March 26, 2008

Johns Hopkins-North Carolina Men's Lacrosse Notes in PDF Format

JHU-UNC Miscellaneous Notes

Game-by-Game Recaps

Setting the Scene: Johns Hopkins returns home for the second of four straight games against ACC teams as the Blue Jays (3-3) welcome North Carolina (6-2) to Homewood Field.

Looking Back: Johns Hopkins dropped its third straight overtime decision and fell to then second-ranked Virginia, 13-12. North Carolina is also coming off a loss as the Tar Heels dropped a 13-8 decision at home against Maryland last Saturday evening.

These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters the game against North Carolina with an all-time record of 874-275-15 (.757). The Blue Jays own nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 44 championships.

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.

Yes, That's 599 Games Over .500: Including last week's loss to Virginia the Blue Jays' all-time record is now 874-275-15 ... that's 599 games over .500. To put this in perspective: JHU has played an average of just under 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 would fall one game below .500.

Poll Position: Johns Hopkins is ranked eighth in this week's USILA Coaches Poll and sixth in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. North Carolina is ranked ninth in the USILA Coaches Poll and 10th in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll this week. To clarify, the Johns Hopkins Sports Information Office uses the USILA Coaches Poll to reflect JHU's official ranking at the time of a game.

A Tough Stretch: This week's game against North Carolina is the third in a six-game stretch against teams that currently rank in the top 10 in the USILA Coaches Poll. JHU played second-ranked Syracuse on March 15 before taking on currently top-ranked Virginia last week. After this week's game against ninth-ranked North Carolina, the Blue Jays will sandwich road games at third-ranked Duke and 10th-ranked Navy around a home game against Maryland, which is currently ranked fourth. The combined record of those six teams is currently 43-7 (.860).

Rare Losing Streak: Last Saturday's loss against Virginia was JHU's third straight. The three-game losing streak is just the second losing streak for the Blue Jays under head coach Dave Pietramala. JHU dropped three straight last season before rallying to win its last nine games en route to winning the NCAA Championship for the second time in three years. These are the only two losing streaks under Pietramala.

No Cause for Panic: While many may be tempted to start pushing the panic button, head coach Dave Pietramala and his Blue Jays have been in this position before. In Pietramala's first season (2001), the Blue Jays stood at 2-2 after a 4OT loss to Virginia, but rallied to win six of their next seven. In 2006 JHU stood at 3-3 after a loss at Virginia, but again rallied to win six of its next seven. Finally, the 2007 Blue Jays dropped three straight at one point to fall to 4-4, but won nine straight to end the season and capture the NCAA Championship.

Number One Perspective: Johns Hopkins has played 53 games as the top-ranked team in the nation since the beginning of the 2002 season. That's more than all of other Division I men's lacrosse teams in the nation have combined to play as the top-ranked team in the nation over the same period of time.

One-Goal Turnarounds: The three straight losses to Hofstra (8-7), Syracuse (14-13) and Virginia (13-12) are rare one-goal losses for the Blue Jays under head coach Dave Pietramala. Johns Hopkins is now 30-9 in one-goal games since Pietramala took over in 2001. Despite the losses, the Blue Jays have won 17 of their last 22 and 21 of their last 27 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 in the 2007 NCAA Tournament, when the Blue Jays erased a 4-1 second-quarter deficit.

In Case We Go Extra: The loss at Hofstra snapped a nine-game winning streak for the Blue Jays in overtime games. The Blue Jays had won nine straight overtime games dating back to a 10-9 win at Navy in 2004 before the loss to the Pride. Including last week's loss to Virginia, JHU is 13-5 all-time in overtime under Pietramala's guidance, including an impressive 6-3 in overtime games played on the road.

Players on the 2008 team who have 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 last season.

More Overtime: The three consecutive overtime games for the Blue Jays against Hofstra, Syracuse and Virginia mark the first time Johns Hopkins has ever played three straight overtime games. Twice previously the Blue Jays had played two consecutive overtime games (1982 and 1988).

Comeback Kids: The Blue Jays trailed - albeit briefly- vs. Albany and as late as early in the third quarter against UMBC. 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 68-14 in its last 82 regular season games dating back to the end of the 2001 season and is 80-18 overall since the start of the 2002 season.

A Defensive Group: Johns Hopkins held all 17 of its opponents scoreless for a span of least 9:30 last season and held the opposition scoreless for a span of 10:45 or longer 23 times during the 2007 season. The Blue Jays have picked up right where they left off last season as they held Albany scoreless for a streak of 27:03 during the season-opening win, kept Princeton off the board for the first 23:04 and held Hofstra without a goal for 37:56. The streak of over 37 scoreless minutes for the Pride marks the eighth time since the start of the 2007 season that Hopkins has held an opponent scoreless for 25 minutes or longer. Other scoreless streak notes of interest:

• JHU has held the opposition scoreless for a streak of 14 minutes or longer 24 times since the start of the 2007 season, including seven times in six games this season.

• The Blue Jays have held 10 of their last 12 opponents - including five of six this season - scoreless for a stretch of at least 18 minutes.

More Defensive: Albany scored its first goal just 36 seconds into the game against JHU. The Great Danes scored exactly one more goal in the next 41:21.

Still More Defensive: Princeton scored exactly one goal in the first 35:18 against JHU.

A Final Defensive: Hofstra scored six goals in the first 13:02 against the Blue Jays. The Pride didn't score again until just 9:02 remained in the fourth quarter.

Don't Forget the Offense: While the focus of any Dave Pietramala-coached team will always be defense, the Blue Jay offense has gotten off to a good start this season. Consider:

• As a team the Blue Jays have scored on 33.2% of their shots through six games (66-of-199). JHU connected on 28.8% of its shots en route to winning the national championship a year ago. 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.
• Dating back to the end of last season, JHU has scored in double figures 10 times in its last 12 games and is averaging 11.5 goals per game during that time.

More Offense: Johns Hopkins has scored more than one goal in 21 of the 27 quarters thus far (includes overtime periods). Take away the three overtime periods (when it would be impossible to score more than once) and JHU has scored more than one goal in 21 of 24 full-length quarters.

Playing the Possession Game: JHU has won the ground ball war in five of its six games this season and has a 225-192 ground ball advantage on the year (+5.5 GBs per game). JHU held a 40-31 advantage on GBs against Princeton one week after taking the same battle by a 40-29 count against Albany. Hofstra is the only team that has won the ground ball battle against the Blue Jays this season (31-29).

Additional information and player notes of interest included in PDF Version

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