Television: ESPNU
The Game: Johns Hopkins (5-2) makes the 4.5-mile trip to downtown Baltimore and M&T Bank Stadium as the Blue Jays take on Virginia (5-3) in the second game of Inside Lacrosse’s Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic. Game time is tentatively set for 4:30 pm on Saturday, March 23. The JHU-UVA game will follow the Navy-Colgate game.
A Look Back: Johns Hopkins slipped to 5-2 with a 13-8 loss at Syracuse last Saturday. Virginia dropped its second straight one-goal game as the Cavs fell to Ohio State, 11-10, at home.
Series History: Johns Hopkins and Virginia are meeting for the 86th time in a series that dates to a 9-0 JHU victory in 1904. The Blue Jays lead the series 56-28-1 and have won two straight against the Cavaliers.
Playing for the Cup: The winner of this week’s game between Johns Hopkins and Virginia will be presented with the Doyle Smith Cup, which goes to the winner of the annual regular season game between the two teams.
Doyle Smith arrived at Johns Hopkins from Corvallis, Oregon in 1962 and served as the manager of the lacrosse team throughout his tenure at Homewood. He graduated from Johns Hopkins Phi Beta Kappa and worked under the guidance of Hall of Fame coach Bob Scott before moving to the University of Virginia, where he served as the Director of Media Relations for the men’s lacrosse program for 30 years.
Doyle’s devotion to the sport of men’s lacrosse was remarkable. He served as the information director for the USILA for many years and was the official statistician at the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championships for over two decades. He also was responsible for the standardization and accuracy of men’s lacrosse statistics and became the face and voice of the USILA during his time at Virginia. In 2000, he became the first non-player, non-coach to be inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame.
By a joint acclimation between Johns Hopkins University and the University of Virginia, it was established during the 2006 season that the regular-season game contested between the Blue Jays and the Cavaliers be known as the game for the Doyle Smith Cup.
These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters this week’s game against Virginia with an all-time record of 929-300-15 (.753). The Blue Jays own nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 44 national championships.
In the Face-Off Classic: Johns Hopkins is the only team to have played in every Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic since the event was formed in 2007. JHU will carry a 4-2 all-time record in the Face-Off Classic into this week’s game against Virginia. Below is a list of JHU’s all-time FOC results:
2007 – Princeton • W/7-6 (OT)
2008 – Princeton • W/14-9
2009 – Princeton • L/8-14
2010 – Princeton • L/10-11 (OT)
2011 – UMBC • W/16-5
2012 – UMBC • W/12-5
At M&T Bank Stadium: This week’s game against Virginia will be the 14th Johns Hopkins has played at M&T Bank Stadium. The Blue Jays are 8-5 all-time at the home of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens.
JHU won all three of its games at M&T in 2007, including a 7-6 double-overtime win against Princeon in the Face-Off Classic and a 12-11 win against Duke in the NCAA Championship game. After dropping two of their first three games at M&T Bank Stadium in 2003 and 2004, the Blue Jays have won seven of their last 10 here. The 13 games JHU has played here have been equal parts nail-biter and equal parts blowout. Six of the 13 have been decided by two goals or less (including five one-goal affairs) and seven have been decided by five goals or more.
All-Time in NFL Stadiums: In addition to playing 13 previous games at M&T Bank Stadium, JHU has played seven other games in NFL stadiums in its history. JHU is 12-8 all-time in NFL stadiums with the 13 games at M&T accounting for 60% of the 20 all-time games in these stadiums. Below is a breakdown of JHU’s all-time record in the five different NFL venues the Blue Jays have played in:
M&T Bank Stadium (2003-04, 2007-) • 8-5
Lincoln Financial Field (2005) • 2-0
Gilette Stadium (2008) • 1-1
Met Life Stadium (2010-11) • 1-1
Houston Astrodome (1971) • 0-1
That’s 102 Games Over .500: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala picked up his 166th career win when JHU knocked off UMBC and he now stands at 166-64 overall. Included in that mark is a 143-47 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.
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 seven games. JHU has outscored the opposition 28-13 in the first quarter and 25-13 in the third. By contrast, the Blue Jays hold just a 21-19 scoring margin in the fourth quarter and an 18-15 advantage in the second quarter.
Balancing Act: Johns Hopkins counts eight players with four or more goals and 10 players with four or more points through seven games. In all, 17 different players have found the back of the net for JHU and 20 players have at least one point.
EMO Clicking: The Johns Hopkins extra man unit connected on 5-of-6 chances against Mount St. Mary’s, 4-of-6 against UMBC, 3-of-6 against Syracuse and is now 20-of-35 (.571) on the year. Johns Hopkins currently ranks third 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(7), sophomore Wells Stankwick (4) and junior Brandon Benn (3) leading the way. Brown’s seven extra man goals are already the most by a Johns Hopkins player since 2004, when Matt Rewkowski has 12 and Conor Fordhad eight.
Stanwick Breaks Out: Sophomore attackman Wells Stanwick continued his offensive roll at Syracuse as he scored three goals and had one assist against the Orange. Stanwick boosted his totals to 15 goals and 12 assists on the year with his effort at SU and he has already surpassed his goal (9) and point (23) totals from last season.
Stanwick enjoyed the finest game of his career in the 19-9 win over Mount St. Mary’s as he totaled five goals and four assists for nine points. Previously he had never had more than two goals, three assists or four points in a game.
He followed that with a two-goal, four-assist effort in the win over UMBC and the added the three-goal, one-assist performance at SU.
Stanwick is the first Johns Hopkins player to post nine points in a game since Kyle Barrie had five goals and four assists in a 17-3 win over Navy in 2003. He is also the first JHU player with back-to-back six-point games since Dan Denihan did it against Villanova (8), Ohio State (6) and Maryland (7) during the 2000 season.
Poppleton Rolls On: With a 14-of-23 performance at Syracuse, senior faceoff specialist Mike Poppleton continued his strong work at the X for the Blue Jays. Poppleton, who ranks first in the nation in faceoff winning percentage, is now 96-of-135 (.711) on the year and leads the team with 51 ground balls. He also improved to 286-of-445 (.643) in his career with his efforts last week at SU.
Benn Leads Team in Goals: Junior Brandon Benn continues to pace the team in goals (19) and ranks second in points (20) after scoring once at Syracuse last week. Benn’s one-goal showing at Syracuse brought to an end a five-game streak of scoring three goals or more. He is the first Johns Hopkins player with five straight hat tricks since Conor Ford turned the trick late in the 2004 season.
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 againt the Tigers and added one goal and one assist against the Mount. He scored an extra man goal against Syracuse and now has four goals and one assist for five points on the year.
What Brown Does For Us: Freshman Ryan Brown has stepped in and made an immediate impact for the Blue Jays. Brown has eight goals and three assists through seven games and leads the team with seven extra-man goals. He has registered at least one point in six of seven games this season and his seven extra-man goals are already the most by a Johns Hopkins player since 2004, when Matt Rewkowski (12) and Conor Ford (8) both topped that mark.
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 eight goals through seven games. Sanders is tied for fourth on the team in goals (8) and ranks eighth in points (8).
Bassett Solid Through Seven: Senior Pierce Bassett hails from Arizona, but the chill of the early season in Baltimore hasn’t slowed him as he currently boasts a .569 save percentage and an 8.37 goals against average. He ranks 12th in the nation in goals against average and 15th in save percentage. He posted 10 saves in the win against UMBC and became the 10th Johns Hopkins goalie to reach the 400-save mark in the process. He has 417 career saves to his credit – a mark that ranks 10th in school history.
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 currently ranks third on the team in ground balls (17) and leads the team with nine caused turnovers. Durkin is the anchor of a Johns Hopkins defense that ranks 12th nationally in scoring defense (8.57).
Scoring Droughts Abound: Despite the new rules in place this season that aim to quicken the pace (and thus increasing scoring), the Johns Hopkins defense has been able to hold the opposition scoreless for long stretches this season.
Siena, Towson and Michigan each drew blanks of at least 15 minutes and all three had two droughts that lasted at least 13 minutes. Princeton was more productive in its win against JHU, but did have one scoring drought that covered more than 11 minutes, while Mount St. Mary’s went more than 18 minutes without a goal at one point and UMBC was held off the board for 24:04 to open the game and 13:01 later in the game.
A Game of Runs: In JHU’s five wins the Blue Jays have used a game-turning run to pull away. Against Princeton, the Blue Jays did have a 3-0 run in the second half before the Tigers pulled away for the victory, while a 6-2 run against Syracuse trimmed a 6-1 deficit to 8-7 before the Blue Jays ultimately fell.
Poll Position: The Blue Jays are ranked 10th in this week’s USILA Coaches Poll and 11th in 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 402 weekly polls since the inception of the poll in 1973. Amazingly, JHU has been ranked in the top 20 in 400 of those 402 polls. The Blue Jays have been in the top 10 in 379 of the 402 and the top five in 299 of those 402. 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 Blue Jays have won their last three overtime games dating back to the 2011 season and are 19-9 all-time in overtime under head coach Dave Pietramala.
Streaking: In case you didn’t notice, Johns Hopkins is 25-7 in its last 32 games and 30-9 since the start of the 2011 season.
