 475 saves, good for seventh place on JHU’s career saves list. He passed Larry Quinn (462 saves • 1982-85) on the career saves list with his 12 against the Terps.
Bassett also enters this week’s game against Loyola tied for second among active Division I goalies in career wins after picking up number 35 against Navy.

Durkin Fuels Defense: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala has the luxury of returning the nation’s top defensive player in senior co-captain Tucker Durkin, who has picked up right where he left off a year ago.
Durkin has been on a roll of late as the two players he has primarly covered in his last two games – Albany’s Lyle Thompson and Maryland’s Kevin Cooper, combined for one assist in the two games. He held Thompson, the nation’s leading scorer at better than seven points per game, scoreless, while Cooper managed just a first-quarter assist.
Durkin currently ranks fifth on the team in ground balls (24) and leads the team with 15 caused turnovers. He is the anchor of a Johns Hopkins defense that ranks ninth nationally in scoring defense (8.08).

Lightner, Reilly Round Out Starting Defense: While senior Tucker Durkin has drawn the most headlines among JHU’s close defensemen, the Blue Jays also count talented senior Chris Lightner and junior Jack Reillyamong the key pieces to their defensive puzzle.
Lightner leads JHU’s close defensemen and ranks third on the team with 28 ground balls and also has eight caused turnovers to his credit, while Reilly has 13 ground balls and ranks second on the team with 13 caused turnovers. Lightner had five ground balls and two caused turnvoers in the recent win at Maryland.

Scoring Droughts Abound: Despite the new rules in place this season that aim to quicken the pace (and thus increase scoring), the Johns Hopkins defense has been able to hold the opposition scoreless for long stretches.
In the win at top-ranked Maryland, the Blue Jay defense was dialed in from the opening whistle and held the Terps off the scoreboard for stretches of 11:23, 22:02 and 13:13. Senior goalie Pierce Bassett and close defensemen Tucker Durkin, Chris Lightner and Jack Reilly combined to hold Maryland’s starting attack unit to one goal and one assist and the Terps’ potent first midfield managed just three goals and one assist. This is the first time this season JHU has held the opposition scoreless for 11 minutes or more three different times in one game.
The four goals the Blue Jays allowed are the fewest Johns Hopkins has allowed against a team ranked in the top five since April 5, 1986, when JHU topped third-ranked North Carolina, 16-4. The Blue Jays followed that with another strong showing as they held Navy to just four goals on 22 shots and twice held the Midshipmen scoreless for stretches of 20 minutes or longer.

• The Blue Jays have held the opposition scoreless for 11 minutes or more 19 times this season.
• The Blue Jays have held the opposition scoreless for 15 mnutes or more 12 times this season.
• The Blue Jays have held the opposition scoreless for 20 minutes or more seven times this season.

State Rivalries: Last week’s 15-4 win against Navy improved Johns Hopkins’ record to 61-7 (.897) under head coach Dave Pietramala in games played against teams from the state of Maryland. JHU is 5-0 this year against in-state teams.

Poll Position: The Blue Jays are ranked 11th in this week’s USILA Coaches Poll and the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll as well. The Johns Hopkins Athletic Communications Office uses the USILA Poll to represent JHU’s official ranking at the time of a game. Prior to falling out of the top 20 of the USILA Poll on April 26 and May 3, 2010 (JHU was receiving votes in both polls), the Blue Jays had been ranked in the top 20 in 367 consecutive polls dating back to the first poll in 1973.

More Poll Position: Including this week’s USILA Poll, there have been 407 weekly polls since the inception of the poll in 1973. Amazingly, JHU has been ranked in the top 20 in 405 of those 407 polls. The Blue Jays have been in the top 10 in 381 of the 407 and the top five in 299 of those 407. Johns Hopkins has been ranked number one 104 times since the poll debuted in 1973.

I’m Honored: The Blue Jays return four players who earned All-America honors last season in seniors Tucker Durkin, Pierce Bassett and John Ranagan and junior Rob Guida. Durkin earned First Team All-America honors on defense, while Ranagan and Guida grabbed second team honors at midfield. Bassett earned honorable mention honors in goal and he, Durkin and Ranagan are two-time All-America selections for the Blue Jays.

Odd, But True: Years ending in “3” have been kind, and unkind, to the Blue Jays. Since the formation of the NCAA Tournament in 1971, Johns Hopkins has advanced to the NCAA Championship game three times (1973, 1983, 2003) and the NCAA Semifinals once (1993) in the years ending in three. JHU fell in each of those three title games with the three loses coming by a total of four goals. In each of those instances the Blue Jays subsequently won a national championship within two years.

Representing the Stars and Stripes – Part I: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala will serve as an assistant coach for the United States at at the 2014 Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Championships in Denver Colorado.
Pietramala will serve under Richie Meade, the head coach at Navy from 1995-2011.

Representing the Stars and Stripes – Part II: Johns Hopkins sophomore defender Rob Enright was a member of the United States Team that won the 2012 FIL U-19 World Championship in Turku, Finland. Enright is the 17th Johns Hopkins player to represent the United States at the U-19 Championships since the formation of the event in 1988.

Working Overtime: The loss at North Carolina snapped a three-game winning streak for the Blue Jays in games that have gone to overtime. With the loss the Blue Jays are now 19-10 all-time in overtime under head coach Dave Pietramala.

Game Data

The 2013 regular-season comes to an end for Loyola men’s lacrosse on Saturday, April 27, 2013, when they make the short trip down Charles Street to face Johns Hopkins University.

Face-off is slated for 1 p.m. at Homewood Field.

Watch The Action

Saturday’s game will be the Old Spice College Lacrosse Game of the Week on ESPNU. Booker Coorigan will call the play-by-play, while Mark Dixon handles color analysis. The game can also be viewed on ESPN Mobile and WatchESPN platforms.

Series History

The Greyhounds and Blue Jays will be meeting for the 51st time in series history on Saturday when they take the field. Johns Hopkins holds a 47-3 advantage in the all-time series and is currently on a 13-game winning streak.

Loyola’s last win against the Blue Jays came on March 12, 1999, when the Greyhounds took a 14-5 decision on the road.

Last year, the Blue Jays held the Greyhounds scoreless for the game’s first 18-plus minutes and scored the first five goals en route to a 6-3 halftime advantage. Johns Hopkins eventually went ahead 9-5 on a Rob Guida goal with 14:13 left in regulation, but Loyola rallied to score four in a row.

Pat Laconi’s first career goal, in transition with 3:04 remaining, pulled Loyola within a goal, and Justin Ward dodged from X, scoring just off the left side of the crease with five seconds to play, sending the game to overtime.

With less than 10 seconds remaining, a Josh Hawkins trail-check sent a John Ranagan shot high and wide right, but the ball went right to the stick of Zach Palmer. He hit Guida with a pass on the doorstep, and Guida one-timed a shot into the net for the game-winner with 2.3 ticks left in overtime.

When the teams play for the 51st time, Johns Hopkins will overtake Penn State as Loyola second most-played in school history. Towson is the Greyhounds’ most-played opponent at 55 meetings.

In The Polls

Loyola moved up to seventh the USILA coaches poll while staying steady at eighth in the Inside Lacrosse media ranking.

Last Time Out

Loyola scored the first six goals of the game and then used a 7-0 run after Hobart closed the gap to one in the second quarter. The latter Greyhounds’ run broke open the game, and Loyola closed its ECAC Lacrosse League regular-season schedule with a 19-11 victory over the host Statesmen.

Justin Ward scored all three of his goals in the opening quarter, and the Greyhounds were ahead 5-0 on his final tally, a man-up strike with 1:23 on the first-quarter clock.

Hobart, however, scored the first five goals of the second quarter and drew within a point, 6-5, at 4:24 on an Alex Love score. Scott Raltiff scored in transition at 3:18, however, sparking three goals before the end of the half at the beginning of a 7-0 Greyhounds’ run.

Mike Sawyer was involved in the scoring of the first five goals of the run, scoring three and assisting on Ratliff’s goal and one by Zach Herreweyers. Sawyer finished with a game-high four goals and six points, while Herreweyers chipped in three goals and two assists, and Ward scored three with one assist.

Ratliff tallied two goals and an assist, while Sean O’Sullivan and Josh Hawkins each scored twice.

Back-To-Back Six-Point Games

Mike Sawyer put up his best offensive numbers of the season on April 13 against Denver, scoring four goals and recording two assists for six points, season-highs in all categories.

The senior attacker quickly replicated that effort on April 20 at Hobart, posting the same numbers in each category.

With his eight goals in two games, Sawyer has leapt into the team lead for goals scored with 27 this season. In seven ECAC Lacrosse League games this season, Sawyer leads the conference with 2.83 goals per game.

In 55 career games, Sawyer has scored 119 goals and has 25 assists for 144 points.

Earlier this year, against UMBC, he became the eighth player in school Division I history to reach 100 goals, and his 119 total place him are third-most on the program’s Division I career chart. He is one behind Gewas Schindler in second and 14 back of Pat Lamon in first. Sawyer’s 139 points rank 11th in school Division I history.

Hawkins On The Fly

In just six games this year, Josh Hawkins has already eclipsed his previous high in goals, scoring nine this season to beat his total of six from last season and his 2010 freshman campaign.

The defensive midfielder has scored twice in each of Loyola’s last three games and has at least one goal in every game he’s played this year.

He has put 13-of-20 shots on goal and scored on 45.0-percent of his total shots.

In 46 career games, Hawkins has scored 24 goals and has eight assists as a short-stick defender.

ECAC Weekly Honors For Ratliff

Scott Ratliff earned ECAC Lacrosse League Specialist of the Week honors on Monday, his third weekly award of 2013 from the conference office.

The long-stick midfielder posted another all-around performance at Hobart Saturday, scoring twice in transition and adding another assist on a Mike Sawyer goal in the third-quarter.

Defensively, Ratliff posted seven ground balls and three caused turnovers, while he and his teammates in the defensive midfield held the Statesmen’s starting midfield to three goals. Ratliff did not allow a goal against a player he was matched up against in the game.

He now has scored 13 goals this season, eclipsing his 2012 school record for scoring by a long-pole player.

Ratliff, who was the 2012 ECAC Defensive Player of the Year and 2013 ECAC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, has earned seven weekly awards from the league. Earlier this season, he was named Defensive Player of the Week twice.

O’Sullivan Shooting On Target

Sean O’Sullivan’s game-tying goal with 2:11 to play in the third quarter against Denver gave him four for the game, tying his career-high set on February 25, 2012, against Towson. The senior needed just four shots against the Pioneers to score his four goals.

On Saturday at Hobart, O’Sullivan scored twice on four shots, and this season, he has scored his 16 goals on just 39 shots (.410 shot percentage), and he is putting 74.4-percent of his total shots on goal (29-of-39). His 16 goals rank third on the team this season, and his six extra-man tallies lead the team. O’Sullivan’s four extra-man goals in conference play lead the ECAC in that category.

Attack Stats

Loyola’s starting attack against Hobart – Mike Sawyer (four goals, two assists), Zach Herreweyers (three, two) and Justin Ward (three, one) – represented 10 of the Greyhounds’ 19 goals and 15 of the team’s 31 points against the Statesmen.

Ward and Sawyer are first and second, respectively, on the team in scoring this season with 53 and 33 points. Herreweyers, in just seven games, is fifth with 18. Nikko Pontrello, who started 10 games on attack this season, is third on the team with 30 points, 13 coming from goals.

Rookie Production

Zach Herreweyers recorded his fourth hat trick of the season Saturday at Hobart in just his seventh game of the season.

The freshman from London, Ontario, posted three goals and two assists against the Statesmen, raising his first-year total to 15 goals and three assists.

Herreweyers, who has hat tricks against Air Force, Georgetown, Michigan and Hobart, leads ECAC Lacrosse League freshmen with 2.14 goals per game and 2.6 points per contest.

Against Air Force, Herreweyers became the first Loyola freshman to score three times in a game since current senior Patrick Fanshaw scored five goals and assisted on another on March 20, 2010, also against Air Force.

Ratliff Sets Record

Scott Ratliff did something believed to be a first in the modern era of college lacrosse  (circa 1971) on April 6 in the Greyhounds’ win over visiting Fairfield. The senior long-stick midfielder scored four goals, becoming the first player with a pole to do so.

Ratliff scored once off a Loyola faceoff win, a second time on a give-and-go in transition with Pat Laconi and twice more off set plays in settled offense with feeds from Justin Ward and Nikko Pontrello.

In recent years, at least two long-sticks, Duke’s C.J. Costabile and Bryant’s Mason Poli, have recorded hat tricks.

Another Multi-Point Venture For Ward

With three first-quarter goals against Hobart, Justin Ward had his 13th multi-point effort in as many games this season. He has now tallied at least two points in all 13 games this season, and he has three or more in nine of those outings.

In the Georgetown game, he became the 10th player in the program’s Division I history (since 1982) to log 50 or more assists in his career. With 59 career assists, Ward is tied for eighth in school Division I history with Pat Lamon, one shy of Gewas Schindler in seventh.

Ward put up his second game with seven or more points on March 16 against Air Force, logging seven with two goals and five assists in the win over the Falcons. His five assists tied his career-high, set twice in 2012 against Towson and Fairfield.

On February 26, against UMBC, as the junior finished with seven goals and three assists for 10 points. His goal and point outputs were career-highs. He became the first player to score at least seven goals in a game since Gavin Prout tallied eight in a 19-11 win at Hobart on April 28, 2001.

Ward’s 10-point effort was the first 10-point game for a Greyhound since Tim Goettelmann tallied the same amount in a 19-9 win on March 25, 2000, against Fairfield. In that game, Goettelmann scored four goals and had six assists. Later that season, he would score seven goals on May 16 in the NCAA First Round against Notre Dame.

Through 13 games this year, Ward leads the team with 26 goals and 27 assists for 53 points. His 27 assists are ninth-most in school Division I single-season history.

CLASSy Senior Candidate

Two weeks ago, Scott Ratliff was named one of 10 finalists for the prestigious Senior CLASS Award, an honor given yearly to a NCAA Division I senior who has notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition

Ratliff has continued his high production on defense, transition and offense that helped him earn USILA All-America Third Team and ECAC Defensive Player of the Year honors a year ago when he led the team last year in ground balls (88) and caused turnovers (37), was fifth in goals (12) and seventh in assists (7).

His career totals now stand at 29 goals and 14 assists, and his 43 career points are second-most among active long-poles to Bryant’s Mason Poli. Last year, he set the school’s single-season long-pole scoring record with 12 goals and seven assists, eclipsing the previous high of 16 points on 11 goals and five assists set in 1995 by current Loyola assistant coach Matt Dwan.

Additionally, Ratliff now stands 10th in school Division I history in career ground balls (204) and second in caused turnovers (88). His caused turnovers are two shy of tying the school record set in 2008 by P.T. Ricci.

Defensive Midfield Production

Loyola’s defensive midfield had a productive game against Fairfield, finishing the outing with six goals, an assists, six caused turnovers and six ground balls.

The unit posted another solid outing on both sides of the field with four goals and two assists at Hobart on April 20.

This season, long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff has posted 13 goals and four assists, good for sixth on the team with 17 points, while short-stick Josh Hawkins has nine goals and an assist, and fellow short-stick Pat Laconi has four goals and six points. Kyle Duffy scored his first point of the season with an assist at Hobart.

Pontrello Keeps Tallying Points

Nikko Pontrello notched his third hat trick of the season on March 30 at Ohio State, scoring a game-high three against the Buckeyes. He also had three-goal outings against UMBC and Air Force earlier this year.

In his first season as a starter, Pontrello has scored 13 goals while assisting on 17 for 30 points, third-most on the team. As a freshman in 2012, he scored four goals and assisted on six.

He posted his second six-point game this season March 16 against Air Force, scoring a career-high four goals to go with two assists. He scored in the first quarter, tallied a pair during Loyola’s 4-0 third-quarter run and added his fourth in the final frame. Earlier this year against UMBC, Pontrello posted three goals and three assists for six points against the Retrievers.

Fletcher Turns Up ‘D’

Joe Fletcher earned ECAC Defensive Player of the Week honors on March 18 after picking up three ground balls and causing a turnover against Air Force. More impressive was the defense Fletcher played on Air Force’s offensive quarterback, preseason All-American Keith Dryer.

Dryer entered the game with four goals and a team-leading 10 assists, but Fletcher held him without a point.

This season, Fletcher, who was a Preseason All-America First Team honoree, has 49 ground balls and 17 caused turnovers, numbers that are second and third, respectively, on the team.

ECAC Championships Approaching

After Loyola plays at Johns Hopkins to wrap up its 2013 regular-season on Saturday, the Greyhounds will embark on a return trip to Hobart College in Geneva, N.Y., where they will play in the 2013 ECAC Lacrosse League Tournament.

Loyola, at 6-1 in conference play, is guaranteed no lower than the No. 2 seed in the tournament. Denver, which enters this weekend at 5-1, can earn the top seed with a win Saturday at Michigan by virtue of its head-to-head win against Loyola.

Fairfield and Ohio State have also qualified for the ECAC Championships and play this weekend. If Fairfield wins and Denver loses, the Stags will be the No. 2 seed. If Denver wins, the winner of Fairfield-Ohio State will be the third seed, and the loser will be the fourth.

Helmet Stickers

Loyola players are wearing three stickers on their helmets this season to remember those who have passed away. The stickers are in memory of Adam Pomper, a member of the 2012 team who passed away on June 12, 2012, Mandy O’Sullivan, mother of current players Sean and Ryan O’Sullivan who died in March 2012 from pancreatic cancer, and the 26 victims of the Newtown, Conn., shooting in December 2012 where Loyola put on a youth lacrosse clinic in January.

Well-Represented In MLL Draft

Five members of the Loyola men’s lacrosse team were selected in the top 26 of the January 11 Major League Lacrosse draft. The Greyhounds tied Virginia for the most draft picks in the selection process.

Josh Hawkins and Mike Sawyer were both taken in the first round, going fifth and eighth overall to the Hamilton Nationals and Charlotte Hounds, respectively.

Scott Ratliff was the first pick of the second round, going ninth to the Boston Cannons, and Davis Butts was taken early in the third round, 19th overall to the Denver Outlaws. Joining Hawkins in Hamilton will be Reid Acton, the team’s fourth round pick, 26th overall.

Preseason Accolades

Six Loyola players were named to the Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Yearbook Preseason All-America teams: defender Joe Fletcher and short-stick midfielder Josh Hawkins (first team); attackman Mike Sawyer and long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff (second); midfielder Davis Butts (third); and, defender Reid Acton (honorable mention).

All six earned All-America honors last season with Sawyer earned Second Team honors and Ratliff was named to the Third Team. Acton, Butts, Fletcher and Acton earned Honorable Mention along with graduate student Eric Lusby.

Toomey Receives Morris Touchstone Award

Loyola Head Coach Charley Toomey was named the ECAC Coach of the Year for the third time in his seven-year career, and in December, he received the coaches association’s Morris Touchstone Award as the national coach of the year.

The Greyhounds became the second team in USILA Coaches Poll history to start a season unranked and ascend to the No. 1 spot in the rankings. The only other team was Duke in 2007 – a year after the Blue Devils had their season suspended in March – which accomplished the feat after being unranked in the first poll, moving to second in the next version and first in the third. Duke was knocked from its perch as No. 1 that season when it lost to the Greyhounds at the First Four in San Diego.

The win over Georgetown this was the 70th victory of his coaching career, becoming the second coach in Loyola history to win 70 or more, joining – Dave Cottle (181-70, 1983-2001).

Big Runs

Last season, runs of three-plus goals were critical in the Greyhounds success, as they had runs of 3-0 or better in all 19 games. In all, Loyola scored three or more in a row on 37 occasions last year.

The Greyhounds have opened the 2013 season in similar fashion as they scored three-straight in the second quarter to take a 4-2 lead against Delaware after trailing, 2-1. They then had two runs of 3-0 or better at Towson.

Against UMBC, Loyola had a 3-0 first-half run before putting together a 10-0 stretch in the third and fourth quarters. The Greyhounds then had a 4-0 run that spanned both halves to help beat Bellarmine, and they runs of 3-0 and 4-0 to beat Air Force.

In the Georgetown game, Loyola had its longest run of the year, scoring eight straight.

At Ohio State, the Greyhounds went on a 6-0 run that spanned the final three quarters to take control of the game. A 5-0 first-quarter run spurred the win over Fairfield.

The game against Hobart saw the Greyhounds go on a pair of major runs en route to the win. Loyola scored the game’s first six goals and, after the Statesmen went on a 5-0 run to pull within a goal in the second quarter, the Greyhounds used a 7-0 run that spanned both halves to break open the game.

Second-Half Success

Last season, the Greyhounds outscored opponents 66-22 in the third quarters of games, and 123-63 overall in the second half (including overtime). The second-half scoring continued a trend from 2011 when Loyola outscored opponents, 69-52, after halftime (including two overtime goals), and 77-56.

This year, Loyola is outscoring opponents 52-24 in the third quarter and 83-56 overall after halftime.

BALTIMORE, MD – The 11th-ranked Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse team got a combined nine goals and eight assists from its starting attack trio of Wells Stanwick, John Kaestner and Brandon Benn and the Blue Jays used an 11-0 game-ending run to fuel a 15-4 victory over visiting Navy at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. Johns Hopkins held the Midshipmen scoreless for the final 28:02.

Despite controlling the game statistically in the first half, the Blue Jays found themselves in a 4-4 tie after Gabe Voumard polished off his hat trick for the Midshipmen with a laser into the top corner less than two minutes into the second half.

That tie held for just over three minutes before Benn quick-sticked home a feed to the crease from Stanwick to complete his own hat trick. It took all of seven seconds for the Blue Jays to extend the lead as a clean win on the ensuing faceoff by Mike Poppleton led to a Kaestner goal that was also assisted by Stanwick. An unassisted goal by Kaestner less than two minutes later made it 7-4 and the Blue Jays never looked back.

The lead swelled to 10-4 by the end of the third quarter as freshman Ryan Brown added his 14th goal of the season on a slick feed to the slot from Stanwick with 6:20 remaining and Stanwick and senior John Ranagan added strikes in the final three minutes of the period to account for the six-goal lead.

The Blue Jays, who scored all six of their third-quarter goals in a nine-minute span, added a four-goal spurt that took just over two minutes midway through the fourth quarter to put the game away.

Benn wrapped his fourth and fifth goals of the game around Kaestner’s third and junior Rex Sanders added an unassisted strike before the fourth quarter was six minutes old. An unassisted goal by Ranagan closed the scoring with just under six minutes on the clock.

Voumard gave Navy an early 1-0 lead as his 13th goal of the season less than two minutes into the game opened the scoring. A goal by Greg Edmonds in an unsettled situation four minutes later tied the game and Benn gave the Blue Jays their first lead of the game when he found an open net after a nice feed from freshman Holden Cattoni.

Hopkins carried that 2-1 lead into the second quarter and extended the lead to 3-1 when Kaestner fed Benn on the doorstep early in the period, but the Midshipmen, who went more than 20 minutes without scoring after Voumard’s game-opening strike, needed just 83 seconds to draw even as Voumard and T.J. Hanzsche struck midway through the period.

An unassisted goal by Rob Guida 58 seconds after Hanzsche’s goal gave the Blue Jays a 4-3 lead at halftime, only to have Voumard knot the game again early in the third. That would be the final time the Midshipmen would find the back of the net and Benn’s extra man tally four minutes later jump-started the game-ending run for the Blue Jays.

Benn tied his career high with five goals, while Kaestner had personal bests of three goals, three assists and six points. Stanwick added the one goal and a career-high five assists. Poppleton won 15-of-17 faceoffs and added 10 ground balls as the Blue Jays won 17-of-20 faceoffs on the day and held a 37-17 advantage in ground balls.

Voumard was the only multi-point scorer for the Midshipmen, who did get 12 saves from senior goalie Nolan Hickey in just over 50 minutes of action.

Game Preview
•  Navy (3-9, 1-5 Patriot League) will close out the 2013 campaign on Saturday afternoon when it travels to Baltimore to battle 11th-ranked Johns Hopkins (7-4) … the 87th edition of the Navy-Johns Hopkins game is slated for a 4:00 pm faceoff at Homewood Field.
• Saturday’s contest will mark the final collegiate game for Navy’s 11 seniors.
• The Mids are coming off a 14-7 loss to arch rival Army last Saturday in Annapolis … the Black Knights jumped out to a 4-1 lead and while Navy would close to within 2 early in the second half, Army’s attack combo of Garrett Thul and John Glesener was too much to overcome.
• Johns Hopkins, meanwhile, upset top-ranked Maryland last Saturday in College Park, 7-4, in what is one of the longest rivalries in the sport.
• Saturday’s contest will be televised by ESPNU with Mark Dixon (play by play) and Quint Kessenich (analyst) calling the action.

Navy vs. Johns Hopkins – The Series
• Saturday’s contest marks the 87th meeting between Navy and Johns Hopkins … it’s the 64th-consecutive year the two programs have battled and it is the third-longest continuous series between Navy and another team on the lax field behind Army-Navy and Navy-Maryland.
• The Blue Jays own a commanding 58-27-1 advantage in the series, however Johns Hopkins’ amazing 36-game winning streak was snapped in 2010.  Navy again surprised the Blue Jays with an 8-2 victory last spring in Annapolis.
• Johns Hopkins owns a 27-7 record in games played against the Mids on its home field … the last time Navy scored a victory over the Blue Jays in Baltimore was May 10, 1969, when the Mids posted a 9-6 win.
• Seven of the last 14 games between Navy and Johns Hopkins have been decided by one goal, including five of the last 10 … additionally, four of the seven one-goal games have gone into extra minutes.
• Second-year Navy head coach Rick Sowell is 1-0 all-time against the Blue Jays.

Scouting the Blue Jays
• Thirteenth-year head coach Dave Pietramala has guided the 11th-ranked Blue Jays to a 7-4 record this spring which includes a 4-2 mark at home.
• Hopkins has losses to 12th-ranked Princeton (11-8), 11th-ranked Syracuse (13-8), 7th-ranked North Carolina (11-10 OT) and 20th-ranked Albany (10-9).
• Despite those disappointing losses, the Blue Jays are coming off a strong performance that saw them upset No. 1-ranked Maryland last Saturday in College Park, 7-4.  It was a game Hopkins never trailed in.
• Meanwhile, following its matchup against the Mids, Johns Hopkins will face Loyola next Saturday at Homewood Field before capping the regular season with a road trip to West Point to face Army on May 3.
• Sophomore attackman Wells Stanwick and junior attackman Brandon Benn lead the way for the Blue Jays as both have amassed 20-plus goals this season.   Stanwick is atop the scoring leader board with 38 points on 22 goals and 16 assists and owns the nation’s fourth-best shooting percentage at 55.0 percent.  Meanwhile, Benn has punched in a team-best 23 goals and added just one assist as the team’s second-leading scorer.
• Senior attackman Zach Palmer has split his 24 points in half with 12 goals scored and 12 assists dealt out.
• Hopkins stands sixth nationally in extra-man offense, punching in goals on 47.9 percent of its opportunities.  The Blue Jays have scored 23 goals on 48 attempts.  Rookie attackman Ryan Brown has been the sharpshooter on EMO’s, scoring 8 of his 13 goals a man up.
• One of the best faceoff teams in the country, Hopkins is led by senior Mike Poppleton who has won an amazing 66.5 percent (135-203) of his draws and stands No. 2 in the country behind Bryant’s Kevin Massa (71.6).  As a team, the Blue Jays are ranked third, winning 63.7 percent of their draws
• Senior Pierce Bassett has started all 10 games as the Blue Jays’ netminder.  He owns an 8.23 goals-against average and a 58.9 save percentage which is ninth best in the country.

Welcome to the Club!
• On March 12, Navy junior attackman Tucker Hull became the 30th player in program history to join the Mids’ elite list of 100-point scorers.  He is the first player to add his name to the list since 2011 when Andy Warner graduated with 101 points.
• Hull currently stands 24th on Navy’s all-time scoring list with 105 points, just one behind 23rd-place Matt Pawlikowski (1990-93).
• Meanwhile, last Saturday junior attackman Sam Jones joined the elite 100-point list with 2 goals and an assist against arch rival Army.
• Jones is ranked 25th on Navy’s all-time scoring list with 102 points, just one behind 24th-place Billy Looney (2004-07).
• Hull and Jones are only the fourth set of classmates in program history to reach 100 points.  Brendan Schneck (121) and Mike Hannan (101) from the Class of ‘78, Mike Herger (197) and Brian Keith (134) from the Class of 1990 and Ian Dingman (188) and Billy Looney (103) from the Class of 2007 are the others.
• Hull and Jones are just the 13th and 14th players, respectively, to reach the 100-point mark as a junior in program history.  Mike Herger (109), Ian Dingman (102) and Brendan Schneck (121) accomplished it as sophomores.
• Hull led Navy in scoring in each of his first two seasons and is once again one of the leaders this season as he stands No. 2 in scoring with 20 points on 13 goals and 7 assists.
• Jones, who leads the team with 33 points on 21 goals and 12 assists, has reached the 30-point milestone as a freshman, sophomore and junior … he is one of only 7 players in program history to achieve that feat, joining Paul Basile, James Chambers, Ian Dingman, Mike Herger, Jeff Long and Nick Mirabito.
• As a rookie, he and classmate Sam Jones anchored an offense with 38 points on 23 goals and 15 assists.  Last season, Hull produced 47 points on 23 goals and 24 assists.
• Hull is the Mids’ first 40-point scorer since Nick Mirabito turned in 46 points on 23 goals and 23 assists in 2008 … it’s the most points scored by a Navy player since 2006 when Jon Birsner dealt out 36 assists en route to his 54-point effort.
• With his 3 assists against Detroit, Hull joined the Mids’ all-time career assists list … he produced his 46th career assist against No. 1-ranked Maryland to tie to tie Owen McFadden (1964-66) for 17th on the list … he needs 2 to tie 16th-place Brendan Schneck (1977-78).

Fast Facts
• Sophomore attackmen Tucker Hull and Sam Jones have started every game (37) they have played in since their arrival in 2011 … junior midfielder Pat Durkin saw his 19-game starting streak come to an end against Holy Cross, however, he has started 24 of the last 25 games … meanwhile senior midfielder Bryce Dabbs has gotten the starting nod in 23 of the 24 games in which he’s played.
• At least one Navy player has turned in a hat trick in 36 of the last 58 games (dating back to the 2009 season), including seven of the 12 games this season … Sam Jones has registered a team-high 4 hat tricks this season and 10 for his career, while sophomore midfielder Gabe Voumard and junior attackman Tucker Hull have posted a pair of hat tricks …T.J. Hanzsche and Erik Hoffstadt have also turned in hat tricks for the Mids this spring.
• 48 of Navy’s 99 goals (48.5) this season have been unassisted, including 10 of Gabe Voumard’s 12 scores.  Last year 46 of Navy’s 109 goals (42.2) were unassisted.  Additionally, 13 of Sam Jones’ team-high 21 goals have been unassisted.
• Since 2004, Navy owns an amazing 55-2 record when holding its opponents to six or fewer goals, including a 13-1 mark in the last five seasons combined.
• Navy owns a remarkable 54-5 record when scoring 10 or more goals since 2004, including a 30-4 mark in the last five seasons (9-1 in 2009, 10-1 in 2010, 3-2 in 2011, 5-0 in 2012 and 3-0 in 2013).
• At least one pole has scored either a goal or dealt out an assist every year since 1994.  Last year, Pat Kiernan led the charge with 10 points on 7 goals and 3 assists.  He extended the Navy point scoring streak with a goal in the Mids’ win over Detroit.
• The 20-7 win over VMI in the opener marked the Mids’ largest scoring output since dealing Holy Cross a 23-5 loss on April 18, 2004.
• The 13-goal win was Navy’s largest margin of victory since beating Holy Cross 16-3 on March 15, 2008.
• The Midshipmen have scored man-down goals twice this season, marking the most man-down goals since scoring two in 2006.

Television:  ESPNU

The Game: Johns Hopkins plays the first of two straight home games as the Blue Jays (7-4) welcome long-time rival Navy (3-9) to Homewood Field.

A Look Back: On rivalry weekend in the world of college lacrosse, Johns Hopkins picked up a crucial 7-4 win at top-ranked Maryland last Saturday. On the same day, Navy slipped to 3-9 on the year with a 14-7 loss to rival Army at Navy Marine Corps Stadium.

Series History: This week’s game will be the 86th meeting between Johns Hopkins and Navy in a series that dates to a 6-1 Johns Hopkins victory in 1908. The Blue Jays lead the all-time 57-27-1, although the Midhipmen have won two of the last three.

All-Time vs. Number One: Johns Hopkins improved to 8-4 under head coach Dave Pietramala against teams ranked number one in the nation with last week’s 7-4 win at Maryland.

These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters this week’s game against Navy with an all-time record of 931-302-15 (.752). The Blue Jays own nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 44 national championships.

That’s 102 Games Over .500: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala picked up his 168th career win with Johns Hopkins’ victory at Maryalnd last week and he now stands at 168-66 overall. Included in that mark is a 145-49 record at JHU and a 23-17 record in three seasons as the head coach at Cornell.
Pietramala ranks second all-time in school history in career coaching victories as only Hall of Fame coach Bob Scott (158 wins from 1955-74) has more victories than Pietramala while patrolling the sidelines at Homewood.

April Reign: Flipping the calendar to April has usually been a good sign for the Blue Jays, who are 51-11 (.823) under head coach Dave Pietramala in games played in April. JHU is 28-5 at home, 21-4 on the road and 2-2 on a neutral field in April under Pietramala’s guidance.

Must be the Speech: There must be something to what Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala says in the locker room that sparks the Blue Jays as Johns Hopkins holds decided scoring advantages in the first and third quarters through 11 games. JHU has outscored the opposition 41-22 in the first quarter and 34-23 in the third. The Blue Jays also hold a 26-18 scoring margin in the second quarter – the bulge slides to a 32-29 advantage in the fourth quarter.

Balancing Act: Johns Hopkins counts eight players with six or more goals and eight players with 12 or more points through 11 games. In all, 18 different players have found the back of the net for JHU and 22 players have at least one point.

The Key to Victory – Part I: Johns Hopkins is 6-1 on the year when scoring in double figures. The Blue Jays are 1-3 when scoring fewer than 10 goals. JHU scored its first win of the season when scoring less than 10 goals with last week’s 7-4 win at Maryland.

The Key to Victory – Part II: Johns Hopkins improved to 7-0 on the year when holding the opposition to less than 10 goals with the win at Maryland. On the flip side, JHU is 0-4 when allowing 10 goals or more.

It’s Been a While: More than six years had passed since Johns Hopkins last won a game when scoring seven goals or less. Prior to last Saturday’s 7-4 win at Maryland, the Blue Jays’ last win when scoring seven or less came on March 3, 2007, when JHU topped Princeton, 7-6, in double overtime in the Face-Off Classic at M&T Bank Stadium. Ironically, the win against Princeton that day came one week after a one-goal loss to Albany; as did last week’s win at Maryland.

EMO Clicking: Johns Hopkins converted on 1-of-2 extra man chances at Maryland and the Blue Jays are now 23-of-48 (.479) on the year and 15-of-31 (.484) in the last seven games. Johns Hopkins currently ranks sixth in the nation in man-up offense. Seven different players have scored at least one extra man goal for the Blue Jays with freshman Ryan Brown (8), sophomore Wells Stanwick (4) and junior Brandon Benn (4) leading the way. Brown’s eight extra man goals are already the most by a Johns Hopkins player since 2004, when Matt Rewkowski had 12 and Conor Ford had eight.

Welcome Back: Junior midfielder Rob Guida returned to the lineup at Maryland after missing eight games with injury. Guida took his customary spot on Johns Hopkins’ first midfield and scored one goal with two ground balls to his credit. He now has two goals, one assist and six ground balls on the year. Both of his goals are extra-man tallies.

Two-for-Two: For the second time in as many seasons, senior attackman John Kaestner stepped into the starting lineup to fill in for an injured player and responded with two goals in a key road win. He scored the first two goals of his career in a 10-8 win at Princeton last season and added a two-goal showing in the win at Maryland last week.

Stanwick Leads Team in Scoring: Sophomore attackman Wells Stanwick had a nine-game streak with multiple points come to an end at Maryland as he was held scoreless for the first time this season.
Stanwick had recorded at least two points in the first nine games he played this season and most recently had a four-goal, one-assist effort against Albany. He had totaled four or more points in four straight games prior to the game at UNC, when he was held to two assist. Despite not registering a point at Maryland last week, he still has totaled 30 points in his last seven games.
Stanwick continues to lead the team in scoring with 22 goals and 16 assists for 38 points on the year and he has far surpassed his goal (9), assist (13) and point (23) totals from last season. He currently ranks 20th in the nation in points per game (3.80).
Stanwick enjoyed the finest game of his career in the 19-9 win over Mount St. Mary’s earlier this season as he totaled five goals and four assists for nine points. Previously he had never had more than two goals, three assists or four points in a game.
He followed that with a two-goal, four-assist effort in the win over UMBC and then added the three-goal, one-assist performance at SU. Stanwick is the first Johns Hopkins player to post nine points in a game since Kyle Barrie had five goals and four assists in a 17-3 win over Navy in 2003. He is also the first JHU player with back-to-back six-point games since Dan Denihan did it against Villanova (8), Ohio State (6) and Maryland (7) during the 2000 season.

Poppleton Rolls On: Senior Mike Poppleton won 13-of-24 faceoffs and grabbed nine ground balls against North Carolina, followed that with a 14-of-23 showing with eight GBs against Albany and won 8-of-15 at top-ranked Maryland last week.
Poppleton, who ranks second in the nation in faceoff winning percentage, is now 135-of-203 (.665) on the year and leads the team with 73 ground balls. He also improved to 325-of-513 (.634) in his career with his showing last week against Maryland and now ranks eighth in school history in career faceoffs won and ninth in faceoffs attempted.

Palmer Tied for Second in Scoring: Despite missing last week’s game after suffering an injury in practice, senior attackman Zach Palmer is still tied for second on the team in scoring with 12 goals goal and 12 assists on the year. He posted three goals and one assist at North Carolina and added one goal against Albany before missing last week’s game at Maryland.
Palmer now has career totals of 71 goals and 68 assists for 139 points. He enters this week’s game against Navy needing just two assists to become the 11th player in school history to amass 70 goals and 70 assists.

Benn Leads Team in Goals: Junior Brandon Benn continues to pace the team in goals (23) and is tied for second in points (24) after scoring once in last week’s win at Maryland. He has scored 53 of his 58 career goals since the start of the 2012 season and has scored at least one goal in all 10 games this season.

What Brown Does For Us: Freshman Ryan Brown has stepped in and made an immediate impact for the Blue Jays in his first year at Homewood. Brown has 13 goals and four assists through 11 games and leads the team with eight extra-man goals. He has registered at least one point in eight of 11 games this season and his eight extra-man goals are already the most by a Johns Hopkins player since 2004, when Matt Rewkowski (12) andConor Ford (8) led a potent JHU extra man unit.
Brown fired home the first hat trick of his career and added an assist for a career-high four points in the15-8 win over Virginia and added two goals at North Carolina. He now has six multi-point and four multi-goal games to his credit this season.

Sanders Breaks Through: Junior midfielder Rex Sanders entered the 2013 season with one career goal to his credit. He has already far surpassed that total as he has scored 12 goals through 11 games. Sanders is tied for fourth on the team in goals (12) and ranks eighth in points (12).

Cattoni Emerging: Freshman Holden Cattoni played in two of the Blue Jays’ first three games, but didn’t register a point in those two outings.
That changed quickly as the hard-shooting lefty punched up back-to-back two-point games against Princeton and Mount St. Mary’s. He fired home a pair of goals against the Tigers and added one goal and one assist against the Mount. He scored an extra man goal against Syracuse, added one goal and one assist vs. Virginia and one goal against Albany and now has six goals and two assists for eight points on the year.

Bassett Among National Win Leaders: Senior Pierce Bassett enters this week’s game at Navy with an 8.23 goals against average and a .589 save percentage after posting 12 saves while allowing just four goals in last week’s win at Maryland. He currently ranks ninth in the nation in save percentage and 12th in goals against average.
Bassett enjoyed one of his finest games of the season against Virginia as he posted 16 saves and allowed just seven goals in 59:02. The 16 saves are tied for the second-highest total of his career and he followed that with a 15-save performance against Albany and the 12-save showing against Maryland that boosted his career total to 468 saves, good for seventh place on JHU’s career saves list. He passed Larry Quinn (462 saves • 1982-85) on the career saves list with his 12 against the Terps.
Bassett also enters this week’s game against Navy tied for second among active Division I goalies in career wins after picking up number 34 against Maryland.

Durkin Fuels Defense: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala has the luxury of returning the nation’s top defensive player in senior co-captain Tucker Durkin, who has picked up right where he left off a year ago.
Durkin has been on a roll of late as the two players he has primarly covered in the last two weeks – Albany’s Lyle Thompson and Maryland’s Kevin Cooper, combined for one assist in the two games. He held Thompson, the nation’s leading scorer at better than seven points per game, scoreless, while Cooper managed just a first-quarter assist.
Durkin currently ranks fourth on the team in ground balls (24) and leads the team with 15 caused turnovers. Durkin is the anchor of a Johns Hopkins defense that ranks 14th nationally in scoring defense (8.45).

Lightner, Reilly Round Out Starting Defense: While senior Tucker Durkin has drawn the most headlines among JHU’s close defensemen, the Blue Jays also count talented senior Chris Lightner and junior Jack Reillyamong the key pieces to their defensive puzzle.
Lightner leads JHU’s close defensemen and ranks third on the team with 26 ground balls and also has eight caused turnovers to his credit, while Reilly has 11 ground balls and ranks second on the team with 11 caused turnovers. Lightner had five ground balls and two caused turnvoers in last week’s win at Maryland.

Scoring Droughts Abound: Despite the new rules in place this season that aim to quicken the pace (and thus increase scoring), the Johns Hopkins defense has been able to hold the opposition scoreless for long stretches.
In last week’s win at top-ranked Maryland, the Blue Jay defense was dialed in from the opening whistle and held the Terps off the scoreboard for stretches of 11:23, 22:02 and 13:13. Senior goalie Pierce Bassett and close defensemen Tucker Durkin, Chris Lightner and Jack Reilly combined to hold Maryland’s starting attack unit to one goal and one assist and the Terps’ potent first midfield managed just three goals and one assist.
This is the first time this season JHU has held the opposition scoreless for 11 minutes or more three different times in one game.
The four goals the Blue Jays allowed are the fewest Johns Hopkins has allowed against a team ranked in the top five since April 5, 1986, when JHU topped third-ranked North Carolina, 16-4.

• The Blue Jays have held the opposition scoreless for 11 minutes or more 17 times this season.
• The Blue Jays have held the opposition scoreless for 15 mnutes or more 10 times this season.
• The Blue Jays have held the opposition scoreless for 20 minutes or more five times this season.

State Rivalries: Without question the Blue Jays play one of the most difficult schedules in the nation and a big part of the schedule are the in-state rivalries the Blue Jays have. Including the recent win against UMBC, JHU is 60-7 (.896) against teams from Maryland under head coach Dave Pietramala.

Poll Position: The Blue Jays are ranked 11th in this week’s USILA Coaches Poll and the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll as well. The Johns Hopkins Athletic Communications Office uses the USILA Poll to represent JHU’s official ranking at the time of a game. Prior to falling out of the top 20 of the USILA Poll on April 26 and May 3, 2010 (JHU was receiving votes in both polls), the Blue Jays had been ranked in the top 20 in 367 consecutive polls dating back to the first poll in 1973.

More Poll Position: Including this week’s USILA Poll, there have been 406 weekly polls since the inception of the poll in 1973. Amazingly, JHU has been ranked in the top 20 in 404 of those 406 polls. The Blue Jays have been in the top 10 in 381 of the 406 and the top five in 299 of those 406. Johns Hopkins has been ranked number one 104 times since the poll debuted in 1973.

I’m Honored: The Blue Jays return four players who earned All-America honors last season in seniors Tucker Durkin, Pierce Bassett and John Ranagan and junior Rob Guida. Durkin earned First Team All-America honors on defense, while Ranagan and Guida grabbed second team honors at midfield. Bassett earned honorable mention honors in goal and he, Durkin and Ranagan are two-time All-America selections for the Blue Jays.

Odd, But True: Years ending in “3” have been kind, and unkind, to the Blue Jays. Since the formation of the NCAA Tournament in 1971, Johns Hopkins has advanced to the NCAA Championship game three times (1973, 1983, 2003) and the NCAA Semifinals once (1993) in the years ending in three. JHU fell in each of those three title games with the three loses coming by a total of four goals. In each of those instances the Blue Jays subsequently won a national championship within two years.

Representing the Stars and Stripes – Part I: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala will serve as an assistant coach for the United States at at the 2014 Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Championships in Denver Colorado. Pietramala will serve under Richie Meade, the head coach at Navy from 1995-2011.

Representing the Stars and Stripes – Part II: Johns Hopkins sophomore defender Rob Enright was a member of the United States Team that won the 2012 FIL U-19 World Championship in Turku, Finland. Enright is the 17th Johns Hopkins player to represent the United States at the U-19 Championships since the formation of the event in 1988.

Working Overtime: The loss at North Carolina snapped a three-game winning streak for the Blue Jays in games that have gone to overtime. With the loss the Blue Jays are now 19-10 all-time in overtime under head coachDave Pietramala.

COLLEGE PARK, MD – Someone asked Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse coach Dave Pietramala in the post-game press conference if Saturday’s 7-4 win against rival Maryland was the turning point of the season. History, and how the 2013 season plays out will determine the exact answer of that question, but the Blue Jays certainly gave themselves new life after a hard-fought victory in the 110th renewal of lacrosse’s greatest rivalry.

In a game the Blue Jays (7-4) never trailed, they never quite put away either and it wasn’t until junior Brandon Benn buried his only goal of the game with 2:18 remaining did the win seem secure. For 58 minutes before that, the tension of a playoff game filled Byrd Stadium and it was the Blue Jay seniors and defense that provided the difference.

Senior goalie Pierce Bassett made the first of his 12 saves just over five minutes into the game and quickly sprung senior midfielder John Ranagan, who took his outlet pass 25 yards from the goal and sprinted into the attack zone, where no slide came and he buried an eight-yard shot to give the Blue Jays an early 1-0 lead. The assist was the first of Bassett’s career.

Ranagan pushed the lead to 2-0 four minutes later when he blew a left-handed laser just inside the far post on an ally dodge, only to have Maryland slice the two-goal deficit in half two minutes later when Mike Chanenchuk found Owen Blye alone on the wing and Blye beat Bassett from seven yards out to make it 2-1.

The momentum took quick turns in the final three minutes of the first quarter as Johns Hopkins senior attackman John Kaestner - filling in for an injured Zach Palmer - scored the first of his two goals just 44 seconds after Blye’s strike, but Chanenchuk scored from in tight on a nifty feed from Kevin Cooper with just 98 seconds left in the first quarter to account for a 3-2 Hopkins lead at the end of one quarter.

While the combined 20-goal pace may have been what the more than 10,000 fans in attendance wanted, Bassett and his counterpart, junior NIko Amato, had other ideas and spent the next 45 minutes going save-for-save.

Maryland (8-2) outshot Johns Hopkins 12-6 in the second quarter, but never found the back of the net in the period as Bassett made five of his 12 saves in that frame. Amato was nearly as efficient with three stops, but senior Lee Coppersmith did blow as 10-yard left-handed rocket to the top shelf early in the period to stake JHU to a 4-2 lead that the Blue Jays carried into the half.

With a history of close games in the series (eight of the last 16 have been one-goal affairs), the first goal of the second half would be crucial, and Kaestner drew first blood for the Blue Jays when he notched his second of the game just 37 seconds into the third quarter.

Twice Maryland would draw within two after that as Chanenchuk’s sneaky side-arm shot on the run found the far post five minutes after Kaestner’s goal, but Rob Guida, playing for the first time since mid-February, struck for an extra-man goal just over three minutes later to give the Blue Jays a 6-3 lead.

Amato kept the Terps in the game with five of his 12 saves on the day in the third quarter and Maryland pulled within two again just under four minutes into the fourth period when Jake Bernhardt got free 10 yards in front of the goal and scorched one inside the post to make it 6-4.

That margin held for more than nine minutes with both goalies on top of their game during that time. For his part, Bassett made a key stop on Bernhardt with the Blue Jays a man-down midway through the period and added his 12th and final save on a Chanenchuk shot with 2:36 remaining; 18 seconds later Benn polished off a slow-developing transition opportunity with his team-leading 23rd goal of the season to cap the crucial win for the Blue Jays.

Bassett’s 12-save performance led a Johns Hopkins defensive effort that held the Terps nine-goals below their season average. The Blue Jay close defense of Tucker Durkin, Chris Lightner and Jack Reilly were on point from the start and combined for eight ground balls and five caused turnovers while repeatedly keeping the Terps’ most dangerous players away from the goal.

Ranagan led the Blue Jays with two goals and one assist and Kaestner added the third two-goal performance of his career. Senior Mike Poppleton won 8-of-15 faceoffs as well for the Blue Jays, who have now won five straight games against Maryland in Byrd Stadium.

Chanenchuk matched Ranagan’s effort with a two-goal, one-assist showing of his own and the Terps held advantages in shots (36-31) and ground balls (29-26), but Maryland went more than 11 minutes without scoring three different times and never drew even after Ranagan’s two early goals gave the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead.

#15 Johns Hopkins (7-4) 3-1-2-1/7
#1 Maryland (8-2) 2-0-1-1/4

Goals: J: Ranagan-2, Kaestner-2, Guida, Coppersmith, Benn. M: Chanenchuk-2, Jake Bernhardt, Blye. Assists:J: Bassett, Greeley, Ranagan. M: Chanenchuk, Cooper. Saves: J: Bassett-12. M: Amato-12. Shots: J-31. M-36.EMO: J: 1-for-2. M: 0-for-3. Attendance: 10,233.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Lacrosse’s Greatest Rivalry renews for the 110th time as No. 1 Maryland (8-1) hosts No. 15 Johns Hopkins (6-4) at Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium on Saturday, April 13. Faceoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. The game will be televised live on ESPNU with Eamon McAnaney handling the play-by-play and Paul Carcaterra will provide the analysis.

• Maryland is coming off of an 11-8 win at Navy last Friday in Annapolis. Junior midfielder Mike Chanenchuk led all scorers with four points on two goals and two assists. Senior attackmen Kevin Cooper and Owen Blye and senior midfielder John Haus each chipped in with three points. Senior long pole Jesse Bernhardt had six groundballs to lead the defensive effort, while sophomore Charlie Raffa won 14-of-20 faceoffs with seven groundballs.

• For the season, senior attackman Kevin Cooper leads the Terps in points, goals and assists with 31, 17 and 14, respectively. Five other Terps have scored double-digit goals. SophomoreJay Carlson is next with 16, with Haus in third place with 14 goals. Blye, Jake Bernhardt and Chanenchuk each have 13. Defensively, sophomore goalie Niko Amato has stopped 58.3 percent of the shots put on goal by opponents and has a 7.20 goals-against average, both of which leads the ACC. Sophomore faceoff man Charlie Raffa leads the team with 63 groundballs, while Jesse Bernhardt leads the team with 13 caused turnovers.

• The Blue Jays are coming off of a 10-9 home loss to Albany last Friday. Johns Hopkins opened its season with three-straight victories, but has lost four of its last seven, although each of JHU’s last two defeats were one-goal decisions. Sophomore Wells Stanwick leads the team with 38 points on 22 goals and 16 assists. Junior Brandon Benn also has 22 goals for the Jays. Senior Pierce Bassett is back for his fourth season in cage for the Blue Jays and has a 57.4 save-percentage and a 8.72 goals-against average.

The Count Down
10 … Since 2002 Maryland has won 100 of the 109 games in which the Terps have scored 10 or more goals for a .917 winning percentage.
9 … Maryland is 117-25 in games since 2002 when it allows nine goals or less, for an .824 winning percentage.
8 … Niko Amato is ranked eighth in the NCAA with a .583 save percentage
7 … Seven different Terps have scored an extra-man goal so far this season.
6 … Maryland has shot 30% or better in six of its eight victories this season
5 … The Terps are ranked among the top five in five team statistical categories by the NCAA.
4 … Johns Hopkins has won four straight games in the series played at Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium.
3 … Three of the last five games between the Terps and the Blue Jays have been decided by one goal.
2 … John Haus needs two points to become the first full-time midfielder to score 100 career points since Bill McGlone hit that milestone in 2006.
1 … Owen Blye needs one point to reach the 100-point mark for his career.

1000th Game & Alumni Reunion
• Saturday’s game vs. Johns Hopkins will be the 1000th game in the 88-year history of the Maryland men’s lacrosse program. In appreciation for this milestone, the University of Maryland will be recognizing all of the men’s lacrosse alumni in attendance who have donned the red and black for the Terps over the past 88 seasons. Throughout the years the Maryland men’s lacrosse team has won 11 national championships and 26 ACC championships, had 31 national players of the year, seven conference players of the year and 451 All-Americans, including 114 first-team selections.

• This season also marks the 40th anniversary of Maryland’s first men’s lacrosse NCAA Championship. Men’s lacrosse became an officially recognized sport in by the NCAA until 1971 and just two years later in 1973, Maryland captured its first NCAA championship. The ’73 squad, under the guidance of Bud Beardmore, ran roughshod over its opposition en route to a perfect 10-0 record. The Terps claimed their first NCAA title by defeating Johns Hopkins, 10-9 in double-overtime, in the tournament finals. A school-record 12 Terps earned All-America honors in 1973. The 1973 championship team will also be honored at halftime of Saturday’s game.

Coaching Match-Up
• John Tillman is in his sixth season as a head coach, and third with the Terps, with a 53-31 career record for a 63.1 winning percentage. Tillman is 33-12 (.733) as Maryland’s head coach. He had a 20-19 record in three seasons as the head coach at Harvard.

• Hopkins’ Dave Pietramala is in his 13th season at Hopkins and has a 144-49 (74.6) record with the Jays. He is 167-66 overall in 16 years as a coach for a 71.7 win percentage at both Hopkins and Cornell.

• Tillman has a 2-1 career record against Hopkins, all as Maryland’s head coach.

Series History vs. Johns Hopkins
• Maryland and Hopkins are the two most storied lacrosse programs in the nation, with the rivalry beginning with back in 1895 as Hopkins defeated the Maryland Agricultural College. The Blue Jays (41) and Terps (35) have played in the first and third most NCAA Tournaments since the event began in 1971, respectively. Maryland (111) and Hopkins (182) have produced the most first team All-Americans in the history of lacrosse dating to the first awards in 1922.

• While this will be the 110th meeting between the two schools, Maryland’s official record vs. Hopkins is 40-61-1. The first seven meetings between the two happened before lacrosse was an official sport at Maryland.

• Maryland and Hopkins met for the first time in the NCAA tournament since 1998 in the quarterfinals in Annapolis on May 19, 2012. Drew Snider led the Terps with three goals, while Mike Chanenchuk and John Haus scored two apiece, to lead the Terps to an 11-5 victory over the No. 2-seeded Blue Jays. The game was tied at 2-2 early in the second quarter, but Maryland scored the next six goals to open up an 8-2 lead, putting the game out of reach.

• The return to Homewood Field for the first time since 2008 in April 2012 was a memorable one for the Terps as Owen Blyescored four goals, all in the second half, and the Maryland defense held the Blue Jays scoreless for the final 29:17 in a 9-6 Maryland win.

• The 100th official meeting for Maryland between the Terps and the Jays was another classic, but it was Hopkins’ Kyle Wharton scoring the game-winning goal with just 16 seconds left in the first overtime to give the Jays a 12-11 victory in College Park. Joe Cummings led the Terps with four goals, while Ryan Young had a goal and two assists. Niko Amato made 12 saves in the game, while Curtis Holmes won 15-of-27 faceoffs with a career-high nine groundballs.

• In 2010 the Terps and Blue Jays once again played at the Smartlink Day of Rivals at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore and again the game ended with a 10-9 final. But this time it was Maryland that took home the victory thanks in large part to its quartet of attackmen - Grant Catalino, Travis Reed, Will Yeatman and Ryan Young - who combined for six goals and 11 points. The Terps trailed 4-1 early in the second quarter, but scored eight of the next nine goals to take control of the game. Maryland never trailed after taking the lead, but Hopkins pulled to within a goal by scoring twice in the last two minutes to make it a another one-goal game.

• The 2009 match-up was another one-goal game with the Blue Jays edging the Terps, 10-9, at the inaugural Smartlink Day of Rivals at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Hopkins was the beneficiary of nine second-half penalties called against the Terps.Dan Groot had a hat trick for the Terps, while Grant Catalino (2-1=3), Jeremy Sieverts (2-1=3) and Ryan Young (1-2=3) also had three points apiece.

• The 2008 game was not a one-goal affair as Hopkins controlled the game on their home field and took a 10-4 decision. The game was tight in the first half, with the Blue Jays taking a 3-2 lead into halftime. But the third quarter saw Hopkins outscore the Terps 6-1 to put the game out of reach. Grant Catalino was the Terps’ lone multi-point scorer with a goal and an assist, but the highlight of the game for Maryland came on Brian Farrell’s highlight-reel one-handed bounce shot with a pair of Blue Jay defenders draped on him.

• The series returned to its one-goal history in 2007 with the Blue Jays pulling out an 8-7 victory in overtime. Paul Rabil hit a running left-handed shot just 43 seconds into the extra session. Senior midfielder Chris Feifs had the finest outing of his college career in the game, scoring his first-ever hat trick.

• The Terps snapped a four-game losing skid to Hopkins in 2006 with a decisive 11-4 win at Homewood Field on April 14. Leading the way was Attackman of the Year Joe Walters, who scored six goals and added two assists. Eight points and six goals were the most ever by a Maryland player against the Blue Jays. Bill McGlone chipped in with a pair of goals, while junior goalie Harry Alford was solid in the cage, stopping nine shots.

• The 2005 game saw the Blue Jays use a four-goal run in the third quarter to secure an 11-6 victory over the ninth-ranked Terrapins on April 15. Six different Terps scored in the game, led by Joe Walters, Xander Ritz and Dave Matz, who each scored one and added an assist. The loss dropped the Terps to 5-5 on the season, but they would go on a six-game winning streak en route to an ACC Tournament championship and a berth in the Final Four.

• At Homewood Field on April 17, 2004, Hopkins raced out to an 8-1 lead in the first quarter en route to a 14-10 victory in the 100th meeting between the two schools. Sophomore Brendan Healy led the Terps with three goals.

• In the 2003 meeting at Byrd Stadium, on April 12, Joe McDermott scored the game-winner 1:21 into overtime for the 6-5 Hopkins win in front of 8,183 in attendance. Dan LaMonica was the only Terp with multiple points with three on a goal and two assists. Michael Howley finished with a game-high six groundballs.

• Mike Mollot had three goals and an assist to lead the Terps, but Hopkins’ Kyle Barrie scored the game-winning goal at the 1:45 mark of the first overtime to give the Blue Jays a 9-8 victory at Homewood Field. The game was tied at 7-7 going into the fourth, but Mollot’s third goal of the game gave Maryland an 8-7 lead with 13:12 to go in the fourth. The defense tried to hold off the third-ranked Blue Jays, but Kevin Boland scored his only goal of the game at the 3:59 mark of the fourth to tie the score and send the game to overtime.

Maryland-Hopkins: A One-Goal History
• Prior to 2004′s 14-10 Hopkins win, the previous three games in the series were one-goal affairs — with the two going to overtime. The two teams returned to the one-goal decisions in 2007 when the Blue Jays won 8-7 in OT in College Park. The last two games between the long-time rivals were both one-goal games with the same 10-9 final. Hopkins took the 2009 meeting, while Maryland won in 2010. Overall, eight of the last 13 have been one-goal games.

• In total the Terps and Blue Jays have played 19 one-goal games in the 109 games, including 2011′s 12-11 overtime thriller in College Park. Johns Hopkins holds an 11-8 advantage in one-goal games in the series.

• The most famous one-goal game in the series was the 1973 NCAA title game that Maryland won, 10-9, in double-overtime to claim the Terps’ first NCAA Championship. The Terps capped off an undefeated season thanks in large part to freshman midfielder Frank Urso. The Long Island, N.Y., native bounced a 15-yard shot off of Blue Jay defender Bob Barbera past Hopkins goalie Les Matthews, who was screened on the play, at 1:18 of overtime to give the Terps their first NCAA Championship.

Urso wasn’t the only hero for Maryland in overtime. Terp goalie Bill O’Donnell came out of the goal on a missed shot by Hopkins, but Blue Jay attackman Jack Thomas caught up with the ball and flipped it blindly over his shoulder to the crease. Dale Kohler caught the pass and fired a shot at what normally would have been an empty net. But Maryland defender Ed Glatzel stepped into the crease and knocked the potential game-ender away.

The Stretch: Carolina, Virginia, Navy, Hopkins
• Since 1978 Maryland’s schedule has been highlighted by a four-game stretch in the middle of its season: North Carolina, Virginia, Navy and Johns Hopkins. In the 36-year span only four times has the stretch been interrupted with another game added in between one of these traditional four (1981, 1997, 2001, 2003).

• Overall, Maryland is 66-77 (.462) since 1978 vs. those four teams during that time.

• The Terps have swept the four games only once – in 1987. Only twice (1981 & 1988) has Maryland lost all four games. Six times (1978, 1979, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001) the Terps have won three of the four games. Johns Hopkins broke up the Terps’ bid for a perfect stretch four times, while Carolina and Virginia broke it up one time each.

Maryland As The No. 1 Team
• The Terps took over the top spot in the USILA Coaches’ Poll on Feb. 18 after two impressive wins to open the 2013 season. The Terps became the outright No. 1 team in the country on Feb. 25 following their 12-10 victory at then-No. 1 Loyola on Feb. 23 and held the top spot for four weeks until dropping to No. 2 following a 10-8 loss to North Carolina on Mar. 23. This was the ninth time Maryland has earned the No. 1 ranking since 1986.

• Maryland regained the No. 1 ranking in both polls on April 1, following its 9-7 win at Virginia and previous No. 1 Notre Dame’s 12-10 loss to St. Johns on March 30. This marks the first time that Maryland has regained the No. 1 ranking after having lost it during the season.

• Overall, Maryland has played 28 games as the No. 1-ranked team and is 19-9 in those games.

• This season, the Terps have played five games as the nation’s outright top team and is 3-1, defeating Duke, 16-7, in Durham on March 2, topping Stony Brook, 13-7, at home on March 10, going on the road to beat Villanova, 10-7, on March 16 and dropping a 10-8 decision to North Carolina on March 23. After regaining the No. 1 ranking on April 1, the Terps defeated Navy, 11-8, in Annapolis.

• The last time Maryland was the top team in the nation was in March of 2006 after the Terps defeated then-No. 1 Duke, 8-7 on the road in overtime. Maryland defeated Towson as the No. 1 team the following Saturday, but fell, 7-6 in double-OT, to Bucknell on Tuesday, March 14. The Terrapins were still No. 1 in their 9-4 win at UMBC to close out their two-week stay at the top of the polls.

• The last time the Terps were the nation’s top team was in April of 2004. Maryland’s two-week run at the top of the polls ended with a 9-6 loss to No. 4 Navy in College Park.

• This season’s ranking is also the earliest the Terps have achieved the No. 1 ranking in a season. Previous to this week, the earliest Maryland was ranked No. 1 was March 10, 2006.

• The longest Maryland has held on to the No. 1 ranking was seven weeks in 1987. That streak came to an end with a 13-8 loss to No. 4 Johns Hopkins in the NCAA Semifinals.

Get To 10 And Win
• One axiom of lacrosse is that if you score 10 goals or more your chances of winning are pretty good. Well, a look at the results since 2002 shows that when Maryland scores 10 or more goals there’s not just a pretty good chance the Terrapins will win; it’s an almost certainty. Since 2002 Maryland has won 100 of the 109 games in which the Terps have scored 10 or more goals for a .917 winning percentage.

• Maryland scored 10, but fell at North Carolina, 11-10, on March 24, 2012 and again came out on the losing end, despite scoring 11 in a 13-11 loss at Colgate on May 5, 2012. The Terps scored 11 vs. Johns Hopkins on April 16, 2011, but the Blue Jays won the game in overtime, 12-11. On April 3 of last season the Terps lost to No. 1 Virginia by a final of 11-10, giving Maryland its only loss when scoring 10 or more goals in 2010. In 2009 the Terps lost to Georgetown, 13-10 on Feb. 21 and lost again when scoring 10 in the ACC Semifinals in a 16-10 defeat at North Carolina. Prior to that, Maryland had not lost when scoring 10 or more goals since dropping an 11-10 decision to Virginia in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament in Durham, N.C. The Terrapins got to 10 goals in the 100th game against Johns Hopkins, but the Blue Jays took the game 14-10. Virginia is the only team to beat the Terps twice when allowing 10 or more goals. The Wahoos did it first in 2002 with another 11-10 decision.

Holding Opponents To Single-Digits
• The Terps have been extremely impressive (winning 91.7 percent of its games since 2002) when it scores 10 or more goals, they have been nearly as impressive when holding opponents to less than 10 goals during that span.

• Since 2002 Maryland is 117-25 in games, for a .824 winning percentage, when it has held opponents under 10 goals. The Terps have played 189 total games since 2002. Maryland has held opponents to nine goals or less 75.1 percent of the time.

Shooting Tells The Story
• The difference between winning and losing for Maryland this season is simple – when the Terps shoot well they win. As it turns out 30% is the magic number for the Terps this season. Maryland is 8-1 on the year and has shot 30% or better in six of its eight victories and under that mark in its one defeat.

W- Mount St. Mary’s: 23 goals, 46 shots = 50.0%
W- at Hartford: 16 goals, 51 shots = 31.4%
W- at Loyola: 12 goals, 36 shots = 33.3%
W- at Duke: 16 goals, 29 shots = 55.2%
W- Stony Brook: 13 goals, 30 shots = 43.3%
W- at Villanova: 10 goals, 26 shots = 38.5%
L- North Carolina: 8 goals, 37 shots = 21.6%
W- at Virginia: 9 goals, 32 shots = 28.1%
W- at Navy: 11 goals, 40 shots = 27.5%

• Since 2005 the Terps are a remarkable 61-4 (.938) when shooting 30% or better in a game. The only four losses were: 13-10 to Georgetown in 2009 (the Terps shot 10 of 30 for 33.3% vs. the Hoyas), 11-10 to No. 1 Virginia on April 3, 2010 (10 of 33 for 30.3%), 12-11 in overtime on April 16, 2011 to No. 3 Johns Hopkins (11 of 28 for 39.3%) and 13-11 at Colgate on May 5, 2012 (11 of 31 for 35.5%).

• If 30% is the benchmark, then 40% shooting is in a class all to itself and Maryland has shot 40% or better in 14 games since the start of the 2008 season. Out of those 14 games, Maryland shot 50% or better in four of them.

Three Terps Named To Tewaaraton Watch List
• Senior midfielders Jesse Bernhardt and John Haus are joined by junior goalie Niko Amato on the 2013 Tewaaraton Award Watch List. The Terrapin trio are three of 92 selections on the Watch List.

• The Tewaaraton Award annually honors the top male and top female college lacrosse player in the United States. The selection committees are made up of top collegiate coaches and are appointed annually by The Tewaaraton Foundation. Committees will make additions to these lists as the season progresses and athletes earn a spot along side these elite players. The lists will be narrowed to 25 men’s and women’s nominees in late April. In mid-May, five men’s and five women’s finalists will be announced. These finalists will be invited to Washington, D.C. for the 13th annual Tewaaraton Award Ceremony, May 30 at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian.

Bernhardt Named Senior CLASS Finalist
· Maryland senior long pole Jesse Bernhardt was named one of the 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award. Fan voting consists of one-third of the final total to determine the winner, so click on the graphic to vote for Jesse. Fans can vote once per day per device, so come back every day to cast your vote for Jesse.

The 700 Club
· Maryland’s 15-6 victory over Penn on April 14, 2009 was the program’s 700th victory in 84 seasons of varsity men’s lacrosse. The Terps join Johns Hopkins, Syracuse, Navy and Army as the only programs with 700 or more Division I wins.

· Two things that make Maryland’s accomplishment all the more impressive is that the Terps reached the 700-win plateau in just their 84th season. Only Syracuse reached win No. 700 in as few seasons, but it took the Orange 53 more games than Maryland. In fact, Maryland needed only 940 games to reach 700 wins and only Johns Hopkins needed fewer games (932) to hit the historic number, but the Blue Jays did so in their 105th season.

Terps’ 88th Season Of Lacrosse
• The Terps boast an all-time record of 745-250-4 (.748), dating back to the first varsity team in 1924 (a team was not fielded in 1944 and 1945 due to World War II). Maryland has finished every one of its previous 87 seasons with a .500 or better record, including last season when the Terps went 12-6. The program reached the 700-win milestone with a 15-6 victory over Penn on April 14, 2009 at Ludwig Field.

• During the decade of the 2000s, Maryland went 111-49 for a .694 win percentage, making it the winningest decade in Terrapin lacrosse history. In the decade of the 1990s, Maryland posted a 95-47 record. The .669 winning percentage matched Maryland’s win percentage of the 1980s when the Terps went 83-41 and also compiled a .669 win percentage. So far, Maryland is 25-9 in the 2010′s for a .735 winning percentage.

Terps On ESPNU
• Maryland has had 45 games on ESPNU since 2006. Maryland is 26-19 (.578) all-time in games broadcast on ESPNU.

• The Terps are scheduled to play four games (at Duke (W, 16-7), at Virginia (W, 9-7), vs. Johns Hopkins and the ACC tournament semifinals) on ESPNU in 2013.

Going Purple
· Once again this season, the Terps will be wearing purple “MY” stickers, to show their support for the fight against pancreatic cancer, which touched everyone in the Maryland lacrosse familywith the passing of Maria Young on April 17, 2011.

· This past fall the Terps, Maryland alums and family and friends came together for the inaugural Forever Young Walk/Run for Pancreatic Cancer Awareness. More on Ms. Young and her amazing story can be found here: Forever Young.

· If you’re interested in more information about the Lustgarten Foundation, including how to make a donation, click here to visit the foundation’s website. You can also get more information on pancreatic cancer at CurePC.org.

In case you’re wondering here are some facts about pancreatic cancer from the American Cancer Society:
· More than 43,000 new cases of pancreatic cancer present each year
· There are more than 36,000 deaths from pancreatic cancer each year
· The lifetime risk of having pancreatic cancer is about 1 in 71.
· The risk is about the same for both men and women.

Going Gray
· Maryland players will also be wearing gray stickers with the number 42 in honor of Zack Wholley’s father, John, who passed away from brain cancer on August 28, 2011.

· If you’re interested in more information, please visit the National Brain Tumor Society website.

In case you’re wondering here are some facts about brain and spinal cord tumors from the American Cancer Society:
· About 22,910 malignant tumors of the brain or spinal cord (12,630 in males and 10,280 in females) will be diagnosed. These numbers would likely be much higher if benign tumors were also included.
· About 13,700 people (7,720 males and 5,980 females) will die from these tumors.
· Overall, the chance that a person will develop a malignant tumor of the brain or spinal cord in his or her lifetime is about one in 150 for a man and one in 185 for a woman.

Going Teal
• Maryland players will also be wearing teal stickers in honor of Andrew Walsh’s mother, Gia, who was recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

· If you’re interested in more information, please visit the Ovarian Cancer Institute website.

Here are some facts about ovarian cancer from the American Cancer Society and the Ovarian Cancer Institute:
· Ovarian cancer is the ninth most common cancer among women, excluding non-melanoma skin cancers.
· Ovarian cancer will strike over 20,000 women this year.
· It ranks fifth in cancer deaths among women, accounting for more deaths than any other cancer of the female reproductive system.
· Ovarian cancer accounts for about 3% of all cancers in women. A woman’s risk of getting ovarian cancer during her lifetime is about 1 in 71.
· Currently, there are no effective means of early detection.
· Only 25% of cases are diagnosed early before the cancer has spread to the pelvic region. For these women, the 5-year survival rate is 90%.

Consecutive 10-Win Seasons
• Maryland’s 10-9 win over the Lehigh on May 11, 2012 extended the Terps’ streak of double-digit win seasons to 10. (Special thanks to Patrick Stevens of the D1scource.com).

• How does Maryland’s string of 10+ win seasons stack up against the rest of the college lacrosse programs? Take a look at programs with at least six-straight 10-win seasons:

Maryland (10): 2012 (12-6), 2011 (13-5), 2010 (12-4), 2009 (10-7), 2008 (10-6), 2007 (10-6), 2006 (12-5), 2005 (11-6), 2004 (13-3), 2003 (12-4)
Virginia (8): 2012 (12-4) 2011 (13-5), 2010 (16-2), 2009 (14-2), 2008 (14-4), 2007 (12-4), 2006 (17-0), 2005 (11-4)
Notre Dame (7): 2012 (13-3), 2011 (11-3), 2010 (10-7), 2009 (15-1), 2008 (14-3), 2007 (11-4), 2006 (10-5)
Duke (6): 2012 (15-5) 2011 (14-6), 2010 (16-4), 2009 (15-4), 2008 (18-2), 2007 ( 17-3)
Siena (6): 2012 (11-5), 2011 (13-5), 2010 (12-5), 2009 (12-6), 2008 (10-6), 2007 (10-6)

• Cornell’s string of seven-straight 10+ win seasons came to an end in 2012 with a 9-4 final mark.

Maryland In Season Openers
• Maryland has an 84-3-1 (.960) lifetime record in season openers dating back to the 1924 season. The Terps have won their last 19 openers and 26 of the last 27, with the only loss coming to Duke in 1993, when they fell to Duke 9-5 on March 6.

• After losing their 1925 opener to Yale, 5-3, the Terps went on to win 40 consecutive season openers from 1926 through 1967. The streak was broken when Maryland tied Princeton, 6-6, in the 1968 opener. Following the deadlock, Maryland went on to win its next 14 openers, giving the Terps a 54-0-1 record over a 57-year span (Maryland did not field a team in 1944 and 1945 due to World War II.)

20 Straight in Season Openers
• After beating Mount St. Mary’s to open the 2013 season the Terps have an 20-game winning streak in season openers. Five of those wins came against Villanova (1994-98) and the last nine over Denver, Mount St. Mary’s (twice), Air Force, Hobart, Duke, Georgetown (four times), Bellarmine (twice), Presbyterian, Detroit Mercy and Hartford. Over the 20-year stretch, Maryland outscored its foes 290-105 (an average score of 14.5-5.3) in those games.

• The Terps have not allowed more than seven goals to any opponent in a season opener over the last 20 years. Maryland has not allowed an opponent to score 10 or more goals in a season opener since Syracuse beat the Terps, 16-13 on March 9, 1983.

A Family Affair
· Many school’s refer to their sports programs as families, but the Maryland men’s lacrosse program is truely a family affair. Since 2002, the Terps have had 13 sets of brothers, including three on this season’s roster, don the red and black together for at least one season.

Harry & Thomas Alford: 2004-05-06-07
Jake & Jesse Bernhardt: 2010-11-12-13
Justin & Owen Blye: 2009-10-11
Brian & Kevin Cooper: 2011-12-13
Billy & Bobby Gribbin: 2012-13
Brendan & Ian Healy: 2003-04-05
Bryn & Curtis Holmes: 2010
Bryn & Travis Holmes: 2007
Dan & Mike LaMonica: 2002
Chris & Willy Passavia: 2002-03
Brian & Michael Phipps: 2007
Max & Xander Ritz: 2005-06
Mark & Michael White: 2008-09-10-11

Five Taken In MLL Draft
• Led by senior long pole Jesse Bernhardt, a record-tying five Maryland men’s lacrosse student-athletes were chosen in the 2013 Major League Lacrosse collegiate draft.

• Bernhardt was chosen fourth overall by the Chesapeake Bayhawks, becoming the second-highest Terrapin ever drafted in the MLL (Joe Walters, first overall selection in 2006). He is just the seventh Maryland player to be taken in the first round, joining Lee Zink (2004, 5th), Chris Passavia (2004, 6th), Walters, Bill McGlone (2006, 5th), Ray Megill (2007, 9th) and Joe Cinosky (2008, 9th).

• Senior midfielder John Haus was the next Terrapin off the board, going to the Hamilton Nationals in the second round with the 15th overall selection. Haus was followed by senior midfielder Kevin Cooper, who went to the Bayhawks with the 16th overall pick.

• The Denver Outlaws, which already has three Terps on its roster (Zink, Jeremy Sieverts and Drew Snider), were then next MLL squad to take a Maryland player, selecting senior midfielder Landon Carr with the 23rd overall selection.

• The fifth Terp to be selected was senior attackman Owen Blye with the very next pick by the Charlotte Hounds.

• The five players selected ties the school record for most players taken in the MLL draft. The 2011 senior class also had five players taken - Brian Farrell, Brett Schmidt, Dan Burns, Grant Catalino and Ryan Young.

• Maryland’s 2013 senior class also features redshirt senior midfielder Jake Bernhardt, who was selected by the Nationals with the 12th overall selection in the 2012 MLL collegiate draft.

2013 Team Captains
• Three players have been named team captains for the 2013 season. The trio, which was selected by a combination of team vote and coaches’ input, consists of seniors Jake Bernhardt, Jesse Bernhardt and Owen Blye. All three return as team captains from the 2012 squad.

Television:  ESPNU

The Game: 15th-ranked Johns Hopkins (6-4) makes the 45-minute drive south to take on top-ranked Maryland (8-1).

A Look Back: Johns Hopkins dropped its second straight one-goal game as the Blue Jays fell to Albany, 10-9 last Friday night. Maryland improved to 8-1 on the year with an 11-8 win at Navy on the same night.

Series History: This week’s game will be the 110th meeting between Johns Hopkins and Maryland in a series that dates to a 10-0 JHU win in 1895. The Blue Jays lead the series 68-40-1, although the Terps have won two straight and three of the last four.

More Series History: Since 2003 the visiting team has won six of the eight Johns Hopkins-Maryland games that have been played at Homewood Field or Byrd Stadium.

Still More Series History: Johns Hopkins has won its last four games at Byrd Stadium.

A Final Series History: Five of the last seven Johns Hopkins-Marland games at Byrd Stadium have been decided by one goal.

All-Time vs. Number One: Johns Hopkins is 7-4 under head coach Dave Pietrmala against teams ranked number one in the nation at the time of a game.

These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters this week’s game against Maryland with an all-time record of 930-302-15 (.752). The Blue Jays own nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 44 national championships.

Program Ties: Currently Maryland assistant coach/defensive coordinator Kevin Conryis a 2004 Johns Hopkins graduate and was a member of current head coach Dave Pietramala’s first four teams at JHU. He is in his first season as a member of John Tillman’s staff at Maryland.

That’s 101 Games Over .500: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala picked up his 167th career win when JHU knocked off Virginia on March 23 and he now stands at 167-66 overall. Included in that mark is a 144-49 record at JHU and a 23-17 record in three seasons as the head coach at Cornell.
Pietramala ranks second all-time in school history in career coaching victories as only Hall of Fame coach Bob Scott (158 wins from 1955-74) has more victories than Pietramala while patrolling the sidelines at Homewood.

April Reign: Flipping the calendar to April has usually been a good sign for the Blue Jays, who are 50-11 (.820) under head coach Dave Pietramala in games played in April. JHU is 28-5 at home, 20-4 on the road and 2-2 on a neutral field in April under Pietramala’s guidance.

Must be the Speech: There must be something to what Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala says in the locker room that sparks the Blue Jays as Johns Hopkins holds decided scoring advantages in the first and third quarters through 10 games. JHU has outscored the opposition 38-20 in the first quarter and 32-22 in the third.
The Blue Jays also hold a 25-18 scoring margin in the second quarter – the bulge slides to a 31-28 advantage in the fourth quarter.

Balancing Act: Johns Hopkins counts eight players with six or more goals and eight players with 10 or more points through 10 games. In all, 18 different players have found the back of the net for JHU and 21 players have at least one point.

The Key to Victory – Part I: Johns Hopkins is 6-1 on the year when scoring in double figures. The Blue Jays are 0-3 when scoring fewer than 10 goals.

The Key to Victory – Part II: Johns Hopkins improved to 6-0 on the year when holding the opposition to less than 10 goals with the win vs. Virginia. On the flip side, JHU is 0-4 when allowing 10 goals or more.

EMO Clicking: Despite a tough 0-for-5 outing against Albany, the Johns Hopkins extra man unit has been on a roll of late as the group is 14-of-29 (.483) in the last six games and is now 22-of-46 (.478) on the year. Johns Hopkins currently ranks sixth in the nation in man-up offense.
Seven different players have scored at least one extra man goal for the Blue Jays with freshman Ryan Brown(8), sophomore Wells Stanwick (4) and junior Brandon Benn (4) leading the way. Brown’s eight extra man goals are already the most by a Johns Hopkins player since 2004, when Matt Rewkowski had 12 and Conor Ford had eight.

Stanwick Breaks Out: Sophomore attackman Wells Stanwick ran his consecutive multi-point game streak to nine (all nine he has played this season) with a four-goal, one-assist effort last week against Albany. He had totaled four or more points in four straight games prior to the game at UNC, when he was held to two assists, but now has accumulated 30 points in his last six games after the showing against Albany.
Stanwick boosted his totals to 22 goals and 16 assists on the year with his effort against Albany and he has already surpassed his goal (9), assist (13) and point (23) totals from last season. He currently ranks 10th in the nation in points per game (4.22). Stanwick enjoyed the finest game of his career in the 19-9 win over Mount St. Mary’s as he totaled five goals and four assists for nine points. Previously he had never had more than two goals, three assists or four points in a game.
He followed that with a two-goal, four-assist effort in the win over UMBC and then added the three-goal, one-assist performance at SU.
Stanwick is the first Johns Hopkins player to post nine points in a game since Kyle Barrie had five goals and four assists in a 17-3 win over Navy in 2003. He is also the first JHU player with back-to-back six-point games since Dan Denihan did it against Villanova (8), Ohio State (6) and Maryland (7) during the 2000 season.

Poppleton Rolls On: In a matchup of two of the top faceoff specialists in the nation, senior Mike Poppleton won 13-of-24 faceoffs and grabbed nine ground balls against North Carolina and followed that with a 14-of-23 showing with eight GBs against Albany. These efforts came on the heels of a 14-of-23 performance at Syracuse and a 4-of-6 effort against Virginia in the two games prior to the game at UNC.
Poppleton, who ranks second in the nation in faceoff winning percentage, is now 127-of-188 (.676) on the year and leads the team with 72 ground balls. He also improved to 317-of-498 (.637) in his career with his showing last week against Albany and now ranks eighth in school history in career faceoffs won and 10th in faceoffs attempted.

Palmer Bounces Back: After being held scoreless in back-to-back games against Syracuse and Virginia, senior attackman Zach Palmer broke through against North Carolina with three goals and one assist. All four of his points came in the second half as JHU erased a 5-3 halftime deficit and eventually led 10-9 before falling in overtime.
He added one goal against Albany to push his season totals to 12 goals and 12 assists and his career totals to 71 goals and 68 assists for 139 points. He enters this week’s game against Maryland needing just two assists to become the 11th player in school history to amass 70 goals and 70 assists.

Benn Leads Team in Goals: Junior Brandon Benn continues to pace the team in goals (22) and ranks third in points (23) after scoring once against Albany last week. He has scored 52 of his 57 career goals since the start of the 2012 season.

What Brown Does For Us: Freshman Ryan Brown has stepped in and made an immediate impact for the Blue Jays in his first year at Homewood. Brown has 13 goals and four assists through 10 games and leads the team with eight extra-man goals. He has registered at least one point in eight of 10 games this season and his eight extra-man goals are already the most by a Johns Hopkins player since 2004, when Matt Rewkowski (12) andConor Ford (8) led a potent JHU extra man unit.
Brown fired home the first hat trick of his career and added an assist for a career-high four points in the15-8 win over Virginia and added two goals at North Carolina. He now has six multi-point and four multi-goal games to his credit this season.

Sanders Breaks Through: Junior midfielder Rex Sanders entered the 2013 season with one career goal to his credit. He has already far surpassed that total as he has scored 12 goals through 10 games. Sanders is tied for fourth on the team in goals (12) and ranks eighth in points (12).

Cattoni Emerging: Freshman Holden Cattoni played in two of the Blue Jays’ first three games, but didn’t register a point in those two outings.
That changed quickly as the hard-shooting lefty punched up back-to-back two-point games against Princeton and Mount St. Mary’s. He fired home a pair of goals against the Tigers and added one goal and one assist against the Mount. He scored an extra man goal against Syracuse, added one goal and one assist vs. Virginia and one goal last week against Albany and now has six goals and two assists for eight points on the year.

Bassett Among National Win Leaders: Senior Pierce Bassett enters this week’s game at Maryland with an 8.72 goals against average and a .574 save percentage after posting 15 saves in last week’s loss against Albany. He currently ranks 13th in the nation in save percentage and 19th in goals against average.
Bassett enjoyed his finest game of the season against Virginia as he posted 16 saves and allowed just seven goals in 59:02. The 16 saves are tied for the second-highest total of his career and his 15-save performance against Albany boosted his career total to 456 saves, good for eighth place on JHU’s career saves list.
Bassett also enters this week’s game Maryland tied for third among active Division I goalies in career wins after picking up number 33 against UVA.

Durkin Fuels Defense: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala has the luxury of returning the nation’s top defensive player in senior co-captain Tucker Durkin, who has picked up right where he left off a year ago.
Durkin enjoyed one of his best games of the season last week against Albany as he held Lyle Thompson, the nation’s leading scorer at better than seven points per game, scoreless. Durkin currently ranks third on the team in ground balls (22) and leads the team with 13 caused turnovers. Durkin is the anchor of a Johns Hopkins defense that ranks 17th nationally in scoring defense (8.9).

Scoring Droughts Abound: Despite the new rules in place this season that aim to quicken the pace (and thus increase scoring), the Johns Hopkins defense has been able to hold the opposition scoreless for long stretches.
The Blue Jays held Virginia scoreless for a stretch of 31:25 midway through the game and Siena, Towson and Michigan each drew blanks of at least 15 minutes – all three had two droughts that lasted at least 13 minutes. Princeton was more productive in its win against JHU, but did have one scoring drought that covered more than 11 minutes, while Mount St. Mary’s went more than 18 minutes without a goal at one point and UMBC was held off the board for 24:04 to open the game and 13:01 later in the game.

State Rivalries: Without question the Blue Jays play one of the most difficult schedules in the nation and a big part of the schedule are the in-state rivalries the Blue Jays have. Including the recent win against UMBC, JHU is 59-7 (.894) against teams from Maryland under head coach Dave Pietramala.
Below is a breakdown of JHU’s record against teams from the state of Maryland under Pietramala.

Loyola • 12-0
Maryland • 8-5
Mount St. Mary’s • 5-0
Navy • 11-2
Towson • 14-0
UMBC • 9-0

Poll Position: The Blue Jays are ranked 15th in this week’s USILA Coaches Poll and the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll as well. The Johns Hopkins Athletic Communications Office uses the USILA Poll to represent JHU’s official ranking at the time of a game. Prior to falling out of the top 20 of the USILA Poll on April 26 and May 3, 2010 (JHU was receiving votes in both polls), the Blue Jays had been ranked in the top 20 in 367 consecutive polls dating back to the first poll in 1973.

Palmer Among Career Active Assists Leaders: Senior attackman Zach Palmer enters this week’s game against Maryland with 68 career assists. He currently ranks 13th among all active Division I players in career assists.

I’m Honored: The Blue Jays return four players who earned All-America honors last season in seniors Tucker Durkin, Pierce Bassett and John Ranagan and junior Rob Guida. Durkin earned First Team All-America honors on defense, while Ranagan and Guida grabbed second team honors at midfield. Bassett earned honorable mention honors in goal and he, Durkin and Ranagan are two-time All-America selections for the Blue Jays.

Odd, But True: Years ending in “3” have been kind, and unkind, to the Blue Jays. Since the formation of the NCAA Tournament in 1971, Johns Hopkins has advanced to the NCAA Championship game three times (1973, 1983, 2003) and the NCAA Semifinals once (1993) in the years ending in three. JHU fell in each of those three title games with the three loses coming by a total of four goals. In each of those instances the Blue Jays subsequently won a national championship within two years.

Representing the Stars and Stripes – Part I: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala will serve as an assistant coach for the United States at at the 2014 Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Championships in Denver Colorado. Pietramala will serve under Richie Meade, the head coach at Navy from 1995-2011.

Representing the Stars and Stripes – Part II: Johns Hopkins sophomore defender Rob Enright was a member of the United States Team that won the 2012 FIL U-19 World Championship in Turku, Finland. Enright is the 17th Johns Hopkins player to represent the United States at the U-19 Championships since the formation of the event in 1988.

Working Overtime: The loss at North Carolina snapped a three-game winning streak for the Blue Jays in games that have gone to overtime. With the loss the Blue Jays are now 19-10 all-time in overtime under head coachDave Pietramala.

BALTIMORE, MD — Johns Hopkins University will induct nine new members into its Athletic Hall of Fame in ceremonies scheduled for Saturday, April 20. The nine-member class is the 19th to be inducted since the Johns Hopkins Athletic Hall of Fame was formed in 1994 and raises the total number of members to 150.

The group will be honored at induction ceremonies scheduled to take place at 6:30 pm in the Newton White Athletic Center on the Johns Hopkins campus. Festivities will include a cocktail reception with heavy hors d’oeuvres from 6:30 pm – 7:45 pm, the induction ceremony at approximately 8 pm and a post-induction reception.

Individuals interested in attending the Johns Hopkins Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremonies can contact Lewis Williams in the Blue Jays Unlimited office to secure a reservation. Williams can be reached by phone (410/516-6132) or email (lwill132@jhu.edu).

Below is a look at the nine individuals who comprise the 2013 class of inductees for the Johns Hopkins Athletic Hall of Fame.

Krissy Brinsley - Class of 2002
Women’s Swimming
(Krissy Brinsley will not be able to attend this year’s induction ceremony and will be honored with the 2014 induction class. She is officially a member of the 2013 Hall of Fame class).

The Johns Hopkins women’s swimming program has ranked among the elite in Division III for more than 30 years. In a program with such national acclaim, Brinsley is, quite simply, the most decorated performer in school history.

Competing in an array of individual events and relays, Brinsley remains the school record-holder with 23 All-America honors and is one of just four individuals in JHU history to earn All-America honors 20 or more times.

Brinsley held nine school records at the end of her career, including marks in the 50 free, 100 back, 200 back and 200 IM. In addition, she was a member of five relay teams that held school records when she graduated.

A steady performer throughout her career, Brinsley was at her best when the lights went on at the NCAA Championships as she earned the maximum seven All-America finishes as a sophomore and six each as a junior and senior. She finished in the top nine in the nation in all 11 of her individual swims at the NCAA Championships, with one runner-up finish and a pair of third, fourth and fifth-place finishes to her credit. In addition, six of her 12 relay All-America finishes were first team (top eight).

A CoSIDA Academic All-District and MACDA Postgraduate Scholarship recipient as a senior, Brinsley also won 11 conference titles (eight individual • three relay) in her career, garnered UAA Co-Swimmer-of-the-Year honors as a freshman and earned Johns Hopkins’ Catherine P. Cramer Award as the top senior female athlete in 2002.

Brinsley’s individual successes were key elements to the team’s overall success during her career. Johns Hopkins placed 11th, eighth, fifth and fifth at the NCAA Championships during her career and added three straight runner-up finishes at the UAA Championships. The back-to-back fifth-place finishes as the NCAAs remain two of the three top-five finishes in school history.

Kelly Carver – Class of 1993
Women’s Lacrosse

In an era when the Johns Hopkins women’s lacrosse team was regularly making appearances in the NCAA Division III Championships with a high-scoring offense, Kelly Carver was leading an equally dominating Blue Jay defense. Carver was a four-year starter and remains one of the most decorated defensive players in school history.

Carver helped lead Johns Hopkins to a four-year record of 41-18, one Middle Atlantic Conference Championship, three MAC West titles, two trips to the NCAA Tournament and one appearance in the Final Four.

A two-time team captain, Carver totaled one goal, 49 caused turnovers and 70 ground balls and led the team in ground balls (26) as a sophomore and caused turnovers (17) as a junior. Carver’s exploits weren’t just noticed by her coaches and teammates at Johns Hopkins, she also grabbed the attention of opposing coaches, who were quick to honor her with an array of post-season honors.

Carver earned Third Team Brine/IWLCA All-America honors as a junior, when she also grabbed First Team All-Region and First Team All-MAC West honors. She closed her career in 1993 by earning First Team All-America honors from two different organizations – the IWLCA and USWLA – and repeated as a First Team All-Region and All-MAC West selection.

Now 20 years since her career ended, Carver remains one of just three defenders in the history of the Johns Hopkins women’s lacrosse program to earn First Team All-America honors.

John Del Monaco • Class of 2000
Men’s Soccer

The Johns Hopkins men’s soccer program enjoyed a resurgence in the 1990s and one of the great four-year runs in school history took place from 1996-99. One of the leaders during this run of national prominence for the Blue Jays was John Del Monaco, among the most versatile players ever to don the Columbia Blue and Black.

Del Monaco, who set a then school record for career games played (78), totaled 20 goals and 17 assists in his career, but numbers hardly tell the story of his career.

Del Monaco developed into one of the top forwards in the Centennial Conference early in his career and earned Second Team All-Centennial honors there as a sophomore. Demonstrating his all-around ability and team-first mentality, he went on to earn First Team All-Centennial honors in each of his final two seasons – as a defender!

His transition to defense was so smooth that he earned First Team All-Region and Second Team All-America honors as a junior and senior. He remains one of just five players – and the only defender – to twice earn All-America honors.

Del Monaco helped the Blue Jays to a 64-11-4 record during his career, including a 32-3-1 mark in the Centennial. He helped Johns Hopkins to the Centennial Conference title in 1996 and 1998 and an ECAC title in 1999. The Blue Jays also advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of his first three seasons and made a stunning run to the NCAA Quarterfinals in 1998; only a triple-overtime loss kept the Blue Jays from making a trip to the national semifinals that year.

While his exploits on the field are well documented, Del Monaco was also one of the top student-athletes in the nation as well. He received the William Howard Award as the Johns Hopkins senior athlete who most excelled in athletics and academics and earned an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship as a senior. He remains one of just three Johns Hopkins men’s soccer players to earn one of these prestigious awards.

Dave Eikenberg • Class of 1991
Men’s Basketball

He came to a basketball ghost town; sold on Homewood by a new coach with the opportunity to help build something out of the Blue Jay basketball program. Four years after arriving as a member of head coach Bill Nelson’s first recruiting class, Dave Eikenberg and his classmates had put the Johns Hopkins men’s basketball program on the map.

Eikenberg was the glue of Nelson’s early teams as he was the starting point guard from the time he arrived on campus and helped the Blue Jays compile a 68-40 record during his career – the 68 wins exactly matching the number Johns Hopkins had accumulated in the nine previous years combined.

Eikenberg graduated as Johns Hopkins’ career leader in assists (399) and steals (181) and no player in the last 20 years has come within 150 assists of his record and only one has come within 50 steals of his mark in that time. He remains the only player in school history with 100 or more assists in two different seasons (145, 113) and the only player with 55 or more steals in two different seasons as well (59, 58). He led the team in assists and steals three times each during his career and finished his career ranked second in games (105) and minutes played (2,634).

To say that Eikenberg left the basketball program better than he found it would be an understatement. In addition to the 68 wins the Blue Jays amassed during his career, he helped JHU to a Middle Atlantic Conference title as a senior and a runner-up finish as a junior. The MAC title was the first for Johns Hopkins since 1974. He also led JHU to the first two of what would eventually become five consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament. Included is the program’s only trip to the Sweet 16 (1990).

A.J. Haugen • Class of 2000
Men’s Lacrosse

One of the most creative, elusive and dangerous midfielders in school history, A.J. Haugen enjoyed a career matched by few midfielders in the storied history of the Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse program.

Haugen earned First Team All-America honors as a sophomore (1998), junior (1999) and senior (2000) and is one of just four players in school history to earn First Team All-America honors three times as a midfielder; the others include Rick Kowalchuk, Del Dressel and Paul Rabil. In a span of 18 years (1989-2007), Haugen was the only Johns Hopkins player to earn All-America honors three times (regardless of position)

Haugen finished his career with 85 goals and 23 assists for 108 points. He ranks third in school history in career goals scored among players who played exclusively midfield and punched up 23 or more goals in each of his final three seasons, including a career-high 27 as a sophomore and senior.

Johns Hopkins posted a 40-15 record during Haugen’s career and advanced to the NCAA Semifinals in each of his final two years. In the final game of his career against top-ranked Syracuse in the 2000 national semifinals, Haugen tied the Johns Hopkins record for most goals scored in a semifinal game as he netted a career-high five before the Blue Jays fell late to the Orange. The effort remains one of Hopkins’ top individual performances in an NCAA Tournament game.

Haugen capped his career at Johns Hopkins by being awarded the C. Gardner Mallonee Award, which is presented annual to the senior male who has made the most outstanding contribution in athletics.

George Kennedy
Men’s and Women’s Swimming Coach

One of the most successful head coaches in Division III swimming history, George Kennedy recently completed his 28th season as the head coach of the Johns Hopkins men’s and women’s teams.

Kennedy’s men’s team has compiled a record of 180-106 (.629) and didn’t lose a dual meet to a Division III opponent from November 19, 1989 – February 4, 2006. The Blue Jays have won 15 conference titles under his guidance, including 11 UAA, two Middle Atlantic Conference and two ECAC championships.

The Blue Jays have routinely parlayed the success of the regular season and at the conference championships into top finishes at the NCAA Championships. Including the recently completed 2012-13 season, Kennedy has guided Johns Hopkins to 25 top-10 finishes, 13 top-five finishes and three national runner-up showings.

In all, Kennedy has coached Blue Jay men’s swimmers to 14 individual and relay national championships, while there have been 301 individual All-Americans and 123 All-America relay teams.

Kennedy has enjoyed similar success with the Johns Hopkins women’s team, which has compiled a dual-meet record of 156-138-2 (.522) while competing against a national schedule that has included numerous Division I opponents.

Like the men, the women have also had a run of success at the conference and national level. Johns Hopkins has won nine conference titles under Kennedy, including five Blue Grass Mountain titles and four UAA Championships.

The Blue Jay women’s team has compiled two individual national championships, one relay national title, 161 individual All-Americans and 95 All-America relay teams.

Kennedy and his coaching staff have earned national coaching staff of the year honors six times since he arrived at Homewood and the success of both programs has not been limited to the pool. Members of the men’s and women’s teams have combined to earn seven NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships and 10 CoSIDA Academic All-America nods. In addition, four of Kennedy’s former swimmers have been inducted into the Johns Hopkins Athletic Hall of Fame, including fellow 2013 inductee Krissy Brinsley.

Steve Milo • Class of 1999
Baseball

Steve Milo was a four-year standout on the baseball team for head coach Bob Babb and helped the Blue Jays to a four-year record of 115-47-1 (.709). Johns Hopkins won two Centennial Conference titles (1997, 1998), two UAA titles (1998, 1999) and made two trips to the NCAA Tournament (1997, 1998) during his career. The 115 wins he and his classmates were a part of were, at the time, tied for the third most in school history.

Among the great pure hitters in school history, Milo concluded his career among Johns Hopkins’ all-time leaders in batting average (.367), hits (160), home runs (20), doubles (35) and RBIs (126).

While there have been some truly remarkable individual seasons in school history, few compare with the one Milo enjoyed as a junior in 1998. That year he hit .456 with 72 hits, 18 doubles, 57 RBIs and 53 runs scored. His 18 doubles that season were a school record at the time and his marks for batting average, runs scored and triples (4) were all among the top totals in school history at the time.

Milo still holds one school record that has rarely been challenged in the time since he graduated as his 32-game hitting streak – the seventh-longest in NCAA Division III history at the time – remains a Johns Hopkins record.

In helping the Blue Jays to a 36-4 record, the Centennial Conference and UAA titles and a top five national ranking in 1998, Milo earned First Team ABCA All-Region, First Team All-Centennial, First Team All-ECAC and Second Team All-UAA honors. The Blue Jays were the top seed in the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship and finished the season ranked 25th in the nation.

Sarah Parola • Class of 2001
Women’s Soccer

The Johns Hopkins women’s soccer program was still in its infancy when Sarah Parola arrived on campus in 1997. The Blue Jays had broken through and grabbed their first-ever Centennial Conference title the year before, but Parola’s arrival provided the Blue Jays with one of the top goal-scoring threats in the nation and JHU quickly transformed from a young program to a regional power.

Parola burst on the scene as a freshman, setting then school records for goals scored (20) and points (49) in a season. How unique were her efforts that season? Her mark for goals scored stood as a Johns Hopkins record until 2012, while her 49 points were the standard until 2011.

Despite injuries that brought two of her four seasons to a premature end, Parola concluded her career as Johns Hopkins’ career leader in goals scored (46) and points (105); those records held until 2011 and she remains one of just two players in school history to score 15 or more goals and total 34 or more points in two different seasons.

Parola’s individual success went hand-in-hand with the elevation of the program. She helped the Blue Jays to a four-year record of 60-15-4 (.785) with one Centennial Conference title (1997), one ECAC title (2000) and two trips to the NCAA Tournament (1997, 1998). The Blue Jays’ appearance in the 1997 NCAA Tournament was the first in school history.

With her breakout performance as a freshman in 1997, Parola was named the Centennial Conference Player of the Year; she remains the only player in league history to grab this honor as a freshman. She earned All-Centennial honors three times, including first team nods as a freshman and sophomore, and First Team All-Region honors in each of those years as well. She was the first player in school history to earn First Team All-Region, remained the only two-time first team selection in school history until 2010 and was the only JHU freshman to earn top regional honors before 2011.

Parola is the first Johns Hopkins women’s soccer player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame strictly because of her efforts on the soccer field.

Don Zimmerman • Class of 1976
Men’s Lacrosse (Player and Coach) • Men’s Soccer Coach

One of the most successful coaches in the storied history of the Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse program, Don Zimmerman guided the Blue Jays to a seven-year run that ranks among the best in school history, even by the lofty standards of the most successful program in college lacrosse history.

Leading the Blue Jays from 1984-90, Zimmerman compiled a remarkable 73-15 (.830) record, won three national championships (1984, 1985, 1987) and guided the Blue Jays to the NCAA Tournament in each of his seven seasons. JHU also advanced to the national championship game in 1989 and Zimmerman was the first head coach in college lacrosse history to win an NCAA title in his first season. JHU was nearly unbeatable at Homewood Field during his reign as the Blue Jays compiled a remarkable 40-7 (.851) record in the home whites under his guidance.

In addition to the national titles and NCAA Tournament appearances the Blue Jays compiled under his guidance, the team also collected numerous individual awards during Zimmerman’s tenure.

Johns Hopkins players compiled 21 First Team All-America honors, 47 overall All-America nods, two National Player of the Year, two Midfielder of the Year, three Defenseman of the Year and four Goalie of the Year awards under Zimmerman.

Zimmerman graduated from Johns Hopkins in 1976 after playing his final two years under legendary coach Henry Ciccarone. He earned Honorable Mention All-America honors as a midfielder as a junior and helped Johns Hopkins to the NCAA Semifinals.

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