March 2, 2009

Johns Hopkins-UMBC Men's Lacrosse Notes in PDF Format
Additional Information Available in This Format

The Game: Johns Hopkins (1-1) plays its first true road game of the 2009 season as the Blue Jays travel around the beltway to take on UMBC (3-0).

A Look Back: Johns Hopkins suffered its first loss of the 2009 season last Saturday against Princeton as the Tigers prevailed, 14-8, in the Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic. UMBC improved to 3-0 with a solid 13-9 win over Colgate last Saturday at home.

Program Ties: There are several ties between the Johns Hopkins and UMBC men's lacrosse programs. Among them:

• Current UMBC head coach Don Zimmerman is a 1976 Johns Hopkins graduate and was an honorable mention All-America selection as a midfielder in 1975. He played two years at JHU (1975-76) after transferring from Randolph-Macon.
• Don Zimmerman served as the head coach at Johns Hopkins from 1984-1990 and posted a 73-15 (.830) record during his tenure at JHU. He guided the Blue Jays to NCAA Championships in 1984, 1985 and 1987.
• Current Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala played his entire career (1986-89) at JHU for Don Zimmerman.
• Current JHU associate head caoch Bill Dwan played his first three seasons at JHU (1988-90) for Don Zimmerman.
• Current JHU assistant coach Bobby Benson served as the offensive coordinator at UMBC under Don Zimmerman in 2005.

These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters this week's game against UMBC with an all-time record of 883-279-15 (.757). The Blue Jays own nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 44 national championships.

That's 604 Games Over .500: Including the loss to Princeton, the Blue Jays' all-time record is now 883-279-15 (.757) ... that's 604 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 120 straight seasons, they would still be four games over .500.

Poll Position: Johns Hopkins enters this week's game against UMBC ranked 10th in the USILA Coaches Poll. The Blue Jays are also ranked 9th in the Inside Lacrosse/Nike Media Poll. UMBC is ranked 6th in the Coaches Poll and 8th in the Media Poll. This is the first time in series history that the teams will meet with UMBC ranked higher than Johns Hopkins.

More Poll Position: Records indicate that the USILA began sponsoring a weekly coaches poll during the 1973 season. Since then there have been 348 weekly polls. Amazingly, Johns Hopkins has been ranked in the top 20 in all 348 of those polls and has been in the top 10 in 337 of the 348. Below is a breakdown of the Blue Jays' in the USILA Coaches Poll since its inception on March 19, 1973:

Total Weeks: 348

Total Weeks at #1: 102
Weeks in top 5: 276
Weeks in top 10: 337
Weeks in top 20: 348

Most Consecutive at #1: 14: 4/12/04-5/9/05
Most Consecutive in top 5: 130: 3/19/73-3/23/87
Most Consecutive in top 10: 158: 3/19/73-3/25/90
Most Consecutive in top 20: 348: 3/19/73-present

Poll Notes: In some years a preseason poll was not conducted • In some years a preseason poll was conducted, but the second poll of that season may have been held until after several weeks of the season passed • In some years a poll was conducted after the NCAA Tournament.

Lucky Number Nine: Years ending with the number nine have been kind to the Blue Jays since the program's inception in 1883. Johns Hopkins has played 12 seasons in years ending in nine and has compiled an 89-19-2 record with seven national championships in those 12 years. The Blue Jays also played in the 1989 national championship game and advanced to the final four in 1999.

Streaking: Johns Hopkins is 74-17 in its last 91 regular season games dating back to the end of the 2001 season and is 89-22 overall since the start of the 2002 season.

Defensive Notes of Interest:
• Princeton scored 14 goals against the Blue Jays last week - that's the most JHU has allowed since Duke scored 17 in a 17-6 win over JHU last season.
• Johns Hopkins held Siena to just three goals in the season-opener. That's the fewest JHU has allowed in a season-opener since 1982.
• The Blue Jays held Siena scoreless for the final 45:50 and limited the Saints to just six shots in the second half, including none in the third quarter.
• Johns Hopkins held the opposition scoreless for a streak of 14 minutes or longer 21 times in 17 games last season. Since the start of the 2007 season the Blue Jays have held the opposition scoreless for a streak of 14 minutes or longer 38 times.
• Hopkins has held the opposition scoreless for 25 minutes or longer 14 times since the start of the 2007 season, including seven times last season.
• The Blue Jays have held 19 of their last 25 opponents - including 13 of 17 last season - scoreless for a stretch of at least 18 minutes.

Offensive Notes of Interest:
While the focus of any Dave Pietramala-coached team will always be defense, the Blue Jay offense has also been effective. Consider:
• As a team the Blue Jays scored on 31.2% of their shots last season (179-of-573). JHU connected on 28.8% of its shots en route to winning the national championship in 2007. The Blue Jays' highest shooting percentage in the Pietramala era came in 2003, when they connected on 31.7% (224-of-706) of their shots.
• JHU has scored in double figures 19 times in its last 25 games and is averaging 10.8 goals per game during that time (270 goals in 25 games).
• Johns Hopkins has scored at least one goal in 51 straight quarters dating back to the first quarter of last season's game against North Carolina.

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. JHU won all seven of its games last season against in-state rivals (UMBC, Maryland, Navy-twice, Towson, Mount St. Mary's, Loyola) and the Blue Jays are 39-2 (.951) against teams from Maryland under head coach Dave Pietramala. Below is a breakdown of JHU's record against teams from the state of Maryland under Pietramala's guidance:

Loyola / 8-0
Maryland / 6-2
Mount St. Mary's / 3-0
Navy / 9-0
Towson / 9-0
UMBC / 4-0

One-Goal Turnarounds: With a 10-9 win over Duke in the NCAA Semifinals last season, Johns Hopkins is now 31-9 in one-goal games since Dave Pietramala took over in 2001. The Blue Jays have won 18 of their last 23 and 22 of their last 28 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 15 times during their last 18 one-goal wins. In 10 of those 15 come-from-behind one-goal wins the Blue Jays came back from a deficit of two goals or more. The latest of these come-from-behind one-goal wins came against Duke in the 2008 NCAA Tournament, when the Blue Jays erased a 2-1 second-quarter deficit.

Extra, Extra: JHU is 13-5 all-time in overtime under head coach Dave Pietramala's guidance, including an impressive 6-3 on the road.

Players on the 2009 team who have scored game-winning goals in overtime during their career:

• Senior Brian Christopher scored 1:22 into OT against Loyola on May 6, 2006.
• Junior 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 last season.

Evans, Drenan Named to Tewaaraton Watch List: Senior defenders Michael Evans and Matt Drenan were recently named to the 2009 Tewaaraton Watch List. The players on the list were nominaed by coaches across the country. Johns Hopkins produced the 2005 Tewaaraton Award winner (Kyle Harrison) and Paul Rabil was a finalist for the award in 2007 and 2008. The award is presented annually to the top male and famale lacrosse players in the country.

Player Notes of Interest Included in PDF Version