Fletcher Earns Final ECAC Defensive Player Of Week Award

CENTERVILLE, Mass. – Loyola University Maryland junior defender Joe Fletcher received the final ECAC Lacrosse League Defensive Player of the Week award for the 2013 season Monday after helping the Greyhounds defeat host Johns Hopkins University, 8-4, on Saturday.

Fletcher, a native of Syracuse, N.Y., was a big part of the Greyhounds’ defense that held the Blue Jays scoreless for the final 29 minutes, 18 seconds of the game and limited them to 1-of-19 shooting after halftime.

He had marking responsibilities for Johns Hopkins’ leading scorer, Wells Stanwick who entered the game averaging 4.0 points per game. Fletcher held him to just one point, an assist that came in transition off a Blue Jays’ faceoff win.

Fletcher helped Loyola force 16 Johns Hopkins turnovers, picking up five ground balls to lead all Loyola players. He also was instrumental in the Greyhounds’ clearing game, as Loyola went 20-of-20 in that statistical category.

The award is Fletcher’s third of the season, tying him for the most this year by any player in the league.

Loyola opens play in the ECAC Championships on Thursday, May 2, at Hobart College in Geneva, N.Y., where it will face Ohio State University in the semifinals at 8 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on Fox Sports Networks, Fox College Sports and FUEL TV.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - No. 1 Maryland topped North Carolina 12-8 to capture its fifth straight Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Lacrosse Championship Sunday at Fetzer Field.

The Terps (19-0) were led by hat tricks from Brooke Griffin, Beth Glaros and Taylor Cummings. Katie Schwarzmann - who was named ACC Championship Most Valuable Player for the second straight season – tied a championship game record with four assists against the Tar Heels (14-3).

A tightly-contested first half began with both teams feeling out the wet conditions at Fetzer. It would be Maryland who would strike first with a Griffin goal at 27:00. North Carolina answered exactly three minutes later with a tally from Abbey Friend. Maryland’s rookie tandem put the Terps back on top with a Cummings goal from Halle Majorana at 17:47.

UNC’s Brittany Coppa and Kara Cannizzaro gave the Heels their first lead of the game with scores at 16:39 and 10:38 but Maryland surged ahead with three unanswered goals to cap the half with a 5-3 advantage at the break.

Kasey Howard led a solid defensive stand in the first half, tallying seven saves in the first 30 minutes alone.

The Terps kept that momentum rolling into the second, with three additional unanswered goals in the first five minutes of the stanza – including two from Griffin – for a decisive 8-3 advantage.

UNC finally stopped the scoring stretch with a goal from Emily Garrity at 24:11 but goals by Alex Aust, Griffin and Erin Collins extended the Maryland lead to 11-4. The Terps recorded six goals in the first 11 minutes of the period.

After a Cummings goal gave Maryland an eight-goal cushion with 14 minutes left, UNC recorded four straight to shrink the lead to five but the Terps held on for their 10th ACC tournament crown.

Maryland recorded a season-high 29 ground balls in arguably its best defensive performance of the year. Kelly McPartland, Iliana Sanza, Melissa Diepold and Cummings registered four apiece.

“I’m just so proud of this team and especially our senior class,” head coach Cathy Reese, who led Maryland to a fourth-straight win against Carolina in the title game, said. “We knew it was going to be a battle. You have two very talented teams playing against each other. I thought we played a great game defensively, probably the best we’ve played all season defensively. On offense, we were pretty smart with our decision making, especially in the second half, which allowed us to pull away with the win.”

In addition to Schwarzmann, Beth Glaros, Aust, Griffin, Cummings, and Howard were tabbed to the all-tournament team.

Maryland has next weekend off before it discovers its NCAA tournament destiny when the bracket is announced Sunday, May 5.

TOWSON, Md. – Junior John Fennessy, sophomore Max Siskind, and freshman Chris Vetter each scored their first career goal as Towson Lacrosse (8-7, 4-2 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA)) claimed a 13-6 victory over Saint Joseph’s (5-11, 1-5 CAA) Saturday evening at Johnny Unitas® Stadium.

Sophomore Greg Cuccinello posted his first career hat trick with a career-high four goals, while juniors Thomas DeNapoli each scored a pair of goals for the Tigers. DeNapoli also dished out a career-high tying three assists in the win. Senior goalkeeper Andrew Wascavage recorded 12 saves, including 10 in the second half.

Fennessy opened the scoring at 13:14 with a 65-yard shot that bounced into an empty net after SJU’s Austin Keen left the crease. Almost three minutes later, Cuccinello scored his first goal of the game off an assist from Hodgson. Siskind scored just under a minute later, beating the Hawks’ keeper from just outside the crease. Cuccinello took advantage of a man-up opportunity off a feed from DeNapoli at 5:35 – exactly four minutes after Siskind’s tally. Hodgson gave Towson a 5-0 lead when he shot while falling to the ground and found the back of the net.

Joe McErlean finally got the Hawks on the board 12 seconds into the second quarter. Senior Matt Hughesscored for Towson at 12:59 to push the lead back to five goals before Johnny Simanski posted a goal for St. Joe’s at 3:35. Hodgson gave the Tigers a 7-2 lead with 2:24 remaining in the first half.

The third quarter was quiet offensively. DeNapoli tallied his first goal of the game off a feed from Hodgson at 6:44. The third different Hawk to score for SJU was Williams when he beat Wascavage high left at 4:58. But Cuccinello’s third goal of the game – his first career hat trick – and Vetter’s tally at 1:30 extended the Tigers’ advantage to 10-3.

The Hawks scored back-to-back goals at the start of the fourth frame when Williams added his second and Will Abbott picked up a ground ball off a SJU face-off win, took it down and scored. However, sophomore Cory Dobyns tallied his first goal back after missing two games with an injury when he buried a pass from DeNapoli at 13:00.

Saint Joseph’s continued to hang around. Williams posted a hat trick with a goal at 10:42 to inch the Hawks to within five, 11-6.

Towson next faces Drexel in the CAA Tournament semifinals at Penn State on Wednesday, May 1 at 5:30 p.m.

NOTES: Fennessy, Siskind, and Vetter each scored their first career goals … Hughes scored a goal on Senior Night … Cuccinnello posted his first hat trick …

College Men’s Lacrosse: Saint Joseph 0, Towson 0
Saint Joseph’s (5-10, 1-4 CAA)               0-2-1-0/0
Towson (7-7, 3-2 CAA)                           5-2-3-0/0

GOALS: SJU – Simanski, McErlean; TOW – Hodgson 2, Cuccinello 2, Siskind, Hughes, Fennesy. ASSISTS:SJU – Dougherty; TOW – DeNapoli 2, Hodgson, McCarty. SAVES: SJU – Keen (X, 60:00, X GA); TOW – Wascavage (X, 60:00, X GA). SHOTS: SJU – 15; TOW – 29. GROUND BALLS: SJU – 7; TOW – 11. FACE-OFFS: SJU – 5-11; TOW – 6-11. CLEARS: SJU – 6-9; TOW – 4-4. EMO: SJU – 0-2; TOW 1-1. ATT: 1739.

BALTIMORE- UMBC freshman midfielder Pat Young scored his fourth goal with 1:18 remaining and the host Retrievers outlasted Binghamton, 10-9, to clinch a berth in the America East Tournament for the tenth consecutive year.

UMBC (6-7, 3-2 America East) has participated in the four-team championship in all ten of its league campaigns. The Bearcats were eliminated from tournament play and finish the season at 5-9, 1-4.

The 2013 America East Championship will open at LaValle Stadium in Stony Brook, N.Y., with the semifinal contests taking place on Thursday, May 2 and the title game occurring on May 4.

Young, who led the Retrievers with four scores, scored his third game-winning goal of the season. He also recorded the game-winner with less than three minutes remaining in a 13-12 win at Stony Brook on April 13.

“It was a typical America East game-for our conference to have five teams still in the hunt on the last week of the regular season is pretty special,“ said head coach Don Zimmerman. “It’s Senior Day, it’s emotional. It’s always a little bit of a struggle on Senior Day, but I am very proud of the team, the way they hung in there, came back from several deficits and came back in the end.”

The game was tied on eight occasions, as the Retrievers trailed by one goal six times and 8-6 late in the third quarter. The Bearcats took the lone two-goal advantage of the game on a goal by attackman Matt Springer with 18 seconds to play in the third stanza. But UMBC snatched momentum back as senior attackman/midfielder Joe Lustgarten (Wading River, N.Y./Shoreham-Wading River) netted a desperation shot with less than one second remaining in the stanza.

Young knotted the game at 8-all 2:42 into the final quarter, beating BU netminder Max Schefler low from 11 yards away. UMBC would then take its first lead of the game, as senior middie Dave Brown (Coopersburg, Pa./The Hill School) found Matt Gregoire (Crofton, Md./South River) inside and the senior attackman converted from close range with 8:55 remaining.

Binghamton’s Emmett O’Hara brought his side back to even, tallying with 3:29 remaining and the Bearcats won the ensuing draw. But BU hit the side-netting on a shot with 1:52 to play and the Retrievers cleared and called a time-out. Junior midfielder Conor Finch (Westminster, Md./Boys’ Latin) drove down the right alley and dumped a pass back to Young, who stepped into a 10-yard shot and it ticked the stick of Schefler before hitting the back of the net.

UMBC won the next face-off and never allowed the Bearcats to possess the ball in the final minute of play.

The Retrievers, now 39-13 in ten years of America East Conference play, have never lost back-to-back conference contests. UMBC improved to 22-4 at UMBC Stadium vs. AEC foes during the regular year and to 8-0 vs. Binghamton on the friendly turf in Baltimore.

Young and Springer each scored four times for their respective teams. Lustgarten added two goals and an assist for UMBC, while Gregoire recorded a pair of goals and now has 15 in league play in 2013.

Both goalkeepers excelled in the contest. UMBC sophomore Wes DiRito (Odenton, Md./DeMatha) turned away 12 Binghamton shots, while Schefler also recorded 12 saves. The Retrievers outshot the Bearcats, 35-27.

Solid Second Half Gives Men’s Lacrosse 8-4 Win At Johns Hopkins

BALTIMORE – Loyola University Maryland held Johns Hopkins University scoreless for the final 29-minutes, 18-seconds of regulation on Saturday afternoon at Homewood Field, and the Greyhounds snapped a 13-game losing skid to the Blue Jays with an 8-4 victory to close the regular-season.

Loyola’s last victory in the series came in 1999 when the Greyhounds beat the host Blue Jays, 14-5. The previous seven games, however, had been decided by only 13 goals with Johns Hopkins winning four times by a single tally.

The seventh-ranked Greyhounds opened the second half on a man-advantage that carried over from late in the second quarter, and after the teams returned to even strength, Justin Ward skipped a pass to Sean O’Sullivan at the top of the offense, and the midfielder scored on a low shot from 13 yards out 36 ticks into the half.

O’Sullivan’s goal put Loyola (11-3 overall) in front 5-3, but the 11^th-ranked Blue Jays (8-5) pulled back within a goal just five seconds later when they won the faceoff on a Greyhounds’ violation. Mike Poppleton ran the ball into the offensive zone and snuck a shot into the top right corner at 14:19.

That, however, was the last goal Johns Hopkins would score in the game. Greyhounds’ goalkeeper Jack Runkel made six of his 10 saves in the final half, and the rest of the Blue Jays’ 11 shots went off goal.

Johns Hopkins also committed 10 turnovers in the second half, and the Greyhounds had just eight in the entire game.

Mike Sawyer scored his third of the day, rolling off a short-stick defensive midfielder and slinging a sidearm shot into the net with 6:10 to go in the third quarter, pushing Loyola out to a two-goal advantage for the third time in the game.

The score remained 6-4 Loyola until nearly six minutes had passed in the fourth quarter. Davis Butts beat a short-stick from below goal-line extended on the right side and bounced a shot past Johns Hopkins goalkeeper Pierce Bassett.

Loyola tacked on its eighth and final goal with 3:13 remaining on a man-up possession. O’Sullivan faked a pass to the right and doubled back with one to Kevin Ryan on the left side of the crease, and Ryan finished past Bassett.

The Greyhounds opened scoring in the game early in the first quarter after Scott Ratliff picked up a ground ball off a Blue Jays’ turnover and sent the ball to Ryan who carried it into the offensive half for Loyola. He then sent a pass to Josh Hawkins who scored from 10 yards out at the 12:20 mark.

Johns Hopkins, however, tied the game 2:25 later when John Kaestner scored on a fading jumper after running from ‘X’. The Blue Jays took a 2-1 lead at 7:23 when Brandon Benn ripped a high-to-low shot off a John Ranagan pass.

The Blue Jays held the lead for nearly five minutes until Zach Herreweyers rolled from behind the cage and snuck a no-look underhand shot into the net, tying the score at 2-2- with 2:24 left in the second quarter.

Less than a minute later, Sawyer struck with his first of the game with a sidearm shot after Harry Kutner rolled back to the middle and passed it to Sawyer.

Sawyer then scored his second of the game with 13:54 to go in the second quarter, finishing the end of a transition run for Loyola. Runkel started the sequence with a save, and Joe Fletcher picked up one of his team-high five ground balls. Hawkins ran the clear and threw a pass to Sawyer who finished with a high shot.

The goal made it 4-2 Greyhounds, but Poppleton won the faceoff for Johns Hopkins, sent a pass to Wells Stanwick who got the ball to Benn for a goal six seconds after Sawyer’s at 13:48 in the second half.

Neither Loyola, nor Johns Hopkins scored after that point in the half, and the teams went to the locker room with the Greyhounds in front, 4-3.

The Blue Jays outshot Loyola 36-28 in the game, but the Greyhounds held them to a .111 shooting percentage in the game.

On the defensive end, Fletcher led the team with five ground balls, while Pat Frazier, Ratliff and Hawkins each had three. Reid Acton and Pat Laconi both picked up a pair, while Laconi and Frazier each caused six turnovers, and Acton and Hawkins had one apiece.

The Greyhounds open play in the third-annual ECAC Lacrosse League Championships on Thursday, May 2, as the No. 2 seed. They will take on No. 3-seed Ohio State Unviersity at Hobart College in Geneva, N.Y. at a to be determined time.

TEWAARATON AWARD NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

WASHINGTON, April 26, 2013 – The Tewaaraton Foundation has announced the 2013 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 13th annual Tewaaraton Award 10 finalists (5 women, 5 men) will be selected and honored May 30, 2013, 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 2012 winner Peter Baum (Colgate) and representatives from 16 of the current Top 20 teams in the April 22 USILA Men’s Division I Poll. Five schools had two players nominated, including Albany (Lyle Thompson, Ty Thompson), Cornell (Steve Mock, 2011 finalist Rob Pannell), Loyola (Scott Ratliff, 2012 finalist Mike Sawyer), Maryland (Niko Amato, Jesse Bernhardt) and Syracuse (JoJo Marasco, Brian Megill).

Each year, the Tewaaraton Award celebrates one of the six tribal nations of the Iroquois Confederacy – the Mohawk, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca and Tuscarora. This is The Year of the Mohawk and the men’s nominees include a member of the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation in Ty Thompson and a member of the Onondaga Nation in his cousin Lyle Thompson.

Men’s nominees are as follows:
Niko Amato, Maryland – Jr., GK
Peter Baum, Colgate – Sr., A
Jesse Bernhardt, Maryland – Sr., LSM
David DiMaria, Lehigh – Sr., A
Tucker Durkin, Johns Hopkins – Sr., D
John Glesener, Army – Soph., A/M
Marcus Holman, North Carolina – Sr., A
Austin Kaut, Penn State – Jr., GK
John Kemp, Notre Dame – Sr., GK
Eric Law, Denver – Sr., A
Brandon Mangan, Yale – Jr., A
JoJo Marasco, Syracuse – Sr., M
Kieran McArdle, St. John’s – Jr., A
Brian Megill, Syracuse – Sr., D
Steve Mock, Cornell – Sr., A
Rob Pannell, Cornell – Sr., A
Mason Poli, Bryant – Sr., LSM
Scott Ratliff, Loyola – Sr., LSM
Mike Sawyer, Loyola – Sr., A
Tom Schreiber, Princeton – Jr., M
Logan Schuss, Ohio State – Sr., A
Lyle Thompson, Albany – Soph., A
Ty Thompson, Albany – Jr., A
Dillon Ward, Bellarmine – Sr., GK
Jordan Wolf, Duke – Jr., A

The women’s award nominees include players from 16 schools, including 2012 winner Katie Schwarzmann (Maryland) and representatives from 13 of the current Top 20 teams in the April 22 IWLCA Division I Poll. Florida (Kitty Cullen, 2012 finalist Brittany Dashiell, Shannon Gilroy, Mikey Meagher) and Maryland (Alex Aust, Iliana Sanza, Schwarzmann) and Syracuse (Becca Block, Alyssa Murray, 2012 finalist Michelle Tumolo) lead all schools with four, three and three nominees respectively.

Women’s nominees are as follows:
Casey Ancarrow, James Madison – Sr., A
Alex Aust, Maryland – Sr., A
Becca Block, Syracuse – Sr., D
Kara Cannizzaro, North Carolina – Sr., M
Demmianne Cook, Stony Brook – Sr., M
Kitty Cullen, Florida – Sr., A
Taylor D’Amore, Johns Hopkins – Jr., A
Brittany Dashiell, Florida – Sr., M
Jasmine DePompeo, Navy – Sr., A
Danielle Etrasco, Boston University – Sr., A
Erin Fitzgerald, Northwestern – Sr., A
Shannon Gilroy, Florida – Soph., M
Kerrin Maurer, Duke – Soph., A
Maggie McCormick, Penn State – Soph., A
Mikey Meagher, Florida – Sr., GK
Alyssa Murray, Syracuse – Jr., A
Marlee Paton, Loyola – Jr., M
Mikaela Rix, Boston College – Soph., M
Iliana Sanza, Maryland – Sr., D
Katie Schwarzmann, Maryland – Sr., M
Barbara Sullivan, Notre Dame – Soph., D
Caroline Tarzian, Georgetown – Soph., A
Taylor Thornton, Northwestern – Sr., M
Michelle Tumolo, Syracuse – Sr., A
Taylor Virden, Duke – Jr., D

Five men’s and five women’s finalists will be announced May 9 and invited to the Tewaaraton Award Ceremony. The original men’s and women’s watch lists were announced Feb. 22, with additions made March 14 and April 11, and were ultimately comprised of 97 men’s players and 62 women’s players. Two of the men’s nominees were added in this round – Eric Law (Denver) and Dillon Ward (Bellarmine). The selection committees are comprised of 12 men’s and 10 women’s current and former coaches.

“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.”

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 players in the United States. Endorsed by the Mohawk Nation Council of Elders and U.S. 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 Native American descent. To learn more about The Tewaaraton Foundation, please visit www.tewaaraton.com.

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

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

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

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

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

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

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Senior Owen Blye had a hat trick to lead the Terps, but No. 2 Maryland lost to Virginia, 13-6, in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament Friday evening at North Carolina’s Kenan Stadium.

The loss drops the Terps to 9-3 on the season, while the Cavaliers improve to 7-7.

The first quarter saw only one goal with Virginia’s Mark Cockerton scoring at the 14:01 mark. Maryland junior goalie Niko Amato was part of the reason for the Cavalier output, making three saves in the opening quarter.

Maryland got on the board first in the second when junior Mike Chanenchuk ripped a low shot from the right alley inside the far pipe to tie the game at 1-1 with 13:50 on the clock.

The Cavaliers responded quickly and retook the lead 35 seconds later on Cockerton’s second goal of the game.

The Virginia lead grew to 3-1 at the 11:05 mark of the second when the Wahoos’ extra-man unit converted on a holding penalty on Maryland’s Casey Ikeda.

Senior John Haus closed the Terrapin deficit to one when he got some inside leverage on a Virginia defender, tight-roped the crease and scored from inside with 4:46 to play in the second.

Virginia refused to allow the Terps to rally and used goals by Rob Emery and Cockerton to push the lead to three goals with 3:36 to go in the first half.

Blye opened the scoring in the second half, going around the left side of the goal and scoring unassisted to cut the Virginia lead to 5-3 at the 12:33 mark.

Virginia continued to respond to every Maryland goal with one of its own. This time it was Matt White scoring an unassisted goal to push the Wahoo lead back to three with 8:47 left in the third.

Maryland took advantage of a pair of non-releasable penalties on Virginia to score two extra-man goals to cut the Virginia lead to one with under 5:00 to play in the third.

Senior Jake Bernhardt scored the first, scoring on a step-down from the left alley off of a feed from Chanenchuk.

Chanenchuk was also on the giving end of the second extra-man goal; this time feeding Blye, who scored his second goal of the game.

But that was as close at the Terps would get as the Cavaliers rattled off seven straight goals of the game to take a 13-5 lead.

Blye scored his third of the game to finish his hat trick with less than 30 seconds left to make it a 13-6 final.

Maryland closes out its regular season on Saturday, May 4 with “Senior Day” at Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium vs. Colgate. Faceoff is scheduled for noon.

Game Notes:
• With today’s 13-6 loss, Maryland is now 45-44 all-time vs. Virginia.
• With three points on a goal and two assists, junior Mike Chanenchuk now has 26 multi-point and seven multi-assist games for his career.
• With three points on three goals, senior Owen Blye now has seven hat tricks, 31 multi-point, and 18 multi-goal games in his career.
• Blye’s three points gives him 107 for his career tying him with Bill McGlone (2003-06) for 38th place on Maryland’s all-time points list.
• With 10 saves, junior Niko Amato recorded his seventh game this season and 19th of his career with at least 10 saves.

Television:  ESPNU

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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