April 22, 2008

Johns Hopkins-Towson Men's Lacrosse Notes

Johns Hopkins-Towson Miscellaneous Notes

Game-by-Game Recaps

Setting the Scene: Johns Hopkins plays the first of two straight at home as the Blue Jays host local rival Towson.

Looking Back: The Blue Jays improved to 5-5 with their second straight win, a 12-5 victory at Navy last Saturday. Towson suffered a crushing 7-4 loss to Villanova last Friday night at home to slip to 4-8.

These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters the game against Towson with an all-time record of 876-277-15 (.756). 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.

That's 599 Games Over .500: Including last week's win against Navy, the Blue Jays' all-time record is now 876-277-15 ... 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 sixth in this week's USILA Coaches Poll and sixth in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. Towson does not appear in the USILA Coaches Poll and is listed as receiving votes 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: Last week's game against Navy was the sixth for Johns Hopkins in a brutal six-game stretch against teams that currently rank in the top 14 in the USILA Coaches Poll. Based on current rankings, JHU played top-ranked Syracuse, second-ranked Duke, third-ranked Virginia, eighth-ranked Maryland, 12th-ranked North Carolina and 14th-ranked Navy. The combined record of those six teams is currently 60-16 (.789).

April Reign: Flipping the calendar to April has usually been a good sign for the Blue Jays, who won four-of-five games in April last season to jump-start their run to the national championship. Including last week's win over Navy, the Blue Jays are 34-4 (.895) under head coach Dave Pietramala in games played in April. Amazingly, the loss at Duke (Apri 5) was JHU's first road loss in the month of April since a 10-9 setback at Maryland on April 14, 2001.

State Rivalries: Without question the Blue Jays play one of the most difficult schedules in the nation and a big part of that schedule are the in-state rivalries the Blue Jays have. Tonight's game against Towson will be the fourth of the year for Johns Hopkins against a team from the state of Maryland. JHU has won all three of its games this season against in-state rivals (UMBC, Maryland, Navy) and the Blue Jays are 35-2 (.946) against teams from Maryland under head coach Dave Pietramala.

In Case You Didn't Notice: Johns Hopkins has scored a goal in the first 10 seconds of the third quarter in each of the last two games. Stephen Peyser cleanly won the opening faceoff of the third quarter against Maryland and needed just four seconds to score, while he won the first faceoff of the third period against Navy and fed junior Tom Duerr, who fed senior Michael Doneger on the doorstep for a goal just seven seconds into the second half.

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 the OT 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 70-16 in its last 86 regular season games dating back to the end of the 2001 season and is 82-20 overall since the start of the 2002 season.

Defensive Turnaround: Johns Hopkins allowed 57 goals in consecutive losses to Syracuse, Virginia, North Carolina and Duke. However, the Blue Jay defense has rebounded nicely in the last two weeks with standout showings in wins over Maryland (10-4) and Navy (12-5). The nine goals allowed are the fewest in back-to-back games since Loyola (6) and Penn (3) combined for nine against JHU in May, 2006. It is also the first time JHU has held back-to-back opponents to five goals or less since 2003, when Hopkins held Canisius (5) and Navy (3) to five or less.

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 at one point. In last week's win against Navy the Blue Jays kept the Midshipmen off the scoreboard for a stretch of 32:34 bridging the second and fourth quarters.
Hopkins has held an opponent scoreless for 25 minutes or longer nine times since the start of the 2007 season. Other scoreless streak notes of interest:

• The four goals the Blue Jays allowed against Maryland are the fewest Hopkins has allowed against a team ranked in the top 10 under head coach Dave Pietramala. The last time JHU held a top-10 opponent to four goals or less was on April 16, 1999, when JHU beat then seventh-ranked Maryland, 13-3. Prior to the Maryland game the Blue Jays had allowed 13 or more goals in four straight games.

• JHU has held the opposition scoreless for a streak of 14 minutes or longer 28 times since the start of the 2007 season, including 11 times in 10 games this season.

• The Blue Jays have held 12 of their last 16 opponents - including seven of 10 this season - scoreless for a stretch of at least 18 minutes.

More Defensive Notes of Interest: • 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.
• Princeton scored exactly one goal in the first 35:18 against JHU.
• 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.
• Maryland scored exactly two goals in the first 40:24 against JHU.
• Navy scored three goals in the opening 56:46 before scoring twice in the final 3:14.

Don't Forget the Offense: While the focus of any Dave Pietramala-coached team will always be defense, the Blue Jay offense has been effective as well this season. Consider:
• As a team the Blue Jays have scored on 31.0% of their shots through 10 games (102-of-329). 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 12 times in its last 16 games and is averaging 10.9 goals per game during that time (174 goals in 16 games).

Playing the Possession Game: JHU has won the ground ball war in eight of its 10 games this season and has a 348-310 ground ball advantage on the year (+3.8 GBs per game). Hofstra (31-29) and Duke (40-38) are the only two teams to win the ground ball battle against JHU this season.

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 and fathers who have coached their sons to championships, 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.

Player notes of interest included in PDF Version

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