Game Data

Loyola University Maryland will host a NCAA Championships First Round game on Saturday, May 12, 2012, as the top seed in the 2012 Championships. The Greyhounds welcome Canisius College to Ridley Athletic Complex for a 5 o’clock game.

The winner of the Loyola-Canisius game will meet the winner of North Carolina and Denver on Saturday, May 19, 2012, in Annapolis, Md.

On The Tube And Web

The game will be broadcast live on ESPNU with Mike Corey and Mark Dixon calling the action.

The action can also be seen worldwide on ESPN3, the broadband arm of the ESPN.

Series History

Loyola and Canisius will meet for the first time in men’s lacrosse when they take the field on Saturday, however, the schools are very familiar with one another.

Canisius hails from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, which is the primary conference for Loyola’s athletic teams other than men’s and women’s lacrosse.

NCAA Championships History

Loyola is making its 20th all-time appearance in the NCAA Championships, 18th at the Division I level. The Greyhounds are 8-19 all-time, 8-17 in Division I Championships games.

The Greyhounds’ last appearance in the Championships came in 2010 when they lost, 11-10, in triple overtime at Cornell.

Loyola last hosted an NCAA game in 2000 when Notre Dame defeated the Greyhounds, 15-12, on what was then known as Curley Field (now Diane Geppi-Aikens Field). Loyola’s last playoff win was a 12-11 triumph over Georgetown in 1998 that sent the team to the Final Four where it eventually bowed out to Maryland.

Top Spot

Loyola enters the NCAA Championships as the No. 1 seed for the third time in school history. The Greyhounds were also the top seed in 1998 when they defeated Georgetown, 12-11, in the Quarterfinals to move on to the Final Four for the second time in school history. There, the Greyhounds lost, 19-8, to Maryland. They were then the No. 1 seed in 1999 when they fell in the Quarterfinals to Syracuse, 17-12.

School Record In Wins

Loyola’s victory over Fairfield in the ECAC Championship Game was its 14th of the season, setting a school record for victories in a year. The Greyhounds eclipsed the previous best of 13 that the 1998 squad achieved with a 13-2 record.

This is Loyola’s 15th season all-time with 10 or more wins with 12 coming since the Greyhounds joined Division I in 1982.

In The Polls

Loyola moved up to No. 2 in both the USILA Coaches and Inside Lacrosse Media Polls following their ECAC Championship. The Greyhounds were ranked No. 1 for two weeks before losing their only game of the season on April 28 to Johns Hopkins.

The Greyhounds finished the regular-season with the No. 1 RPI in the NCAA, as well.

Canisius is not ranked in the media version and receiving votes in the coaches poll.

The Hardware Department

In the span of seven days, three teams in Loyola’s Department of Athletics advanced to their respective NCAA Championships by winning titles in three different conferences.

The men’s golf team started the trend with its fifth-straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference crown on April 29, and the men’s lacrosse team followed by taking the ECAC title on May 4. The women’s lacrosse team completed the trifecta on May 5 when it defeated then-No. 2 Syracuse to win its second-straight BIG EAST Championship.

Balanced Scoring In ECAC Championships

Loyola traveled to Denver for the 2012 ECAC Lacrosse League Championships and left the Mile-High City with a 97-pound trophy (no, really). The Greyhounds, who earned the No. 1 seed in the tournament and finished the regular-season 6-0 in the league, beat host and No. 4 seed Denver, 14-13, in overtime to advance to the final. There, Loyola topped Fairfield, 14-7.

Fifteen different Greyhounds scored goals in the two games with 11 tallying goals in the semifinal and 10 in the title game. Mike Sawyer led the team with four goals in the two games, a trio coming in the final, while Eric Lusby, Chris Layne and Scott Ratliff each had three.

Justin Ward led the Greyhounds with eight total points, dishing out three assists in the semifinal and three along with two goals in the championship.

Two players scored their first collegiate goals in the games, one in each contest. Kevin Ryan tallied a first-quarter goal on a man-up possession against Denver, and Brian Schultz recorded his first in the fourth quarter versus Fairfield.

A Lot Of Everything

The adage that a player does a little bit of everything does not necessarily apply to long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff. The Loyola junior does a lot, as he leads the team in ground balls (68) and caused turnovers (32), is tied for sixth in goals (9) and is seventh in assists (7).

A Tewaaraton Award semifinalist, Ratliff was named the Most Outstanding Player of the ECAC Championships after scoring three goals, one a game-winner, and recording two assists and 16 ground balls.

He had two goals, including the winner just eight seconds into overtime, and an assist versus Denver while picking up a career-high nine ground balls.

From Way Downtown

Reid Acton created his own SportsCenter highlight in the ECAC Championship Game, earning Friday night’s Top Play on ESPN. After goalkeeper Jack Runkel made a save on Fairfield’s Marshall Johnson with less than 10 seconds to play.

Runkel passed it to Acton on his right side, Acton took a step forward and launched the ball 75 yards to the other side of the field. It settled over the stick of Stags goalkeeper Charlie Cipriano to put the Greyhounds up 5-3 with one tick left on the first-quarter clock.

Acton’s goal started a 8-1 Loyola run that spanned three quarters and put the game out of reach. The goal was the second of Acton’s career – he also scored against Mount St. Mary’s last season – and Runkel was credited with his first career assist.

50 Points, 40 Goals

Mike Sawyer scored four goals on April 21 at Hobart to reach the 40-goal mark in 13 games, and he current sits at 45 after tallying his 10th hat trick of the season in the ECAC Championship Game against Fairfield. Against Hobart, he became the first Loyola player to reach 40 goals in a season since Tim Goettelmann and Gavin Prout scored 50 and 41, respectively, in 2000.

His one goal in the ECAC Semifinal versus Denver pushed his season point total to 50, a number that is now at 53, making him the first Greyhound to reach 50 in a season since Prout had 58 (37 g, 21a) in 2001. It is the fourth time this century that a Loyola player has scored 50 or more points in a season. Goettelmann (65) and Prout (53) both reached the mark in 2000, and Prout did it again the following season. With his next point, Sawyer’s teammate Eric Lusby will record his 50th of the season.

In addition to being just the third Loyola player to score 40-plus this century, Sawyer is the seventh Greyhound to reach the mark since Loyola moved to NCAA Division I status in 1982.

Sawyer, Lusby Form Rare Tandem

Graduate student Eric Lusby and junior Mike Sawyer have formed the top attack tandem in the ECAC Lacrosse League this year and one of the most balanced in the nation. The duo has combined for 82 goals in 15 games this season, an average of 5.5 per game.

Sawyer has scored 45 goals, and his 3.0 goals per game average is third-best in Division I. Lusby, meanwhile is right behind with 37 goals and a 2.47 goals per game mark, a number that is tied for 16th in the country. Loyola is one of two schools to have two players in the top 16 of goals per game nationally.

The Greyhounds have not had two players score 37 or more goals in the same season since 2000 when Tim Goettelmann set the school single-season record with 50, and Gavin Prout tallied 41. As a side note, the Goettelmann-Prout duo has gone on to highly successful professional careers. Goettelman recently retired from Major League Lacrosse as the league’s all-time leading scorer with 268 goals in 11 seasons. Prout has been an MLL Champion and has scored 314 National Lacrosse League goals to go with 625 assists as a multiple-time all-star.

With Lusby’s next point, the duo will also be the first tandem to score 50 or more points in a season since Goettelmann and Prout in 2000.

Ratliff’s Scoring

Scott Ratliff had his second multi-goal game of the season in the ECAC Semifinal Game against Denver, and he tallied a goal and an assist in the title game, raising his season totals to nine goals and seven assists.

With his second-quarter assist against Fairfield, he tied the Loyola single-season record for long-pole scoring, matching the record of 16 points set by current assistant coach Matt Dwan his senior season in 1995 when he tallied 11 goals and five assists and earned All-America honors.

Ratliff, a Tewaaraton Award semifinalist along with teammate Mike Sawyer, is second nationally this season in goals and points by a long pole, and his seven assists are tops in the country. Bryant’s Mason Poli leads all long poles this year with 19 goals and 24 points.

Spreading Out The Scoring Wealth

Loyola’s first 11 goals on Wednesday night were scored by 11 different players. Eric Lusby, Phil Dobson and Scott Ratliff finished the game with two goals, and eight others had one.

All three members of the Greyhounds’ first midfield – Davis Butts, Chris Layne and Sean O’Sullivan – scored goals. They received four goals from the four players who make up the second midfield line – Dobson (2), Pat Byrnes and Nikko Pontrello (J.P. Dalton did not score). Extra-man attackman Kevin Ryan scored, and two of the team’s three attackmen – Mike Sawyer and Lusby (2) – recorded goals. Ratliff scored twice in transition, and short-stick defensive midfielder Josh Hawkins added one. The Greyhounds’ other attack player, Justin Ward, did not score but had a game-high three assists.

In the title game, 10 different players scored for Loyola with all three attackers scoring and two of three from the first midfield like tallying goals.

Scoring From Different Places

Kevin Ryan scored his first career goal on Wednesday night, taking a Justin Ward pass form behind the crease and one-timing a shot into the net. Ryan did not play as a freshman in 2011 but has seen action in 12 games this year from the midfield and on extra-man possessions.

Nikko Pontrello added his third goal of the season and second versus the Pioneers. He also had the game-tying goal in the third quarter of the regular-season match-up that started Loyola’s 5-1 run to close the victory.

Phil Dobson recorded his second career multi-goal game, both coming against top-flight competition. He recorded a pair earlier this season against ACC Champ Duke.

Josh Hawkins added a man-up goal after Mike Sawyer caused a turnover and Justin Ward picked up the ground ball and fed Hawkins. The goal was Hawkins’ fifth of the year, and he also had his first assist of the season on a first-quarter Scott Ratliff goal.

Twelve In A Row Ties Mark

Loyola’s 12-straight to start the season tied the school record for consecutive victories, matching the number put up by the 1998 (March 14-May 17) and 1999 (March 6-May 8).

It also matched the best start to a season, equaling the 1999 team that finished the regular-season unblemished at 12-0.

Back-To-Back OTs

It took Loyola 30 years of NCAA Division I play (the Greyhounds moved into the division in 1982) to play back-to-back overtime games, but now it has experienced the pleasure twice in two years.

Last year, Loyola defeated Fairfield, 7-6, in overtime on April 9, and it then won 6-5 in four extra periods at Georgetown on April 17, marking the first time it had played back-to-back overtime games since joining Division I.

The Greyhounds have now played two-straight overtime games, losing on April 28 at home to Johns Hopkins and defeating Denver five days later.

Ratliff Named ECAC Defender Of The Year

Junior long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff was named the ECAC Defensive Player of the Year on Monday, marking the second time in four years a Greyhounds’ long pole has received the award. P.T. Ricci earned the honor in 2009, as well.

Ratliff leads the ECAC with 32 caused turnovers (2.13 per game) and is eighth nationally in that category, and he is tops on the Greyhounds with 68 ground balls (4.5 per contest).

The native of Marietta, Ga., also has scored nine goals and has seven assists this year, keying the Greyhounds’ transition game on many occasions. He earned ECAC Co-Specialist of the Week twice during the year and was the Defensive Player of the Week early in the season.

Toomey Tabbed ECAC Coach Of The Year

Loyola Head Coach Charley Toomey was named the ECAC Coach of the Year for the third time in his seven-year career. This season, Toomey guided the Greyhounds to a 14-1 mark during the regular-season and the ECAC regular-season crown with a 6-0 mark in conference play.

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.

Earlier this season, Toomey won the 50th game of his coaching career, becoming the fourth coach in Loyola history to win 50 or more – Dave Cottle (181-70, 1983-2001), Charles Wenzel (62-104, 1954-1970), Jay Connor (61-46, 1975-1982).  Toomey’s .611 winning percentage trails only Cottle’s .721 at Loyola.

All-ECAC Honors

Five Loyola players earned All-ECAC Lacrosse League honors form the conference’s coaches last Monday. Long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff earned a spot as a defender on the First Team, where he was joined by Mike Sawyer on attack and Davis Butts in the midfield.

Sawyer led the ECAC during the regular-season, and is now third nationally, in goals (45) and goals per game (3.0). Butts has scored 16 goals and assisted on 12 from the Greyhounds first midfield line while also regularly playing a role on the wings during face-offs with 36 ground balls.

Attack Eric Lusby and defender Joe Fletcher were tabbed to the All-ECAC Second Team. Lusby is second on the team and is 16th nationally with 37 goals (2.47 per game), and he also has 12 assists this season. Fletcher came on as one of the top lock-down defenders around, earning Midseason All-American honors from Inside Lacrosse last month. He has 28 ground balls and 20 caused turnovers entering the NCAA Tournament.

Ratliff, Sawyer Named Tewaaraton Semifinalists

Juniors Scott Ratliff and Mike Sawyer were named to the Tewaaraton Award semifinal list as the game’s top players, making Loyola one of five schools – joining Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Massachusetts and Virginia – to have two players make the 25-man list.

Loyola is also one of six schools to have at least one male and one female semifinalist, as sophomore Marlee Paton made the women’s list from Loyola. The winners of both awards will be selected on May 31, 2012, in Washington, D.C.

Big Runs

Loyola used runs of three-plus goals at important junctures of its 15 games, helping the Greyhounds to wins each time. In all, Loyola has scored three or more in a row on 30 occasions this season.

Loyola used four three-goal runs against Duke, including one three-goal streak that put Loyola up 4-1 at the beginning of the second quarter. The Greyhounds never trailed after that initial three-goal run and extended their lead to 13-5 after its fourth three-goal spurt of the game.

The Greyhounds had their longest run in almost two years against Air Force, scoring 10 in a row to open the second half. The last time Loyola scored 10 or more in a row was on March 20, 2010, when it had 14 straight against Air Force.

At Fairfield, Loyola scored the final four goals of the game to rally from a 6-4 deficit to win 8-6. The Greyhounds then scored four in a row during the third and fourth quarters at Denver that brought them from down 8-7 to a 12-9 victory.

Versus Johns Hopkins, the Greyhounds scored four in a row, holding the Blue Jays scoreless for the last 14:13 of regulation, to tie the game at 9-9, sending it to overtime.

Loyola scored the first four goals of the ECAC Semifinal game against Denver and then tallied three-straight after the Pioneers pulled within 4-2. The Greyhounds then reeled off five in a row during the third quarter to take a 13-6 lead.

In the ECAC title game, Loyola used an 8-1 run that was comprised of runs of 3-0 and 5-0 to take control of the game.

On The Flip Side

Conversely, the Greyhounds have allowed a run of three or more goals just nine times this year, with the most recent coming when Denver scored three on two occasions. Only Denver (seven), Johns Hopkins (five), Fairfield (five), Air Force (four) have scored more than three in a row this year.

Following six of the nine opponent runs of three or more, Loyola has answered in kind with a run of 4-0 or better.

On The EMO

This season, the Greyhounds are ranked second in the nation in man-up offense, scoring 50-percent of the time. Only Lehigh (.553) has a better mark this year.

The last time Loyola finished at or above .500 in man-up offense was in 1997 when it converted 39-of-77 (.506).

Second-Half Success

The Greyhounds have now outscored opponents 55-20 in the third quarters of games and 100-54 overall this year in the second half (including overtime).

The second-half scoring continues a trend from the last two seasons. Last year, Loyola outscored opponents, 69-52, after halftime (including two overtime goals), and 77-56 two years ago.

Record At Ridley

After going 4-1 at Ridley Athletic Complex last season, the Greyhounds opened this season with six in a row at home before falling to Johns Hopkins. Loyola is now 14-4 all-time at Ridley.

The Game: Tenth-ranked Johns Hopkins (10-3) closes the 2012 regular season with its annual Homecoming game as the Blue Jays welcome Army to Homewood Field. Faceoff is set for 2 pm.

Last Time Out: Johns Hopkins snapped a two-game losing streak with a 10-9 win at top-ranked Loyola last Saturday. Army had a three-game winning streak snapped with a 13-7 loss to Lehigh in the Patriot League Semifinals last Friday at Colgate.

A Look Ahead: The bracket for the 2012 NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Tournament will be announced at 9 pm on Sunday, May 6. The bracket will be announced live on ESPNU with first round games scheduled for Saturday, May 12 and Sunday, May 13.

JHU’s NCAA Tournament Credentials: There are a number of factors that go into selecting the field for the NCAA Tournament, not the least of which are RPI and Strength of Schedule. Johns Hopkins currently sports a 10-3 record, is ranked fifth in the latest RPI and has played six games against teams ranked in the top 20 of the RPI (JHU is 4-2 in those six games).

Noting JHU in the NCAA Tournament: Johns Hopkins made its 40th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament last season. By comparison, the next six longest active streaks of qualifying for the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament add up to exactly 40 consecutive appearances (Maryland-9, Cornell-8, Virginia-7, Notre Dame-6, Duke-5, North Carolina-5).

Series History: Johns Hopkins and Army are meeting for the 68th time in a series that dates to a 3-2 Johns Hopkins win in 1921. Johns Hopkins won last season’s meeing, 15-10, at Michie Stadium and has won 54-of-67 all-time meetings. A complete series review can be found at the back of this week’s note packet.

These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters this week’s game against Army with an all-time record of 922-297-15 (.753). The Blue Jays own nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 44 national championships.

A Win For Johns Hopkins Would …
• Give the Blue Jays 11 wins for the eighth time in 12 seasons under head coach Dave Pietramala.
• Give JHU 11 wins for the 27th time in school history.
• Be the 18th consecutive win for Johns Hopkins over Army.
• Improve Johns Hopkins’ record to 13-0 in regular season games played in May under head coach Dave Pietramala.

Gardner Awards to be Presented: The Johns Hopkins Department of Athletics and the Blue Jay men’s lacrosse team are continuing their fight against cancer with this week’s game against Army. Chris Gardner, who would have been a senior on the 1999 Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse team, lost his life to cancer in 1997. In 1998, the Blue Jays began their fight against cancer with the inaugural IKON Lacrosse Classic to benefit the American Cancer Society.
In the last 14 years the Blue Jays have continued their fight against cancer with a game to benefit the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, where Chris received treatment for his illness. An additional dollar has been added to the cost of all tickets for today’s game with the extra money being donated to the Children’s Center in Chris’ name. To date, more than $70,000 has been donated to the Children’s Center in Chris’s honor.
At the conclusion of the game, the Chris Gardner Players-of-the-Game will be selected and each will receive a plaque for their efforts in Chris’ name. Kathleen Van Haverbeke, Chris’ mom, will present the plaques to a member of both teams.

Career Win Number 150: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala picked up career win number 150 with the 12-6 victory vs. Towson in the season opener. He now sports an all-time record of 159-61 (.723), including a 136-44 (.756) record at Johns Hopkins. He 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.

Representing the Stars and Stripes: 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.

Durkin, Bassett Among Tewaaraton Nominees: Johns Hopkins placed two players among the top 25 men’s nominees for the 2012 Tewaaraton Award it was announced on April 25. Juniors Tucker Durkin (D) and Pierce Bassett (G) are among the 25, making Johns Hopkins one of just five schools with two nominees.
The 12th-annual Tewaaraton Award will be presented to the top male and female lacrosse players on May 31 at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.
Durkin is one of just three close defensemen among the final 25, while Bassett is one of just four goalies among the final 25.

May Day: Johns Hopkins has won 13 straight regular season games in the month of May. JHU’s last regular season loss in May came on May 8, 1999, when Hofstra nipped the Blue Jays, 9-8, in overtime. Johns Hopkins is 32-9 (.780) in games played in May under head coach Dave Pietramala (2001-present).

Working Overtime: The Blue Jays have won their last three overtime games dating back to last season and are now 19-9 all-time in overtime under head coach Dave Pietramala.

Play it and They Will Come: Johns Hopkins played in front of its second sellout crowd in three weeks last Saturday as Loyola sold all 6,000 tickets available for its home game against JHU last week. JHU also played in front of a packed house of 8,500 on April 14 when Maryland visited Homewood Field.
Playing in front of large crowds is nothing new for the Blue Jays, who lead the nation in average attendance for all games played (7,010). Amazingly, Johns Hopkins’ average attendance dropped last week despite playing in front of a sellout crowd.

Six Over Six: Last week’s crowd of 6,000 at Loyola was the sixth crowd of 6,000 or more that Johns Hopkins has played in front of in 2012. A large Homecoming crowd is also expected this Saturday when Army visits Homewood Field.

Five of Top 10: There have been 10 crowds of 6,500 or more at a Division I men’s lacrosse game this season and Johns Hopkins has been a participant in five of the 10.

Against Number One: Last week’s 10-9 overtime victory at Loyols was JHU’s second of the season against a team ranked number one in the nation. Earlier this season (March 24) the Blue Jays knocked off then top-ranked Virginia, 11-10, in overtime. Last week’s game was also the 11th Johns Hopkins has played against a team ranked number one under head coach Dave Pietramala. The Blue Jays are now 7-4 in their 11 games against the nation’s top-ranked team under his guidance. This is the first time in school history that Johns Hopkins has defeated a top-ranked team twice on the road in the same season.

Close Calls: Eight of the 11 games Johns Hopkins has played against teams ranked number one under head coach Dave Pietramala have been decided by one goal. JHU is 6-2 in those eight one-goal games.

That’s Odd: Despite the win at top-ranked Loyola, Johns Hopkins remained ranked 10th in this week’s USILA Coaches Poll. This week’s game against Army will be the fifth game Johns Hopkins has played under head coach Dave Pietramala as the 10th-ranked team in the nation. JHU is a perfect 4-0 in the previous four games.

April Reign: Flipping the calendar to April has usually been a good sign for the Blue Jays, who improved to 50-10 (.833) under head coach Dave Pietramala in games played in April with last week’s win at Loyola. JHU is 28-4 at home, 20-4 on the road and 2-2 on a neutral field in April under Pietramala’s guidance.

Prepping For May: May become a whole lot more important when the NCAA began sponsoring the lacrosse national championhip in 1971. Johns Hopkins currently has a streak of 40 consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament and finishing April strong has been a big part of Hopkins’ success. In fact, Johns Hopkins has won the last game it has played in the month of April in each of the last 16 years and 40 of 41 during its streak of qualifying for the NCAAs. The only time JHU lost its last game in April since 1972 was in 1996 (Towson: Lost 13-12).

Marching Orders: Johns Hopkins closed out the March portion of its 2012 schedule at Virginia on March 24. The Blue Jays posted their first perfect record in the month of March (5-0) since 2005, when they also won all five of their games played in the month. Since 1972, JHU has posted a perfect record in the month of March 15 times (not including this season). In six of those years the Blue Jays went on to win the national championship and in seven other instances JHU finished as national runner-up.

Streaking: In case you didn’t notice, Johns Hopkins is 18-4 in its last 22 games, 23-6 since the start of the 2011 season and 25-8 in its last 33 games.

13-Win Seasons: With a 13-3 record last season, Johns Hopkins reached the 13-win mark for the fifth time under head coach Dave Pietramala and the 12th time in school history.

Balancing Act: Johns Hopkins scored 10 goals in the win last week at top-ranked Loyola and those 10 goals and the 15 total points the Blue Jays amassed were pretty evenly distributed. JHU got two goals and four assists from its starting attack, five goals from its first midfield and three goals from its second midfield.

Attack Oriented: Despite being forced to start five different players in three different combinations, the starting attack units the Blue Jays have trotted out have been effective and efficient. The unit has combined for 56 goals and 42 assists (7.54 points per game) through 13 games.

On the Flip Side: While the Blue Jay attack is collectively averaging over 7.5 points per game, the Blue Jay defense has not been nearly as giving. In fact, the starting attack units Johns Hopkins has faced this season have totaled just 45 goals and 24 assists (5.3 points per game).

Bassett Now 23-6 in Last 29 Starts: Junior goalie Pierce Bassett picked up his 26th career victory in goal with the 10-9 win at top-ranked Loyola as he posted nine saves. Bassett is now 23-6 in his last 29 starts dating back to the start of the 2011 season and counts a 26-10 career record to his credit.
Through 13 games Bassett currently ranks seventh in the nation in goals against average (7.14) and 21st in save percentage (.547).
Bassett concluded his first full season as the starter for the Blue Jays last season and posted a 7.07 goals against average and a .570 save percentage. He finished fifth in the nation in GAA and 10th in save percentage. Bassett’s 7.07 goals against average is the second best by a JHU goalie since 1993 (Jesse Schwartman’s 6.68 GAA in 2005 is the best since records became available in ‘93).

Boland Returns: Senior attackman Chris Boland returned to the lineup against North Carolina after missing seven consecutive games with an injury he suffered 35 minutes into the season opener against Towson. Boland scored twice and dished out a pair of assists against the Tar Heels and came back with a three-goal, two-assist showing against Albany and a one-goal, one-assist effort against Maryland to push his season totals to 10 goals and five assists. He had 13-game goal and point-scoring streaks snapped at Navy, but tallied a pair of assists in last week’s win at Loyola.
Boland pushed his career totals to 76 goals and 45 assists for 121 points with his two-assist effort at Loyola. He has 10 career hat tricks, 29 career multi-point games and 18 games with four points or more.

Stanwick in Rare Company: Freshman Wells Stanwick scored the fifth goal in JHU’s game-opening 5-0 run last week at top-ranked Loyola to help the Blue Jays to the 10-9 overtime victory.
Stanwick has seven goals and 13 assists for 20 points in 10 games played. He missed three games early in the season with an injury, but still ranks second on the team in assists and fourth in points.
Stanwick ran his streak of consecutive multi-point games to seven with one goal and two assists in the win over Albany before being held scoreless by Maryland and Navy. His run of seven straight multi-point games to open his career is the longest by a Johns Hopkins player (freshmen only – not transfers) since all-time leading scorer Terry Riordan opened his career with 18 consecutive multi-point games from 1992-93.

Offensive Notes of Interest: Below are several notes of interest about the JHU offense:
• JHU has scored at least one goal in 47 of 52 quarters this season and two or more in 38 of the 52 quarters.
• For all the talk about JHU being a slow down team, the Blue Jays are averaging 35.8 shots per game. That number compares favorably to JHU’s averages in 2005 (38.1) and 2007 (36.3) – the most recent years in which Johns Hopkins won the national championship.
• Johns Hopkins ranks 29th in the nation in scoring offense (9.85), 12th in extra-man offense (.426) and 12th in scoring margin (+2.77).

Defensive Notes of Interest: Below are several notes of interest about the JHU defense:
• Hopkins is surrendering an average of just 29.1 shots per game.
• JHU has held the opposition scoreless in 15 of 52 quarters this season (28.8%).
• The Blue Jays rank fifth in the nation in scoring defense (7.08), 15th in man-down defense (.730) and 12th in scoring margin (+2.77) this season.
• Johns Hopkins has held each of its 13 opponents scoreless for a stretch of at least 14:25 and 10 of the 13 have gone scoreless for 19:30 or longer.

Now That’s a Drought: The Johns Hopkins defense did not allow an even-strength goal for an amazing stretch of 116:37 from late in the win at Princeton through early in the fourth quarter of the win over UMBC.

About the Shutout: Shutouts in college lacrosse are rare, but JHU notched one with the 11-0 victory over Manhattan on March 6. Prior to that, the Blue Jays had last posted a shutout on March 26, 1988, when they knocked off Princeton, 9-0. The shutout vs. Manhattan was the 61st in JHU history with 57 of those coming prior to 1950.

Poll Position: The Blue Jays check in at number 10 in the USILA Coaches Poll and eighth in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll this week. 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 395 weekly polls since the inception of the poll in 1973. Amazingly, JHU has been ranked in the top 20 in 393 of those 395 polls. The Blue Jays have been in the top 10 in 372 of the 395 and the top five in 295 of those 395. Johns Hopkins has been ranked number one 104 times since the poll debuted in 1973.

Fifteen Straight – Historically: Johns Hopkins won 15 straight regular season games prior to falling to North Carolina on April 1. Not only was the 15-game regular season winning streak the second longest under Dave Pietramala, it’s also the sixth longest in school history during the NCAA Tournament era (1971 – Present).

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 wins this season vs. Towson, UMBC and Loyola and losses to Maryland and Navy, JHU is 56-6 (.903) against teams from Maryland under head coach Dave Pietramala.

First to 900: Johns Hopkins’ 10-6 win at Towson in the 2011 season opener not only got the season off on the right foot for the Blue Jays, but also made history. The win was the 900th all-time in school history, making Johns Hopkins the first program to record 900 all-time wins. JHU now has 922 all-time wins.

That’s 625 Games Over .500: The Blue Jays’ all-time record is now 922-297-15 (.753) … that’s 625 games over .500. To put this in perspective: JHU has played an average of just over 15 games per season under head coach Dave Pietramala. Using a 15-game season as a reference, if the Blue Jays posted a 5-10 record for 125 straight seasons, they would still be five games over .500.

The Game: Tenth-ranked Johns Hopkins (9-3) makes the short trip to the Ridley Athletic Complex to take on top-ranked Loyola (12-0). The game is sold out.

Last Time Out: Johns Hopkins dropped its second straight game with an 8-2 loss at Navy last Saturday. Loyola moved to 12-0 and took over sole possession of the top spot in the national rankings with a 17-6 win at Hobart.

Series History: Johns Hopkins and Loyola are meeting for the 50th time in a series that dates to a 20-1 Johns Hopkins win in 1939. Johns Hopkins won last season’s meeing, 8-7, at Homewood Field, has won 12 straight against the Greyhounds and leads the series 46-3. A complete series review can be found at the back of this week’s note packet.

These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters this week’s game against Loyola with an all-time record of 921-297-15 (.753). The Blue Jays own nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 44 national championships.

A Win For Johns Hopkins Would …
• Give the Blue Jays 10 wins for the ninth time in 12 seasons under head coach Dave Pietramala.
• Give JHU 10 wins for the 33rd time in school hsitory.
• Be the 13th consecutive win for Johns Hopkins over Loyola.
• Improve JHU’s record to 56-6 against teams from the state of Maryland since Dave Pietramala took over in 2001.
• Improve Johns Hopkins’ reocrd to 50-10 in games played in April under Dave Pietramala.

Career Win Number 150: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala picked up career win number 150 with the 12-6 victory vs. Towson in the season opener. He now sports an all-time record of 158-61 (.721), including a 135-44 (.754) record at Johns Hopkins. He 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.

Representing the Stars and Stripes: 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.

Durkin, Bassett Among Tewaaraton Nominees: Johns Hopkins placed two players among the top 25 men’s nominees for the 2012 Tewaaraton Award it was announced on April 25. Juniors Tucker Durkin (D) and Pierce Bassett (G) are among the 25, making Johns Hopkins one of just five schools with two nominees.
The 12th-annual Tewaaraton Award will be presneted to the top male and female lacrosse players on May 31 at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.
Durkin is one of just three close defensemen among the final 25, while Bassett is one of just four goalies among the final 25.

Program Ties-I: Johns Hopkins Associate Head Coach Bill Dwan is the older brother of Loyola assistant coach/defensive coordinator Matt Dwan.

Program Ties-II: Loyola sophomore faceoff specialist Brandon Donovan is the younger brother of Tim Donovan, who played at Johns Hopkins from 2008-11 and helped the Blue Jays to four straight trips to the NCAA Tournament.

Play it and They Will Come: Johns Hopkins will play in front of its second sellout crowd in three weeks on Saturday as Loyola has sold all 6,000 tickets available for this week’s game. JHU also played in front of a packed house of 8,500 on April 14 when Maryland visited Homewood Field.
Playing in front of large crowds is nothing new for the Blue Jays, who lead the nation in average attendance for all games played (7,094).

Six Over Six: This week’s crowd of 6,000 at Loyola will be the sixth crowd of 6,000 or more that Johns Hopkins will have played in front of in 2012.

Five of Top Eight: There have been eight crowds of 6,500 or more at a Division I men’s lacrosse game this season and Johns Hopkins has been a participant in five of the eight.

Against Number One: This week’s game against Loyola will be the second this season for the Blue Jays against a team ranked number one – and both will have taken place on the road.
Earlier this season (March 24) the Blue Jays knocked off then top-ranked Virginia, 11-10, in overtime.
This week’s game will be the 11th Johns Hopkins has played against a team ranked number one under head coach Dave Pietramala. The Blue Jays are 6-4 in their 10 games against the nation’s top-ranked team under his guidance and 16-22 overall against the number-one ranked team since 1973 (USILA rankings began in 1973).

Close Calls: Seven of the 10 games Johns Hopkins has played against teams ranked number one under head coach Dave Pietramala have been decided by one goal. JHU is 5-2 in those seven one-goal games. Overall, 15 of JHU’s 37 games against a team ranked number one have been decided by one goal – JHU is 7-8 in those 15 games.

That’s Odd: This will be the fourth game Johns Hopkins has played under head coach Dave Pietramala as the 10th-ranked team in the nation. JHU is a perfect 3-0 in the previous three games.

April Reign: Flipping the calendar to April has usually been a good sign for the Blue Jays, who are 49-10 (.831) under head coach Dave Pietramala in games played in April. JHU is 28-4 at home, 19-4 on the road and 2-2 on a neutral field in April under Pietramala’s guidance.

Prepping For May: May become a whole lot more important when the NCAA began sponsoring the lacrosse national championhip in 1971. Johns Hopkins currently has a streak of 40 consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament and finishing April strong has been a big part of Hopkins’ success. In fact, Johns Hopkins has won the last game it has played in the month of April in each of the last 15 years and 39 of 40 during its streak of qualifying for the NCAAs. The only time JHU lost its last game in April since 1972 was in 1996 (Towson: Lost 13-12).

Marching Orders: Johns Hopkins closed out the March portion of its 2012 schedule at Virginia on March 24. The Blue Jays posted their first perfect record in the month of March (5-0) since 2005, when they also won all five of their games played in the month. Since 1972, JHU has posted a perfect record in the month of March 15 times (not including this season). In six of those years the Blue Jays went on to win the national championship and in seven other instances JHU finished as national runner-up.

Streaking: In case you didn’t notice, Johns Hopkins is 17-4 in its last 21 games, 22-6 since the start of the 2011 season and 24-8 in its last 32 games.

13-Win Seasons: With a 13-3 record last season, Johns Hopkins reached the 13-win mark for the fifth time under head coach Dave Pietramala and the 12th time in school history.

Home Cookin’: Johns Hopkins had its 12-game home winning streak snapped with the 9-6 loss to Maryland on April 14. The streak is the second-longest under head coach Dave Pietramala, who picked up his 75th career victory at Homewood Field with the win earlier this season against Delaware. Hopkins sports a 79-13 (.859) record in home games during his career at JHU.
JHU won a school and national-record 37 straight home games from 2001-06 under Pietramala’s guidance and the recent 12-game home winning streak is the fourth home streak of seven wins or more since he arrived.

Balancing Act: Johns Hopkins has employed virtually the same first and second midfield units throughout the first 12 games and those units have proven to be steady in terms of production. JHU’s first unit of Rob Guida(13), John Ranagan (13) and John Greeley (7) has combined for 33 goals, while the second unit of Lee Coppersmith (12), Mark Goodrich (6) and Greg Edmonds (4) has 22 goals to its credit.
The major difference between the two groups has been with assists. The unit of Guida, Ranagan and Greeley has combined for 19 assists. Edmonds’ assist against North Carolina was the first assist of the season from the trio on the second midfield, which now has two assists to its credit.

Attack Oriented: Despite being forced to start five different players in three different combinations, the starting attack units the Blue Jays have trotted out have been effective and efficient. Despite struggling the last two weeks, the unit has combined for 54 goals and 38 assists (7.67 points per game) through 12 games.

On the Flip Side: While the Blue Jay attack is collectively averaging nearly eight points per game, the Blue Jay defense has not been nearly as giving. In fact, the starting attack units Johns Hopkins has faced this season have totaled just 41 goals and 23 assists (5.3 points per game).

Bassett Now 22-6 in Last 28 Starts: Junior goalie Pierce Bassett picked up his 25th career victory in goal with the 17-6 win vs. Albany as he posted 11 saves in just over 55 minutes of action. Bassett is now 22-6 in his last 28 starts dating back to the start of the 2011 season and counts a 25-10 career record to his credit.
Through 12 games Bassett currently ranks sixth in the nation in goals against average (7.02) and 19th in save percentage (.552).
Bassett concluded his first full season as the starter for the Blue Jays last season and posted a 7.07 goals against average and a .570 save percentage. He finished fifth in the nation in GAA and 10th in save percentage. Bassett’s 7.07 goals against average is the second best by a JHU goalie since 1993 (Jesse Schwartman’s 6.68 GAA in 2005 is the best since records became available in ‘93).

Boland Returns: Senior attackman Chris Boland returned to the lineup against North Carolina after missing seven consecutive games with an injury he suffered 35 minutes into the season opener against Towson. Boland scored twice and dished out a pair of assists against the Tar Heels and came back with a three-goal, two-assist showing against Albany and a one-goal, one-assist effort against Maryland to push his season totals to 10 goals and five assists. He had 13-game goal and point-scoring streaks snapped last week at Navy.
Boland pushed his career totals to 76 goals and 43 assists for 119 points with his one goal and one assist vs. Maryland. He has 10 career hat tricks, 28 career multi-point games and 18 games with four points or more.

Stanwick in Rare Company: Freshman Wells Stanwick ran his streak of consecutive multi-point games to seven with one goal and two assists in the win over Albany before being held scoreless by Maryland and Navy. His run of seven straight multi-point games to open his career is the longest by a Johns Hopkins player (freshmen only – not transfers) since all-time leading scorer Terry Riordan opened his career with 18 consecutive multi-point games from 1992-93.
Stanwick has six goals and 13 assists for 19 points in nine games played. He missed three games early in the season with an injury, but still ranks second on the team in assists and fourth in points.

Offensive Notes of Interest: Below are several notes of interest about the JHU offense:
• JHU has scored at least one goal in 43 of 48 quarters this season and two or more in 35 of the 48 quarters.
• For all the talk about JHU being a slow down team, the Blue Jays are averaging 35.5 shots per game. That number compares favorably to JHU’s averages in 2005 (38.1) and 2007 (36.3) – the most recent years in which Johns Hopkins won the national championship.
• Johns Hopkins ranks 30th in the nation in scoring offense (9.83), 15th in extra-man offense (.419) and 12th in scoring margin (+2.92).

Defensive Notes of Interest: Below are several notes of interest about the JHU defense:
• Hopkins is surrendering an average of just 29.2 shots per game.
• JHU has held the opposition scoreless in 14 of 48 quarters this season (29.2%).
• The Blue Jays rank fifth in the nation in scoring defense (6.92), 14th in man-down defense (.722) and 12th in scoring margin (+2.92) this season.
• Johns Hopkins has held each of its 12 opponents scoreless for a stretch of at least 14:25 and 10 of the 12 have gone scoreless for 19:30 or longer.

Now That’s a Drought: The Johns Hopkins defense did not allow an even-strength goal for an amazing stretch of 116:37 from late in the win at Princeton through early in the fourth quarter of the win over UMBC.

About the Shutout: Shutouts in college lacrosse are rare, but JHU notched one with the 11-0 victory over Manhattan on March 6. Prior to that, the Blue Jays had last posted a shutout on March 26, 1988, when they knocked off Princeton, 9-0. The shutout vs. Manhattan was the 61st in JHU history with 57 of those coming prior to 1950.

Poll Position: The Blue Jays check in at number 10 in the USILA Coaches Poll and 11th in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll this week. 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 394 weekly polls since the inception of the poll in 1973. Amazingly, JHU has been ranked in the top 20 in 392 of those 394 polls. The Blue Jays have been in the top 10 in 371 of the 394 and the top five in 295 of those 394. Johns Hopkins has been ranked number one 104 times since the poll debuted in 1973.

Noting JHU in the NCAA Tournament: Johns Hopkins made its 40th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament last season. By comparison, the next six longest active streaks of qualifying for the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament add up to exactly 40 consecutive appearances (Maryland-9, Cornell-8, Virginia-7, Notre Dame-6, Duke-5, North Carolina-5).

First to 900: Johns Hopkins’ 10-6 win at Towson in the 2011 season opener not only got the season off on the right foot for the Blue Jays, but also made history. The win was the 900th all-time in school history, making Johns Hopkins the first program to record 900 all-time wins. JHU now has 921 all-time wins.

That’s 624 Games Over .500: The Blue Jays’ all-time record is now 921-297-15 (.753) … that’s 624 games over .500. To put this in perspective: JHU has played an average of just over 15 games per season under head coach Dave Pietramala. Using a 15-game season as a reference, if the Blue Jays posted a 5-10 record for 125 straight seasons, they would still be four games over .500.

COLLEGE PARK, MD. - The No. 9 Maryland men’s lacrosse team closes out its regular season home slate by hosting Bellarmine on Saturday, April 28, at Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium. Faceoff is scheduled for noon.

• The game will mark the final regular season game for seven Terrapin seniors: Joe Cummings, MJ Leonard, David Miller, Pat Morrison, Tim Shaeffer, Michael Shakespeare and Drew Snider. The 2012 senior class has compiled a 43-20 (.683) record during its time in College Park, helped bring the Terps the 2011 ACC Championship and were key to Maryland’s run to the 2011 NCAA championship game. They have also helped Maryland to three NCAA tournament bids with a fourth a near certainty when the 2012 field is announced on May 6.

• Maryland (8-4, 1-2 ACC) is coming off of a 12-8 victory at Mount St. Mary’s on Wednesday, April 25. Senior Joe Cummings became just the 38th player in the 87-year history of the Maryland men’s lacrosse program to reach 100 career points with four points on three goals and an assist vs. the Mount. Owen Blye led the Terps with five points on two goals and three assists.

• The Knights are 4-7 on the year and are coming off of a 9-8 victory over Detroit Mercy on April 21. Bellarmine opened the season winning three of its first five games, but then went on a five-game losing skid before beating the Titans. This season the Knights are led by senior midfielder Colton Clark, who has 30 points on 18 goals and 12 assists. Junior attackman Michael Ward is the team leader in goals with 22. Junior Dylan Ward has started all 11 of Bellarmine’s 11 games in cage and has a .515 save percentage and a 10.25 goals-against average.

The Count Down
10 … Since 2002 Maryland has won 89 of the 97 games in which the Terps have scored 10 or more goals for a .918 winning percentage.
9 … Maryland is 107-24 in games since 2002 when it allows nine goals or less, for an .817 winning percentage.
8 … Owen Blye needs eight points to reach 75 for his career.
7 … Seven Terps will be playing in their final regular season game at Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium.
6 … Joe Cummings has had six games this season with at least three points.
5 … Niko Amato is fifth in the lastest NCAA rankings with a 6.94 goals-against average.
4 … This will be the Terps’ fourth meeting all-time with Bellarmine.
3 … Three Terps have totaled 20 or more points so far this season.
2 … Goran Murray is just the second close defender to be named the ACC Freshman of the Year in the last 12 years.
1 … Head coach John Tillman is 1-0 all-time vs. Bellarmine.

Coaching Match-Up
• John Tillman is in his fifth season as a head coach, and second with the Terps, with a 40-28 career record for a 58.8 winning percentage. Tillman is 20-9 (.690) as Maryland’s head coach. He had a 20-19 record in three seasons as the head coach at Harvard.

• Bellarmine’s Kevin Burns is in his first season as a head coach and has a 4-7 (.364) record at Bellarmine.

• This will be Tillman’s second game vs. the Knights as a head coach. He is 1-0 vs. Bellarmine, winning 12-8 in College Park in his first season as Maryland’s head coach.

Series History vs. Bellarmine
• There’s not much of a series history, but Maryland holds an 3-0 advantage in it.

• Last season the Terps hosted Bellarmine in a Monday matinee and Maryland, behind hat tricks by seniors Travis Reed and Ryan Young, raced out to an 11-3 lead through three quarters and won the game 12-8. Niko Amato played the first three quarters and made eight saves, while allowing just three goals.

• Maryland played its 2010 season opener at Bellarmine as the Knights dedicated the plaza area of its stadium to Jack McGetrick, the former head coach who founded the Knights’ lacrosse program. McGetrick passed away from prostate cancer in October of 2010. The Terps went on to win their 17th straight season opener, 11-6, behind four different Maryland players each scoring a pair of goals. Grant Catalino led the way with six points on two goals and four assists. Brian Phipps made 12 saves to lead the Terrapin defense.

• The first meeting between the two clubs came in the 2007 season opener with the Terps taking an 11-6 victory at Maryland’s Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex. The game was the Terrapin debut for some highly touted freshmen and they did not disappoint. Long pole Brian Farrell scored twice in his college debut to go along with four groundballs. Goalie Brian Phipps was pressed into duty from the start due to injuries to Harry Alford and Jason Carter, but he responded with nine saves and three groundballs to pick up his first career victory. Overall, 11 different Terps registered points in the game, led by attackmen Michael Phipps and Max Ritz, who had three apiece.

Bernhardt, Murray Earn Annual ACC Awards
• Junior long pole Jesse Bernhardt and freshman defender Goran Murray were among the five student-athletes recognized as recipients of the annual ACC men’s lacrosse individual awards, the conference announced Tuesday.

• Bernhardt, a native of Longwood, Fla., shares the inaugural ACC Defensive Player of the Year award with Duke’s CJ Costabile. Bernhardt, who is also a 2012 Tewaaraton Trophy nominee, leads the Terps with 22 caused turnovers and leads the conference with 2.0 caused turnovers per game. He is also averaging 3.3 groundballs per game and is the captain of a Maryland defense that currently ranks seventh in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 7.45 goals per game.

• Murray, a native of Merion Station, Pa., becomes the seventh Terp to be named the ACC Freshman of the Year. He is the first since 2007 when Brian Phipps earned the honor and the first Maryland defender since Michael Howley won the honor. Murray was a long-pole midfielder coming into preseason practice, but was converted to close defense and has become Maryland’s shutdown defender. Murray has started all 11 games for the Terps and became the first freshman close defender to start a season opener since 2008. He currently ranks sixth in the conference with 1.1 caused turnovers per game.

• Virginia senior Steele Stanwick earned ACC Offensive Player of the Year honors, while Duke’s John Danowski was named the ACC Coach of the Year.

League-Best Four Terps Named To All-ACC Team
• Maryland placed a league-high four players on the 2012 All-ACC Men’s Lacrosse Team, which was announced today by the Atlantic Coast Conference. Senior attackman Joe Cummings and sophomore goalie Niko Amato made the team for the second-straight season, while junior long pole Jesse Bernhardt and junior midfielder John Haus are first-time selections.

• All four ACC men’s programs are represented on the annual All-ACC team, which was determined by a vote of the four head coaches. Maryland’s four honorees were the most by any school. Duke and Virginia each had three selections, while North Carolina had one player make the team.

WASHINGTON, April 25, 2012 – The Tewaaraton Foundation has announced the 2012 Tewaaraton Award men’s and women’s nominees, presented by Panama Jack. Twenty five women and 25 men were selected as nominees, from which the 12^th annual Tewaaraton Award 10 finailists (5 women, 5 men) will be selected and honored May 31, 2012, at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

 

The men’s award nominees include players from 20 schools, including 2011 winner Steele Stanwick (Virginia) and representatives from 18 of the current top 20 teams in the April 23 USILA Men’s Division I Poll. Salisbury University’s Sam Bradman the lone Division III representative. Five schools had two players nominated, including Johns Hopkins (Pierce Bassett, Tucker Durkin), Loyola (Scott Ratliff, Michael Sawyer), Princeton (Tyler Fiorito, Tom Schreiber), Massachusetts (Anthony Biscardi, Will Manny) and Virginia (Colin Briggs, Stanwick). Men’s nominees are as follows:

Pierce Bassett, Goalie – Johns Hopkins University

Peter Baum, Midfield – Colgate University

Jesse Bernhardt, LSM – University of Maryland

Anthony Biscardi, Midfield – University of Massachusetts

Sam Bradman, Midfield – Salisbury University

Colin Briggs, Midfield – University of Virginia

CJ Costabile, Long Stick Midfield – Duke University

Kevin Cunningham, Attack – Villanova University

Tucker Durkin, Defense – Johns Hopkins University

Billy Eisenreich, Attack – Bucknell University

Tyler Fiorito, Goalie – Princeton University

Marcus Holman, Attack/Midfield – University of North Carolina

Austin Kaut, Goalie – Penn State University

John Kemp, Goalie – University of Notre Dame

Roy Lang, Midfield – Cornell University

Will Manny, Attack – University of Massachusetts

Kiel Matisz, Midfield – Robert Morris University

Mark Matthews, Attack – University of Denver

Brian Megill, Defense – Syracuse University

Mason Poli, Defense – Bryant University

Scott Ratliff, LSM – Loyola University

Michael Sawyer, Attack – Loyola University

Tom Schreiber, Midfield – Princeton University

Steele Stanwick, Attack – University of Virginia

Garrett Thul, Attack – United States Military Academy

The women’s award nominees include players from 17 schools, including 2011 winner Shannon Smith (Northwestern) and representatives from 16 of the current top 20 teams in the April 24 IWLCA Division I Poll. Maryland (Kari Ellen Johnson, Iliana Sanza, Katie Schwarzmann) and North Carolina (Kara Cannizzaro, Becky Lynch, Laura Zimmerman) led all schools with three nominees each. Schwarzmann and Smith have been nominated for a second straight year.

Dana Cahill, Goalie – Penn State University

Kara Cannizzaro, Midfield – University of North Carolina

Ally Carey, Midfield – Vanderbilt University

Kitty Cullen, Attack – University of Florida

Brittany Dashiell, Midfield – University of Florida

Emma Hamm, Attack – Duke University

Kristin Igoe, Midfield – Boston College

Karri Ellen Johnson, Attack – University of Maryland

Becky Lynch, Attack – University of North Carolina

Alayna Markwordt, Attack – Ohio State University

Alyssa Murray, Attack – Syracuse University

Josie Owen, Attack – University of Virginia

Marlee Paton, Midfield – Loyola University

Sarah Plumb, Midfield – Dartmouth College

Iliana Sanza, Defense – University of Maryland

Katie Schwarzmann, Midfield – University of Maryland

Shannon Smith, Midfield – Northwestern University

Jessi Steinberg, Attack – Cormell University

Maggie Tamasitis, Attack – University of Notre Dame

Mary Teeters, Goalie – Towson University

Sophia Thomas, Midfield – Georgetown University

Taylor Thornton, Defense – Northwestern University

Michelle Tumolo, Attack – Syracuse University

Kim Wenger, Midfield – Duke University

Laura Zimmerman, Midfield – University of North Carolina

Five men’s and five women’s finalists will be announced May 10 and invited to the Tewaaraton Award Ceremony. The original men’s and women’s watch lists, were announced Feb. 15 with additions made March 20 and April 3 and were ultimately comprised of 82 men’s players and 57 women’s players.

“We congratulate these 50 elite student-athletes on their remarkable accomplishments thus far this season,” said Jeff Harvey, chairman of the Tewaaraton Foundation. “With the help of our selection committees, we look forward to announcing this year’s finalists next month.” The selection committees are comprised of 12 men’s and ten women’s current and former coaches.

For more information on the Tewaaraton Award, please visit www.tewaaraton.com. Like and follow The Tewaaraton Foundation at www.facebook.com/Tewaaraton and www.twitter.com/tewaaraton.

 

About The Tewaaraton Foundation

First presented in 2001, the Tewaaraton Award is recognized as the pre-eminent lacrosse award, annually honoring the top male and female college lacrosse player in the United States. Endorsed by the Mohawk Nation Council of Elders and US Lacrosse, the Tewaaraton Award symbolizes lacrosse’s centuries-old roots in Native American heritage. The Tewaaraton Foundation ensures the integrity and advances the mission of this award. Each year, the Tewaaraton Award celebrates one of the six tribal nations of the Iroquois Confederacy – the Mohawk, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca and Tuscarora – and presents two scholarships to students of Iroquois descent. To learn more about The Tewaaraton Foundation, please visit www.tewaaraton.com.

About Panama Jack

Panama Jack is an international company that has built a powerful brand and loyal following with product offerings synonymous with a carefree beach lifestyle. Its offerings include suncare products, sunglasses, beach apparel, sandals and shoes, hats, jewelry, and beach chairs and umbrellas. Panama Jack added home furnishings to its product offerings in 2011, introducing its Home Collection and Outdoor Collection that allow people to live the Panama Jack lifestyle at home. The company also launched branded luggage and beach-cruiser bicycles in 2010, as well as opening the first of several Panama Jack retail stores at top travel destinations. Founded in 1974, Panama Jack is based in Orlando, FL. To learn more, please visit www.panamajack.com.

COLLEGE PARK, MD. - The ninth-ranked Maryland men’s lacrosse team (7-4) travels to the northern end of Maryland to Emmitsburg to play at Mount St. Mary’s for the first time since 2008. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start on Wednesday, Arpil 25 at Waldron Family Stadium.

• Maryland (7-4, 1-2 ACC) is coming off of a hard-fought 6-5 loss to No. 3 Duke in the semifinals of the ACC tournament last Friday in Charlottesville, Va. The incredibly close game saw the Blue Devils take a two-goal lead early in the fourth quarter, but Joe Cummings scored with just over two minutes left to trim the lead to one. Maryland got off two shots on goal in the final seconds, but neither was able to find the net.

• For the season, Cummings leads the Terps in points, goals and assists with 30, 19 and 11, respectively. Six other Terps have totaled double-digit goals so far: Blye (14), Billy Gribbin (13), Michael Shakespeare (13), Jay Carlson (11), John Haus (11) and Drew Snider (11). Defensively, Niko Amato has stopped 57.9 percent of the shots put on goal by opponents and has a 6.94 goals-against average. Junior long pole Jesse Bernhardt leads the team 22 caused turnovers and is second on the squad with 39 groundballs.

• The Mount is 4-7 on the year after snapping a three-game losing skid with a 9-8 win over Sacred Heart last Saturday at home. This season Mount St. Mary’s is led by junior attackman Andrew Scalley, who has 37 points on 18 goals and 18 assists. Senior midfielder Bryant Schmidt is the team leader in goals with 23, one more than twin brother, attackman Brett, who has 22. Sophomore Chris Klaiber has started all 11 of the Mount’s 11 games in cage and has a .464 save percentage and an 11.22 goals-against average.

The Count Down
10 … Since 2002 Maryland has won 88 of the 96 games in which the Terps have scored 10 or more goals for a .916 winning percentage.
9 … Maryland is 106-24 in games since 2002 when it allows nine goals or less, for an .815 winning percentage.
8 … The Terps have scored double-digit goals in all eight games vs. the Mount.
7 … The Terps are ranked seventh in the current USILA poll and ninth in the current IL media poll.
6 … Six Terps have totaled at least 15 points so far in 2012.
5 … Joe Cummings has had five games this season with at least three points.
4 … Joe Cummings needs just four points to become just the 38th Terps to reach the 100-point mark.
3 … This will be just the third time Maryland has traveled to Emmitsburg to play Mount St. Mary’s.
2 … Two members of the current Terrapin program – fifth-year senior Drew Snider and volunteer coach Brian Phipps - played in the 2008 victory over the Mount.
1 … This will be the first game vs. Mount St. Mary’s as a head coach for Maryland’s John Tillman.

Coaching Match-Up
• John Tillman is in his fifth season as a head coach, and second with the Terps, with a 40-28 career record for a 58.8 winning percentage. Tillman is 20-9 (.690) as Maryland’s head coach. He had a 20-19 record in three seasons as the head coach at Harvard.

• The Mount’s Tom Gravante is in his 16th season as a head coach, all at Mount St. Mary’s, and has a 120-143 (.456) record.

Series History vs. Mount St. Mary’s
• Maryland has won all eight meetings against Mount St. Mary’s dating back to the first match-up in 1988. The Terps topped the Mount 19-8 in that first game. They followed that with a 21-2 win in 1989, an 18-7 victory in 1994, a 19-3 blowout in the 2000 season opener and a 12-4 win at Emmitsburg on April 24, 2001. Maryland picked up its last shutout on Feb. 26, 2002 with an 18-0 victory. Maryland won back-to-back games in 2007 and 2008. The Terps took an 18-3 home win over the Mount on March 20, 2007 and then defeated Mount St. Mary’s, 17-7, in a downpour at Waldron Family Stadium in 2008.

• Maryland’s freshman attack trio of Travis Reed (4-1), Grant Catalino (3-1) and Ryan Young (2-1) combined to total 12 points to lead the Terps to a 17-7 victory at a rain-soaked Waldon Family Stadium in 2008. Bryn Holmes won 9-of-10 faceoffs, caused two turnovers and picked up five groundballs.

• Maryland’s 18-3 victory in 2007 featured a seven-point effort by Michael Phipps on a hat trick and four assists. In total, 13 Terps scored goals in the win.

• The series took a five-year hiatus since these two teams met in 2002. That game marks the last time Maryland has shutout an opponent. The 18-0 victory was the program’s first shutout since 1970. Five Terps scored two or more goals in the victory. Leading the way was senior captain Mike Morsell, who had a career-day with seven points on four goals and three assists.

• The 2001 game was the first between the teams at the Mount. In that game, 2001 grads Chris Malone (3 goals, 1 assist) and Andrew “Buggs” Combs (3 goals) led the offense. Dan LaMonica and Mike Mollot each had two goals.

• Maryland has outscored Mount St. Mary’s 125-27 in the seven games, never allowing the Mount more than seven goals.

• Against teams from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Maryland is 9-0 all-time with seven wins coming against the Mount and one win each over Providence in 1999 and VMI in 1993..

Bernhardt, Murray Earn Annual ACC Awards
• Junior long pole Jesse Bernhardt and freshman defender Goran Murray were among the five student-athletes recognized as recipients of the annual ACC men’s lacrosse individual awards, the conference announced Tuesday.

• Bernhardt, a native of Longwood, Fla., shares the inaugural ACC Defensive Player of the Year award with Duke’s CJ Costabile. Bernhardt, who is also a 2012 Tewaaraton Trophy nominee, leads the Terps with 22 caused turnovers and leads the conference with 2.0 caused turnovers per game. He is also averaging 3.3 groundballs per game and is the captain of a Maryland defense that currently ranks seventh in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 7.45 goals per game.

• Murray, a native of Merion Station, Pa., becomes the seventh Terp to be named the ACC Freshman of the Year. He is the first since 2007 when Brian Phipps earned the honor and the first Maryland defender since Michael Howley won the honor. Murray was a long-pole midfielder coming into preseason practice, but was converted to close defense and has become Maryland’s shutdown defender. Murray has started all 11 games for the Terps and became the first freshman close defender to start a season opener since 2008. He currently ranks sixth in the conference with 1.1 caused turnovers per game.

• Virginia senior Steele Stanwick earned ACC Offensive Player of the Year honors, while Duke’s John Danowski was named the ACC Coach of the Year.

League-Best Four Terps Named To All-ACC Team
• Maryland placed a league-high four players on the 2012 All-ACC Men’s Lacrosse Team, which was announced today by the Atlantic Coast Conference. Senior attackman Joe Cummings and sophomore goalie Niko Amato made the team for the second-straight season, while junior long pole Jesse Bernhardt and junior midfielder John Haus are first-time selections.

• All four ACC men’s programs are represented on the annual All-ACC team, which was determined by a vote of the four head coaches. Maryland’s four honorees were the most by any school. Duke and Virginia each had three selections, while North Carolina had one player make the team.

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 family last season with the passing of Maria Young on April 17.

• 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.

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 88 of the 97 games in which the Terps have scored 10 or more goals for a .916 winning percentage.

• Maryland scored 10, but fell at North Carolina, 11-10, on March 24, 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 91.6 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 106-24 in games, for a .815 winning percentage, when it has held opponents under 10 goals. The Terps have played 171 total games since 2002. Maryland has held opponents to nine goals or less 75.6 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 7-4 on the year and has shot 30% or better in six of the seven victories. The lone win the Terps have without shooting 30% or better is the 13-6 win over Navy when Maryland took 52 shots.

Hartford: 12 goals, 40 shots = 30%
at Georgetown: 16 goals, 41 shots = 39.0%
Duke: 10 goals, 28 shots = 35.7%
at UMBC: 7 goals, 30 shots = 23.3%
Marist: 17 goals, 43 shots = 39.5%
Villanova: 11 goals, 31 shots = 35.5%
at North Carolina: 10 goals, 35 shots = 28.6%
Virginia: 8 goals, 32 shots = 25%
Navy: 13 goals, 52 shots = 25%
at Johns Hopkins: 9 goals, 28 shots = 32.1%
vs. Duke: 5 goals, 31 shots = 16.1%

• Since 2005 the Terps are a remarkable 51-3 (.944) when shooting 30% or better in a game. The first game Maryland lost during that stretch was a 13-10 decision to Georgetown in 2009 (the Terps shot 10 of 30 for 33.3% vs. the Hoyas). The second loss came in 2010 in the controversial 11-10 loss to No. 1 Virginia on April 3. The Terps shot 10 of 33 for 30.3%. The most recent came on April 16, 2011 in a 12-11 overtime loss to No. 3 Johns Hopkins.

Fast Starts
• Since 2002 only nine players (for a total of 14 times) have totaled 30 points or more in the first 11 games of a season. Only one of those is on the 2012 team.

• Joe Cummings has been a consistent threat during his tenure as a Terp, but since moving to his natural position of attack this season he has been an even more potent point producer. Through nine games Cummings has 30 points on 19 goals and 11 assists. Last year as a midfielder he had 25 points on 24 goals and one assist through 11 games.

Youth Is Served
• Maryland started two sophomores (Michael Ehrhardt and Brian Cooper) and a freshman (Goran Murray) at close defense in the 2012 season-opening win over Hartford. The last time Maryland’s defense had two sophomore and one freshman starting was 2005 when sophomores Steve Whittenberg and Ray Megill started alongside freshman Joe Cinosky. The first game that group started together was April 23, 2005 at Fairfield (a 9-6 Terrapin win).

• Goran Murray became the first Maryland freshman to start at close defense in a season opener since 2008 when Max Schmidt started in an 11-6 win at Georgetown.

Face-Off Firsts
• Junior Curtis Holmes’ 19-of-20 (.950) performance facing-off vs. Hartford in the 2012 season opener is just the fifth time since 2000 that a Maryland face-off man has won at least 90% of his draws with at least 10 attempts.

• Holmes joins Andy Claxton and Brian Haggerty as the only Terps with multiple games of 19 or more face-off wins. Claxton did it three times (27 at Towson in 1991, 21 vs. Duke in 1991 and 19 at Brown in 1991), while Haggerty did it twice (20 vs. Butler in 1998 and 19 vs. Virginia in 1998). Holmes had 20 wins vs. Georgetown last season to go along with his 19 vs. the Hawks, which makes him the only Terp to win 19 or more face-offs in different seasons.

• The last 90% performance was in 2008 when Bryn Holmes, Curtis’ older brother, won 9-of-10 face-offs at Mount St. Mary’s.

• The last time a Terp faced-off with a winning percentage above 90% was on March 21, 2006 when David Tamberrino won 12-of-13 in a 14-2 win over Dartmouth.

Best Face-Off Performances Since 2000
Curtis Holmes - 19/20 (.950) vs. Hartford 2/18/12
Brian Carroll - 12/13 (.923) at Delaware 3/17/01
Davin Tamberrino – 12/13 (.923) vs. Dartmouth 3/21/06
Jeremy Pastula - 11/12 (.917) at Towson 3/8/03
Bryn Holmes - 9/10 (.900) at Mount St. Mary’s 2/26/08
Bryn Holmes - 12/14 (.857) vs. Presbyterian 2/13/09
Brian Carroll - 11/13 (.846) vs. Mount St. Mary’s 2/26/02
Bryn Holmes - 11/13 (.846) vs. Air Force 2/14/09
Ryan Moran - 10/12 (.833) vs. Bucknell 3/11/03
Will Dalton - 18/22 (.818) vs. Vermont 2/20/07
Curtis Holmes - 17/21 (.810) vs. Detroit Mercy 2/19/11

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’ 87th Season Of Lacrosse
• The Terps boast an all-time record of 735-251-4 (.746), 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 85 seasons with a .500 or better record, including last season when the Terps went 10-6. 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.

The Terps On ESPNU
• Maryland has had 42 games on ESPNU since 2006. Maryland is 23-19 (.548) all-time in games broadcast on ESPNU.

• The Terps will have at least four games (at UNC, vs. Virginia, at Johns Hopkis, at ACC tournament) Maryland will play on ESPNU in 2012.

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 35-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 64-76 (.457) 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.

First-Time Opponents
• Maryland has played 78 different opponents in its 87 seasons. The 2012 season added Hartford (a 12-6 win on 2/18) and will add Marist (3/10) to that list. In the Terps’ 78 first-time meetings Maryland is 74-4 (.949) in those games. Adelphi (12-13, 1982), Army (0-3, 1923), Syracuse (3-10, 1927) and Yale (3-5, 1925) are the only schools to beat the Terps the first time the schools met on a lacrosse field.

Maryland In Season Openers
• Maryland has a 83-3-1 (.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.)

19 Straight in Season Openers
• After beating Hartford to open the 2012 season the Terps have an 19-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, Air Force, Hobart, Duke, Georgetown (four times), Bellarmine (twice), Presbyterian, Detroit Mercy and Hartford. Over the 19-year stretch, Maryland outscored its foes 267-99 (an average score of 14.1-5.2) in those games.

• The Terps have not allowed more than seven goals to any opponent in a season opener over the last 18 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.

Consecutive 10-Win Seasons
• The 11-9 victory over Duke on April 24, 2011 was the 10th of the year for Maryland, giving it nine straight seasons with double-digit wins. (Special thanks to Patrick Stevens of the D1Scourse.com).

• How does that stack up against the rest of the college lacrosse programs? Take a look at programs with at least five-straight 10-win seasons:
Maryland (9): 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 (10-3), 2011 (13-5), 2010 (16-2), 2009 (14-2), 2008 (14-4), 2007 (12-4), 2006 (17-0), 2005 (11-4)
Cornell (7): 2011 (12-3), 2010 (12-6), 2009 (11-3), 2008 (11-4), 2007 (15-1), 2006 (11-3), 2005 (11-3)
Notre Dame (7): 2012 (10-1), 2011 (11-3), 2010 (10-7), 2009 (15-1), 2008 (14-3), 2007 (11-4), 2006 (10-5)
Duke (6): 2012 (13-3), 2011 (14-6), 2010 (16-4), 2009 (15-4), 2008 (18-2), 2007 ( 17-3)
Siena (5): 2011 (13-5), 2010 (12-5), 2009 (12-6), 2008 (10-6), 2007 (10-6)

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
Justin & Owen Blye: 2009-10-11
Brian & Kevin Cooper: 2011-12
Billy & Bobby Gribbin: 2012
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

The Game: Sixth-ranked Johns Hopkins (9-2) makes the short trip to Annapolis to take on Navy (5-6) in the 86th meeting between the two teams.

Last Time Out: Johns Hopkins and Navy are both looking to bounce back from identical 9-6 defeats in rivalry games last week. Hopkins fell to Maryland at Homewood Field, while the Midshipmen lost to Army in two of the most storied rivalries in college lacrosse.

Series History: Johns Hopkins and Navy are meeting for the 86th time in a series that dates to a 6-1 Johns Hopkins win in 1908. Johns Hopkins won last season’s meeting, 14-5, at Homewood Field, and has won 37 of the last 38 meetings. Navy grabbed a 9-8 overtime victory in 2010 when JHU last visited Navy Marine Corps Stadium. A complete series review can be found at the back of this week’s note packet.

These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters this week’s game against Navy with an all-time record of 921-296-15 (.754). The Blue Jays own nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 44 national championships.

A Win For Johns Hopkins Would …
• Give the Blue Jays 10 wins for the ninth time in 12 seasons under head coach Dave Pietramala.
• Give JHU 10 wins for the 33rd time in school hsitory.
• Be the 12 for JHU in 13 games against Navy since Dave Pietramala took over in 2001.
• Improve JHU’s record to 56-5 against teams from the state of Maryland since Dave Pietramala took over in 2001.
• Improve Johns Hopkins’ reocrd to 50-9 in games played in April under Dave Pietramala.

Career Win Number 150: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala picked up career win number 150 with the 12-6 victory vs. Towson in the season opener. He now sports an all-time record of 158-60 (.725), including a 135-43 (.758) record at Johns Hopkins. He 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.

Representing the Stars and Stripes: 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.

About the Start: Although Johns Hopkins had its eight-game season-opening winning streak snapped with the loss to North Carolina on April 1, good things could be in store for the Blue Jays down the road. Since 1977 the Blue Jays have opened a season with eight straight wins seven times (including this season). JHU has won the national championship three times in the previous six years, made two other trips to the title game and advanced to the NCAA semifinals the other year.

April Reign: Flipping the calendar to April has usually been a good sign for the Blue Jays, who are 49-9 (.845) under head coach Dave Pietramala in games played in April. JHU is 28-4 at home, 19-3 on the road and 2-2 on a neutral field in April under Pietramala’s guidance.

Marching Orders: Johns Hopkins closed out the March portion of its 2012 schedule at Virginia on March 24. The Blue Jays posted their first perfect record in the month of March (5-0) since 2005, when they also won all five of their games played in the month. Since 1972, JHU has posted a perfect record in the month of March 15 times (not including this season). In six of those years the Blue Jays went on to win the national championship and in seven other instances JHU finished as national runner-up.

Streaking – Part 1: In case you didn’t notice, Johns Hopkins is 17-3 in its last 20 games, 22-5 since the start of the 2011 season and 24-7 in its last 31 games.

Streaking – Part 2: Johns Hopkins is 110-31 (.780) in its last 141 regular season games dating back to the end of the 2001 season and 127-39 (.765) overall since the start of the 2002 season.

13-Win Seasons: With a 13-3 record last season, Johns Hopkins reached the 13-win mark for the fifth time under head coach Dave Pietramala and the 12th time in school history.

Balancing Act: Johns Hopkins has employed virtually the same first and second midfield units throughout the first 11 games and those units have proven to be steady in terms of production. JHU’s first unit of Rob Guida (13), John Ranagan (13) and John Greeley (7) has combined for 33 goals, while the second unit of Lee Coppersmith (12), Mark Goodrich (6) and Greg Edmonds (3) has 21 goals to its credit.
The major difference between the two groups has been with assists. The unit of Guida, Ranagan and Greeley has combined for 19 assists. Edmonds’ assist against North Carolina was the first assist of the season from the trio on the second midfield, which now has two assists to its credit.

Attack Oriented: Despite being forced to start five different players in three different combinations, the starting attack units the Blue Jays have trotted out have been effective and efficient. The unit has combined for 53 goals and 37 assists (8.2 points per game) through 11 games Last week’s starting unit of Chris Boland (1g, 1a), Zach Palmer (0g, 0a) and Brandan Benn (1g) combined to produce a season-low three points against Maryland.

On the Flip Side: While the Blue Jay attack is collectively averaging more than eight points per game, the Blue Jay defense has not been nearly as giving. In fact, the starting attack units Johns Hopkins has faced this season have totaled just 37 goals and 21 assists (5.3 points per game).

Bassett Now 22-5 in Last 27 Starts: Junior goalie Pierce Bassett picked up his 25th career victory in goal with the 17-6 win vs. Albany as he posted 11 saves in just over 55 minutes of action. Including the win over the Great Danes and last week’s loss to Maryland, he is 22-5 in his last 27 starts dating back to the start of the 2011 season and counts a 25-9 career record to his credit.
Through 11 games Bassett currently ranks fifth in the nation in goals against average (6.91) and 13th in save percentage (.560).
Bassett concluded his first full season as the starter for the Blue Jays last season and posted a 7.07 goals against average and a .570 save percentage. He finished fifth in the nation in GAA and 10th in save percentage. Bassett’s 7.07 goals against average is the second best by a JHU goalie since 1993 (Jesse Schwartman’s 6.68 GAA in 2005 is the best since records became available in ‘93).

Boland Returns: Senior attackman Chris Boland returned to the lineup against North Carolina after missing seven consecutive games with an injury he suffered 35 minutes into the season opener against Towson. Boland scored twice and dished out a pair of assists against the Tar Heels and came back with a three-goal, two-assist showing against Albany and a one-goal, one-assist effort against Maryland to push his season totals to 10 goals and five assists in just four games. He will carry 13-game goal and point-scoring streaks into this week’s game at Navy.
Boland pushed his career totals to 76 goals and 43 assists for 119 points with his one goal and one assist vs. Maryland. He has 10 career hat tricks, 28 career multi-point games and 18 games with four points or more.

Stanwick in Rare Company: Freshman Wells Stanwick was held scoreless for the first time in his career in last week’s 9-6 loss to Maryland. He had previously run his streak of consecutive multi-point games to seven with one goal and two assists in the win over Albany. His run of seven straight multi-point games to open his career is the longest by a Johns Hopkins player (freshmen only – not transfers) since all-time leading scorer Terry Riordan opened his career with 18 consecutive multi-point games from 1992-93.
Stanwick has six goals and 13 assists for 19 points in eight games played. He missed three games early in the season with an injury, but still ranks second on the team in assists and fourth in points.

Jumping Right In: Junior John Kaestner had played in 12 career games and hadn’t so much as taken a shot before getting the starting nod at Princeton with freshman Wells Stanwick out. No worries, all Kaestner did was stick the first two goals of his career during a 4-1 fourth-quarter run that fueled JHU’s 10-8 win. He came back with one goal and one assist in the win vs. Manhattan and duplicated that effort in the win over UMBC.

Offensive Notes of Interest: Below are several notes of interest about the JHU offense:
• JHU has scored at least one goal in 41 of 44 quarters this season and two or more in 35 of the 44 quarters.
• For all the talk about JHU being a slow down team, the Blue Jays are averaging 36.0 shots per game. That number compares favorably to JHU’s averages in 2005 (38.1) and 2007 (36.3) – the most recent years in which Johns Hopkins won the national championship.
• Johns Hopkins ranks 22nd in the nation in scoring offense (10.55), 12th in extra-man offense (.447) and eighth in scoring margin (+3.73).

Defensive Notes of Interest: Below are several notes of interest about the JHU defense:
• Hopkins is surrending an average of just 29.5 shots per game.
• JHU has held the opposition scoreless in 13 of 44 quarters this season (29.5%).
• The Blue Jays rank fourth in the nation in scoring defense (6.82), 26th in man-down defense (.697) and eighth in scoring margin (+3.73) this season.
• Johns Hopkins has held each of its 11 opponents scoreless for a stretch of at least 14:25 and nine of the 11 have gone scoreless for 19:30 or longer.

Now That’s a Drought: The Johns Hopkins defense did not allow an even-strength goal for an amazing stretch of 116:37 from late in the win at Princeton through early in the fourth quarter of the win over UMBC. The Retrievers did score a pair of extra-man goals in the first half, but the first six-on-six goal they scored came 34 seconds into the fourth quarter.

About the Shutout: Shutouts in college lacrosse are rare, but JHU notched one with the 11-0 victory over Manhattan on March 6. Prior to that, the Blue Jays had last posted a shutout on March 26, 1988, when they knocked off Princeton, 9-0. The shutout vs. Manhattan was the 61st in JHU history with 57 of those coming prior to 1950.

Poll Position: The Blue Jays check in at number six in the USILA Coaches Poll and seventh in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll this week. 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 393 weekly polls since the inception of the poll in 1973. Amazingly, JHU has been ranked in the top 20 in 391 of those 393 polls. The Blue Jays have been in the top 10 in 370 of the 393 and the top five in 295 of those 393. Johns Hopkins has been ranked number one 104 times since the poll debuted in 1973.

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 wins this season vs. Towson and UMBC and last week’s loss to Maryland, JHU is 55-5 (.917) against teams from Maryland under head coach Dave Pietramala.

Noting JHU in the NCAA Tournament: Johns Hopkins made its 40th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament last season. By comparison, the next six longest active streaks of qualifying for the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament add up to exactly 40 consecutive appearances (Maryland-9, Cornell-8, Virginia-7, Notre Dame-6, Duke-5, North Carolina-5).

First to 900: Johns Hopkins’ 10-6 win at Towson in the 2011 season opener not only got the season off on the right foot for the Blue Jays, but also made history. The win was the 900th all-time in school history, making Johns Hopkins the first program to record 900 all-time wins. JHU now has 921 all-time wins.

That’s 625 Games Over .500: The Blue Jays’ all-time record is now 921-296-15 (.754) … that’s 625 games over .500. To put this in perspective: JHU has played an average of just over 15 games per season under head coach Dave Pietramala. Using a 15-game season as a reference, if the Blue Jays posted a 5-10 record for 125 straight seasons, they would still be five games over .500.

COLLEGE PARK, MD. - Head coach John Tillman leads the Maryland men’s lacrosse team into the 2012 ACC Men’s Lacrosse Tournament as the No. 4 seed. The Terps will take on No. 1 seed Duke in the first game of the semifinal doubleheader at 5 p.m at Klöckner Stadium in Charlottesville, Va. The second semifinal game features No. 2 seed Virginia battling No. 3 seed North Carolina at 7:30 p.m. The winners of the two games will meet in the finals on Sunday, April 22, at 3 p.m.

• Maryland (7-3, 1-2 ACC) is coming off of an 9-6 come-from-behind win at then-No. 3 Johns Hopkins last Saturday at a soldout Homewood Field. Maryland trailed by three goals less than a minute into the third quarter, but the Terrapin defense didn’t surrender a goal to the Blue Jays over the final 29:17. That allowed the Maryland offense to stage a comeback, which was led by Owen Blye, who tallied all four of his goals in the decisive 6-0 scoring run. Kevin Cooper was the only other Terp with multiple points with three on two goals and an assist.

• For the season, Joe Cummings leads the Terps in points, goals and assists with 28, 17 and 11, respectively. Six other Terps have totaled double-digit goals so far: Blye (14), Billy Gribbin (13), Michael Shakespeare (13), Jay Carlson (11) and John Haus (10) Defensively, Amato has stopped 58.6 percent of the shots put on goal by opponents and has a 7.15 goals-against average. Junior long pole Jesse Bernhardt leads the team with 37 groundballs and 18 caused turnovers.

• The Blue Devils are 11-3 on the year and have won their last eight games after dropping back-to-back decisions at Maryland and Loyola in early March. This season Duke is led by sophomore attackman Jordan Wolf, who has 50 points on 26 goals and 24 assists. Junior Dan Wigrizer has started nine of the Blue Devils’ 14 games in cage, including the last six, and has a .547 save percentage and an 8.68 goals-against average.

The Count Down
10 … Since 2002 Maryland has won 88 of the 96 games in which the Terps have scored 10 or more goals for a .916 winning percentage.
9 … Maryland is 106-23 in games since 2002 when it allows nine goals or less, for an .822 winning percentage.
8 … This will be the eighth meeting between the Terps and the Blue Devils in the ACC tournament semifinals.
7 … The Terps are ranked seventh in the nation in scoring defense, surrendering just 7.6 goals per game.
6 … The Terps have shot 30% or better in six of their seven wins in 2012.
5 … John Haus has five goals in ACC tournament play.
4 … In four career games vs. the Blue Devils, Niko Amato has a .655 save percentage.
3 … Three Terps (Joe Cummings, John Haus & Drew Snider) have at least four career goals vs. Duke.
2 … Maryland has played in the last two ACC tournament championship games.
1 … This will be the first time Maryland and Duke have met in the semifinals of the ACC tournament since 2004.

Coaching Match-Up
• John Tillman is in his fifth season as a head coach, and second with the Terps, with a 40-27 career record for a 59.7 winning percentage. Tillman is 20-8 (.714) as Maryland’s head coach. He had a 20-19 record in three seasons as the head coach at Harvard.

• Duke’s John Danowski is in his 30th season as a head coach and holds an all-time record of 310-161 (.658). He is in his sixth season at Duke and has a 91-22 (.805) record with the Blue Devils.

• Tillman has a 5-3 career record against Duke while coaching at Maryland and Harvard, all against Danowski. His first win vs. the Blue Devils came in the 2009 season opener at Harvard. The Crimson upset No. 5 Duke, 9-6, at Koskinen Stadium in Durham. Since becoming the Terps’ head coach, Maryland has defeated Duke, 11-9, in the ACC championship game at Koskinen Stadium, 9-4, in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament in M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore and then again in the 2012 regular season, 10-7, in College Park.

Series History vs. Duke
• Maryland and Duke have played 78 times. The Terps hold a 59-19 edge (.756) in the series that dates back to 1940. Maryland’s 58 wins against the Blue Devils are the most against any opponent.

• The Terps raced out to a 4-0 lead halfway through the first quarter and coasted to a 10-7 victory over No. 8 Duke at Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium. Drew Snider led the Maryland offense with a hat trick. Niko Amato was spectacular in cage, making nine of his 14 saves in the fourth quarter.

• The stakes were much higher in the 2011 rubber match as unseeded Maryland defeated No. 5 seed Duke, 9-4, in a tough, physical game in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Grant Catalino led the offensive attack for the Terps with three goals, while Joe Cummings added two goals and an assist. The Terrapin defense was terrific in holding the Blue Devils to just four goals with Niko Amato making 13 saves to send the Terps to their first NCAA title-game appearance since 1998.

• The 2011 rematch took place again at Duke’s Koskinen Stadium, but this time the stakes were a bit higher – the ACC championship. This time it was the Terps coming away with an 11-9 victory to take its first conference crown since 2005. Ryan Young scored the first game-winning goal of his career when he jumped in the air to redirect a John Haus pass from behind the cage. Grant Catalino earned tournament MVP honors after scoring three goals vs. the Blue Devils in the title game.

• For the second time in two years the Terps and the Blue Devils needed overtime to decide things, but in 2011 in Durham it was Duke that pulled out a 9-8 victory on freshman Jordan Wolf’s game-winning goal 1:01 into the first OT. The Blue Devils held a 7-4 lead at the start of the fourth quarter, but four-straight goals by Landon Carr, Michael Shakespeare, Joe Cummings and John Haus, who finished with three goals in the game, gave Maryland a one-goal lead with 3:48 to go. Maryland appeared to have the game wrapped up in the final seconds when Carr forced a Blue Devil turnover, but a controversial holding call gave Duke another chance and Zach Howell scored with 0:03 left to send the game into overtime. Both goalies were sensational in the game with Maryland’s Niko Amato making 19 saves and Duke’s Dan Wigrizer stopped 17 shots.

• The 2010 meeting will go down as one of the most memorable in the series as the Terps pulled out an 11-10 overtime victory at the 2010 Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic in Baltimore. Grant Catalino was the star of the game for the Terps, netting a career-best five goals, including the game-winner. Duke scored the final three goals of regulation to send the game into OT and then controlled possession for all but eight seconds of overtime, but that’s all the Terps needed for Bryn Holmes to cause a turnover, Brian Farrell to scoop a groundball and Dean Hart to push the transition and find Catalino on the left wing for the game-winning shot. Senior goalie Brian Phipps made 15 saves in the win.

• Maryland won an 11-8 decision over the Blue Devils at the 2009 Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic in Baltimore. Jeff Reynolds was the key factor for the Terps in the victory. He scored a goal and had an assist, but he won three key face-offs that led directly to goals that spurred Maryland onto the win. Grant Catalino had six points on two goals and four assists, while Ryan Young had five points on a pair of scores and three helpers.

• In 2008 the Blue Devils defeated the Terps, 15-7, in Durham, N.C. Travis Reed totaled three goals for the Terps in the defeat.

• The 2007 meeting was the first road game for the Blue Devils since their 2006 season was cancelled. Duke responded with a 14-7 victory behind a six-goal, seven-point effort from Matt Danowski. Max Ritz led the Terps in the game with a three-point effort on two goals and an assist.

• The 2006 season saw the rivalry escalate even more as the teams entered the game ranked first and second in the nation. The game more than lived up to the hype as the two squads battled and needed overtime to decide the victor. In that overtime, Xander Ritz sent the Terps home with the 8-7 win after scoring his fifth goal of the game with 1:14 remaining in the first extra period.

• In 2005 the two teams played three times with the Blue Devils winning two of the three games. It was the second time in the series the two squads played three times in a season. In 1992 the two teams played in early March, again in the ACC Tournament and in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Maryland won all three games that season.

• In the 2005 NCAA Semifinals, Duke ended Maryland’s season with a 18-9 defeat at Lincoln Financial Field. Bill McGlone gave the Terps a 1-0 lead, but the Blue Devils responded with nine unanswered goals and took a 10-3 lead into halftime. Joe Walters scored three times in the third quarter, but Maryland could not close the deficit.

• In 2005′s ACC Final, Maryland turned in its finest defensive effort of the year. The Terps held Duke, the nation’s highest scoring offense, scoreless for more than 40 minutes en route to a 9-5 victory at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on May 1. ACC Tournament MVP Harry Alford made 15 saves on the afternoon, while freshman Will Dalton helped the Terps control the ball on face-offs, winning 7-of-10 draws. Offensively Maryland was led by All-American Joe Walters who scored his second straight hat trick vs. the Blue Devils, while adding an assist. Freshman attackman Max Ritz also chipped in a pair for goals in the victory.

• The 2005 regular season game saw Maryland dominate Duke at the Maryland Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex, but the Blue Devils found a way to get out of College Park with a 10-8 victory. All-American Joe Walters scored a hat trick for the Terps, but Duke outscored Maryland 6-3 in the second half to secure the win. Michael Phipps scored two goals and added an assist for his second career three-point game.

• The Terps dominated the series from 1955 through 1988, winning all 27 meetings.

• The teams have met four times in the NCAA Tournament with Maryland winning 13-11 in 1992, Duke retaliating 14-9 in 1994, and the Blue Devils taking the 2005 match-up 18-9. Maryland took the most recent NCAA meeting, 9-4, in the 2011 Final Four in Baltimore.

Maryland vs. Duke In The ACC Tournament
• This will be the 11th all-time meeting between the Terrapins and the Blue Devils in the ACC tournament. Each team enters this season’s game with five victories.

• Maryland and Duke met in the semifinals in the very first ACC tournament in 1989 with the Blue Devils edging the Terps, 7-6, in Chapel Hill. The two teams didn’t meet again in the tourney until 1992, when the Terrapins evened things with an 8-6 victory at home in the semis.

• The 1997 semis saw the Blue Devils win, 17-10, in the highest scoring tournament game between the two schools.

• The two teams played each other in six-straight tournaments from 2000-05. During that span, each team won three times, including one victory each in the championship game (Duke in 2001 and Maryland in 2005).

• After that six-year run, Maryland and Duke did not meet again in the tournament until last season when the Terps defeated the Blue Devils on their home field, 11-9, to claim their first ACC title since 2005.

League-Best Four Terps Named To All-ACC Team
• Maryland placed a league-high four players on the 2012 All-ACC Men’s Lacrosse Team, which was announced today by the Atlantic Coast Conference. Senior attackman Joe Cummings and sophomore goalie Niko Amato made the team for the second-straight season, while junior long pole Jesse Bernhardt and junior midfielder John Haus are first-time selections.

• All four ACC men’s programs are represented on the annual All-ACC team, which was determined by a vote of the four head coaches. Maryland’s four honorees were the most by any school. Duke and Virginia each had three selections, while North Carolina had one player make the team.

The Terps On ESPNU
• Maryland has had 41 games on ESPNU since 2006. Maryland is 23-18 (.561) all-time in games broadcast on ESPNU.

• The Terps will have at least four games (at UNC, vs. Virginia, at Johns Hopkis, at ACC tournament) Maryland will play on ESPNU in 2012.

The Game: Third-ranked Johns Hopkins (9-1) plays host to the greatest rivalry in college lacrosse as the Blue Jays welcome ninth-ranked Maryland (6-3) to Homewood Field.

Last Time Out: Johns Hopkins and Maryland both got back on the winning side of things with wins last week. Hopkins bounced back from a loss to North Carolina with a 17-6 win over Albany last Thursday, while Maryland ended a two-game slide with a 13-6 victory over Navy last Friday night in College Park.

Series History: Johns Hopkins and Maryland are meeting for the 108th time in a series that dates to a 10-0 Johns Hopkins victory in 1895. The Blue Jays hold a commanding 68-38-1 advantage against the Terps and have won 10 of the last 13 meetings A complete series review can be found at the back of this week’s note packet.

These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters this week’s game against Maryland with an all-time record of 921-295-15 (.754). The Blue Jays own nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 44 national championships.

A Win For Johns Hopkins Would …
• Give the Blue Jays 10 wins for the ninth time in 12 seasons under head coach Dave Pietramala.
• Give JHU 10 wins for the 33rd time in school hsitory.
• Improve JHU’s home winning streak to 13 games.
• Improve head coach Dave Pietramala’s overall record to 100 games over .500. He is currently 158-59.
• Be the ninth for JHU in 12 games against Maryland since Dave Pietramala took over in 2001.
• Improve JHU’s record to 56-4 against teams from the state of Maryland since Dave Pietramala took over in 2001.
• Improve Johns Hopkins’ reocrd to 50-8 in games played in April under Dave Pietramala.

Career Win Number 150: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala picked up career win number 150 with the 12-6 victory vs. Towson in the season opener. He now sports an all-time record of 158-59 (.728), including a 135-42 (.763) record at Johns Hopkins. He 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.

About the Start: Although Johns Hopkins had its eight-game season-opening winning streak snapped with the loss to North Carolina on April 1, good things could be in store for the Blue Jays down the road. Since 1977 the Blue Jays have opened a season with eight straight wins seven times (including this season). JHU has won the national championship three times in the previous six years, made two other trips to the title game and advanced to the NCAA semifinals the other year.

April Reign: Flipping the calendar to April has usually been a good sign for the Blue Jays, who are 49-8 (.860) under head coach Dave Pietramala in games played in April. JHU is 28-3 at home, 19-3 on the road and 2-2 on a neutral field in April under Pietramala’s guidance.

Marching Orders: Johns Hopkins closed out the March portion of its 2012 schedule at Virginia on March 24. The Blue Jays posted their first perfect record in the month of March (5-0) since 2005, when they also won all five of their games played in the month. Since 1972, JHU has posted a perfect record in the month of March 15 times (not including this season). In six of those years the Blue Jays went on to win the national championship and in seven other instances JHU finished as national runner-up.

Streaking – Part 1: In case you didn’t notice, Johns Hopkins is 17-2 in its last 19 games, 22-4 since the start of the 2011 season and 24-6 in its last 30 games.

Streaking – Part 2: Johns Hopkins is 110-30 (.786) in its last 140 regular season games dating back to the end of the 2001 season and 127-38 (.770) overall since the start of the 2002 season.

13-Win Seasons: With a 13-3 record last season, Johns Hopkins reached the 13-win mark for the fifth time under head coach Dave Pietramala and the 12th time in school history.

Home Cookin’: Johns Hopkins ran its home winning streak to 12 games with the 17-6 win over Albany on April 1. The streak is the second-longest under head coach Dave Pietramala, who picked up his 75th career victory at Homewood Field with the win earlier this season against Delaware. Hopkins sports a gaudy 79-12 (.869) record in home games during his career at JHU. JHU won a school and national-record 37 straight home games from 2001-06 under Pietramala’s guidance and the current 12-game home winning streak is the fourth home streak of seven wins or more since he arrived.

More Home Cookin’: In addition to boasting the second-longest home winning streak of the Dave Pietramala era, Johns Hopkins’ current 12-game winning streak at Homewood Field is also the second longest active home winning streak in the nation. Only Cornell, which has won 14 straight at Schoellkopf Field, has a longer current streak in the home whites than Johns Hopkins. Johns Hopkins’ win at Virginia on March 24 snapped UVA’s 14-game home winning streak, which had stood as the longest in the nation.

Striking the First Blow: Johns Hopkins scored on its first shot of the game seven times in 2011 and has already turned the trick four times this season. JHU has scored on its first shot of the game four times and its second shot of the game four times as well this season. Johns Hopkins has failed to score on one of its first two shots twice this season – against Manhattan and Virginia. In both of those games, the Blue Jays scored on their fourth shot.

Balancing Act: Johns Hopkins has employed virtually the same first and second midfield units throughout the first 10 games and those units have proven to be steady in terms of production. JHU’s first unit of Rob Guida (12), John Ranagan (12) and John Greeley (7) has combined for 31 goals, while the second unit of Lee Coppersmith (11), Mark Goodrich (6) and Greg Edmonds (2) has 19 goals to its credit. The major difference between the two groups has been with assists. The unit of Guida, Ranagan and Greeley has combined for 16 assists. Edmonds’ assist against North Carolina was the first assist of the season from the trio on the second midfield, which now has two assists to its credit.

Attack Oriented: Despite being forced to start five different players in three different combinations, the starting attack units the Blue Jays have trotted out have been effective and efficient. The unit has combined for 51 goals and 36 assists (8.7 points per game) through 10 games.

On the Flip Side: While the Blue Jay attack is collectively averaging more than eight points per game, the Blue Jay defense has not been nearly as giving. In fact, the starting attack units Johns Hopkins has faced this season have totaled just 32 goals and 20 assists (5.2 points per game).

Bassett Now 22-4 in Last 26 Starts: Junior goalie Pierce Bassett picked up his 25th career victory in goal with the 17-6 win vs. Albany as he posted 11 saves in just over 55 minutes of action. Including the win over the Great Danes he is 22-4 in his last 26 starts dating back to the start of the 2011 season and counts a 25-8 career record to his credit. Through 10 games Bassett currently ranks fourth in the nation in goals against average (6.69) and 10th in save percentage (.578). Bassett concluded his first full season as the starter for the Blue Jays last season and posted a 7.07 goals against average and a .570 save percentage. He finished fifth in the nation in GAA and 10th in save percentage. Bassett’s 7.07 goals against average is the second best by a JHU goalie since 1993 (Jesse Schwartman’s 6.68 GAA in 2005 is the best since records became available in ‘93).

Boland Returns: Senior attackman Chris Boland returned to the lineup against North Carolina after missing seven consecutive games with an injury he suffered 35 minutes into the season opener against Towson. Boland scored twice and dished out a pair of assists against the Tar Heels and came back with a three-goal, two-assist showing against Albany to push his season totals to nine goals and four assists in just three games. Boland’s three-goal, two-assist showing vs. Albany pushed his career totals to 75 goals and 42 assists for 117 points. It was also his 10th career hat trick, 27th career multi-point game and 18th game with four points or more.

Stanwick in Rare Company: Freshman Wells Stanwick ran his streak of consecutive multi-point games to seven with one goal and two assists in the win over Albany. His run of seven straight multi-point games to open his career is the longest by a Johns Hopkins player (freshmen only – not transfers) since all-time leading scorer Terry Riordan opened his career with 18 consecutive multi-point games from 1992-93. Stanwick has six goals and 13 assists for 19 points in seven games played. He missed three games early in the season with an injury, but is still tied for third on the team in scoring and ranks second in assists.

Jumping Right In: Junior John Kaestner had played in 12 career games and hadn’t so much as taken a shot before getting the starting nod at Princeton with freshman Wells Stanwick out. No worries, all Kaestner did was stick the first two goals of his career during a 4-1 fourth-quarter run that fueled JHU’s 10-8 win. He came back with one goal and one assist in the win vs. Manhattan and duplicated that effort in the win over UMBC.

Poll Position: The Blue Jays check in at number three in both the USILA Coaches Poll and the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll this week. 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 392 weekly polls since the inception of the poll in 1973. Amazingly, JHU has been ranked in the top 20 in 390 of those 392 polls. The Blue Jays have been in the top 10 in 369 of the 392 and the top five in 295 of those 392. Johns Hopkins has been ranked number one 104 times since the poll debuted in 1973.

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 wins this season vs. Towson and UMBC, JHU is 55-4 (.932) against teams from Maryland under head coach Dave Pietramala.

Offensive Notes of Interest: Below are several notes of interest about the JHU offense:
• JHU has scored at least one goal in 38 of 40 quarters this season and two or more in 33 of the 40 quarters.
• For all the talk about JHU being a slow down team, the Blue Jays are averaging 36.7 shots per game. That number compares favorably to JHU’s averages in 2005 (38.1) and 2007 (36.3) – the most recent years in which Johns Hopkins won the national championship.
• Johns Hopkins ranks 16th in the nation in scoring offense (11.00), 10th in extra-man offense (.472) and sixth in scoring margin (+4.40).

Defensive Notes of Interest: Below are several notes of interest about the JHU defense:
• Hopkins is surrending an average of just 29.6 shots per game.
• JHU has held the opposition scoreless in 13 of 40 quarters this season (32.5%).
• The Blue Jays rank fourth in the nation in scoring defense (6.60), 20th in man-down defense (.697) and sixth in scoring margin (+4.40) this season.
• Johns Hopkins has held each of its 10 opponents scoreless for a stretch of at least 14:52 and nine of the 10 have gone scoreless for 19:30 or longer.

Now That’s a Drought: The Johns Hopkins defense did not allow an even-strength goal for an amazing stretch of 116:37 from late in the win at Princeton through early in the fourth quarter of the win over UMBC. The Retrievers did score a pair of extra-man goals in the first half, but the first six-on-six goal they scored came 34 seconds into the fourth quarter.

About the Shutout: Shutouts in college lacrosse are rare, but JHU notched one with the 11-0 victory over Manhattan on March 6. Prior to that, the Blue Jays had last posted a shutout on March 26, 1988, when they knocked off Princeton, 9-0. The shutout vs. Manhattan was the 61st in school history with 57 of those 61 shutouts coming prior to 1950.

Noting JHU in the NCAA Tournament: Johns Hopkins made its 40th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament last season. By comparison, the next six longest active streaks of qualifying for the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament add up to exactly 40 consecutive appearances (Maryland-9, Cornell-8, Virginia-7, Notre Dame-6, Duke-5, North Carolina-5).

First to 900: Johns Hopkins’ 10-6 win at Towson in the 2011 season opener not only got the season off on the right foot for the Blue Jays, but also made history. The win was the 900th all-time in school history, making Johns Hopkins the first program to record 900 all-time wins. JHU now has 921 all-time wins.

That’s 625 Games Over .500: The Blue Jays’ all-time record is now 921-295-15 (.754) … that’s 626 games over .500. To put this in perspective: JHU has played an average of just over 15 games per season under head coach Dave Pietramala. Using a 15-game season as a reference, if the Blue Jays posted a 5-10 record for 125 straight seasons, they would still be six games over .500.