Feb. 20, 2008

Johns Hopkins-Albany Game Notes in PDF Format
Additional Information Available in This Format

Setting the Scene: Johns Hopkins and Albany meet for the seventh straight year and the third straight year in the season-opener for both teams. The game is one of just two before March 1 that involves two teams that advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals last season.

Looking Back: Johns Hopkins won its final nine games of the 2007 season and captured its ninth NCAA Championship with a 12-11 win over Duke in the title game. The Blue Jays posted a 13-4 record. Albany jump-started the finest season in school history with an 8-7 win against JHU and posted a 15-3 record with a loss to top-ranked Cornell, 12-11, in the NCAA Quarterfinals.

These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters the 2007 season with an all-time record of 871-272-15 (.759). The Blue Jays own nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 44 championships.

Poll Position: Johns Hopkins sits atop the USILA Preseason Coaches Poll and this week's Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. Albany is ranked 11th in the coaches poll and 12th in the media poll.

125th Anniversary: The 2008 season marks the 125th anniversary of the Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse program. The Blue Jays are wearing commemorative patches on their uniforms for the 125th anniversary of the program (it is NOT the 125th season) and the logo is being used in a variety of printed pieces to promote the anniversary.

Check the Calendar: This week's game against Albany is the earliest game in the history of the Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse program. Previously, the earliest date the Blue Jays had played a game was February 24 (last season).

For Openers: Johns Hopkins is 5-2 in season-openers under head coach Dave Pietramala and close calls have been the norm. The seven openers played under Pietramala have been decided by a total of just 16 goals. None of the seven have been decided by more than three goals.

In February: This week's game against Albany will be just the fifth game the Blue Jays have played in the month of February. Johns Hopkins is 2-2 all-time in games played before the calendar flips to March.

Program Ties: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala and Albany head coach Scott Marr played together at Johns Hopkins and were members of the Blue Jays' 1987 NCAA Championship team. Current associate head coach Bill Dwan joined Pietramala and Marr on the Blue Jay squad a year later.

One-Goal Turnarounds: The 12-11 win over Duke in the 2007 NCAA Championship game improved Hopkins' recent run of success in one-goal games as JHU is 30-6 in one-goal games under head coach Dave Pietramala. The Blue Jays have won 17 of their last 19 and 21 of their last 24 one-goal games. In the five seasons prior to Pietramala arriving (1996-2000) the Blue Jays were 5-8 in one-goal games.

More One-Goal Notes: The Blue Jays have come from behind to win 14 times during their last 17 one-goal wins. In 10 of those 14 come-from-behind one-goal wins the Blue Jays have come back from a deficit of two goals or more. The latest of these come-from-behind one-goal wins came against Notre Dame, when the Blue Jays erased a 4-1 second-quarter deficit.

In Case We Go Extra: In addition to the Blue Jays' success in one-goal games under head coach Dave Pietramala, Johns Hopkins has also enjoyed a favorable run in overtime games. The Blue Jays have currently won nine straight overtime games dating back to a 10-9 win at Navy in 2004. JHU is 13-2 all-time in overtime under Pietramala's guidance, including an impressive 6-1 in overtime games played on the road.

Players on the 2008 team who scored game-winning goals in overtime during their career:
• Senior Kevin Huntley punched home the game-winner in the second OT against Duke in 2005.
• Junior Brian Christopher scored 1:22 into OT against Loyola on May 6, 2006.
• Senior Paul Rabil fired home the game-winner 56 seconds into the 2nd OT against Princeton on March 3, 2007 and tallied the game-winner 43 seconds into overtime at Maryland (4-14-07). He is the only player in school history who has scored two overtime game-winners in the same season.
• Sophomore Michael Kimmel became the first freshman in school history to score an overtime goal in an NCAA Tournament game when he netted the game-winner one-minute into overtime against Notre Dame.

Comeback Kids: Johns Hopkins came from behind to win eight times last season, including six times during the season-ending nine-game winning streak. JHU trailed in its first two NCAA Tournament games, but never trailed during the Final Four.

Streaking: Johns Hopkins is 65-11 in its last 76 regular season games dating back to the end of the 2001 season and 77-15 overall since the start of the 2002 season.

Win Streaks Under Petro: Johns Hopkins ended the 2007season with a nine-game winning streak after a 4-4 start. The nine-game winning streak is the fifth wining streak of eight games or longer under head coach Dave Pietramala. Below is a look at the five longest winning streaks the Blue Jays have enjoyed under Pietramala.

Streak - Dates (first win - last win)
17 - March 5, 2005 - Feb. 25, 2006
11 - March 22, 2003 - May 24, 2003
9 - April 14, 2007 - Active
9 - March 26, 2002 - May 19, 2002
8 - April 3, 2004 - May 22, 2004

What's Back: The Blue Jays return 10 of their top 11 scorers, all three starters on close defense and both of their short-stick defensive middies from last season's national championship team.
On the offensive end the Blue Jays return players who scored 144 of their 178 goals (.809) and dished out 80 of their 89 assists (.899) a year ago.

What Was Lost: A small, but underrated, senior class guided JHU through the 2007 season to the national championship and will be hard to replace. Attackman Jake Byrne (30g, 7a), midfielder Drew Dabrowski (3g, 1a), goalie Jesse Schwartzman (8.08 GAA, .572 save %), long stick midfielder Brendan Skakandi (25 GBs) and versatile Jamison Koesterer (81 faceoffs won, 35 GBs) all completed their eligibility at the end of the 2007 season.

A Defensive Group: Johns Hopkins held all 17 of its opponents scoreless for a span of least 9:32 last season and held the opposition scoreless for a span of 10:45 or longer 23 times during the 2007 season. In all the Blue Jay defense held 13 of its 17 opponents to nine goals or less last year.

More Defensive: Despite dropping the season-opener against Albany last season, the Blue Jay defense held the Great Danes scoreless for a stretch of 33:28 at one point. That was the second-longest such streak turned in by JHU last season and one six scoreless streaks of 25 minutes or longer by the opposition in 2007.

A Final Defensive: Johns Hopkins has not allowed more than nine goals in a season-opener under head coach Dave Pietramala and the Blue Jays have held six of seven season-opening opponents to eight goals or less on Pietramala's watch.

Kevin and Dave Huntley Make History: When Johns Hopkins slipped past Duke, 12-11, for the national championship last spring, there were plenty of members of the Huntley family in high spirits. After all, then junior attackman Kevin Huntley scored three times in the title game and punched home what proved to be the game-winning goal with 3:25 remaining in the fourth quarter. The national championship is the second for the Blue Jays since Huntley arrived in 2005.
A little research reveals that Huntley's game-winner also lifted he and his father, Dave, into the record books. Dave Huntley was a standout midfielder for Johns Hopkins from 1976-79 and was a member of the Blue Jays' 1978 and 1979 NCAA Championship teams.
It is believed that Dave and Kevin Huntley are the first father and son to win multiple NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championships as players. There are sets of brothers who have won multiple titles (Gary and Paul Gait) and fathers who have coached their sons to championships (Henry Ciccarone, Bill Tierney), but Dave and Kevin Huntley are the only father and son in the history of the sport to each win more than one NCAA Division I title as players.

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