Johns Hopkins Men's Soccer Weekly Notes

Blue Jays Wrap-Up Regular Season this Week

Printer-Friendly Format

E-mail this article

Junior Matt Mierley leads the Centennial Conference in goals against average.

Men's Soccer Home

HEADLINES

Johns Hopkins Announces Senior Award Winners

2008 Johns Hopkins Men's Soccer Season Review

Carlson Earns NSCAA All-America Honors for Second Consecutive Season

• Email this to a friend

Oct. 28, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

A Look Back: For the fourth time in as many meetings, Johns Hopkins and Franklin & Marshall played into overtime. This time the match ended in a scoreless draw on a wet and windy day at Homewood Field last Saturday. The draw assured Hopkins of its eighth consecutive Centennial Conference playoff appearance.

The Week Ahead: Johns Hopkins wraps up the regular season this week with a road trip to Gettysburg and a Halloween matchup at Homewood Field with Washington College. Wednesday night’s game will be the 72nd meeting between Hopkins and Gettysburg in a series that dates all the way back to 1936. The Blue Jays lead the all-time series 43-19-9. Since the Centennial Conference began in 1993, Hopkins is 10-5-5 against Gettysburg. The Blue Jays beat the Bullets last season 4-1 to claim their seventh Centennial Conference title.

Hopkins and Washington will square off for the 64th time on Friday night. This will be the third time the two have met on Halloween and the first since 1986. The Blue Jays lead the series 39-22-2 and are 15-0-0 against the Shoremen since 1993. The last five meetings between the two have been decided by one goal.

At the Helm: Head coach Craig Appleby is in his first season at Johns Hopkins and carries an 11-2-3 record with the Blue Jays. Appleby came to JHU after spending six seasons as the head coach of Emory & Henry.

Twenty-One: Head coach Craig Appleby boasts an 11-2-3 (.781) record through his first 16 games. He is the first coach since 1987 and just the second ever to boast a win percentage of .775 or better through their first 16 games as head coach.

Welcome Back David: Sophomore forward David Drake missed six games earlier this season due to injury. He returned to action on Sept. 24 at Neumann but did not return to the starting line-up until Oct. 4 against Muhlenberg. After tallying just one assist prior to his injury, Drake has four goals in his last five games.

The Clincher: Johns Hopkins clinched its eighth Centennial Conference Tournament appearance with a tie against Franklin & Marshall on Saturday. The Blue Jays are just one of two teams in the conference that have appeared in all seven previous Centennial Tournaments.

The Home Stretch: Johns Hopkins is in the home stretch of the regular season with just two games remaining before the conference tournament. The Blue Jays are in second place in the Centennial Conference standings entering this last week. Hopkins sits just one point behind first place Swarthmore.

On the Move: Senior Nick Gauna enters this week’s action with 80 career points, ranking him eighth all-time in school history. In addition, he is tied for 11th with 27 career goals and fourth with 26 career assists. In Centennial Conference history, he is tied for ninth in career assists and 23rd in career points.

Scott Bukoski is also making his mark on the record book. The sophomore already ranks in the top-15 in career points and goals. He ranks 13th with 69 points and tied for eighth with 29 goals. Last season, he became just the fifth player in program history to score 20 or more goals in one season.

In the Ranks: After a scoreless tie against Franklin & Marshall on Saturday, Johns Hopkins dropped one spot from #9 to #10 in this week’s NSCAA Poll. JHU also slipped a spot in the Middle Atlantic region and is ranked second this week.

Home Sweet Home: Historic Homewood Field has been the definition of home field advantage for the Blue Jays, especially in Centennial Conference play. Since the inception of the conference in 1993, Hopkins is 52-3-4 (.915) at home in regular season conference games. In the Centennial Conference Tournament, the Blue Jays are 4-1-3 (.687) at home.

Leading the Way: Sophomore forward Scott Bukoski continues to lead the Centennial Conference in six of the nine offensive categories, including points (23), goals (9) and game-winning goals (4). Junior Matt Mierley leads the Centennial Conference in goals against average (0.60) Hopkins leads the Centennial Conference in four of the six team offensive categories, including points (98) and assists (26).

Preseason Favorite: The Blue Jays were favored to win their eighth Centennial Conference title in the 2008 Centennial Conference Preseason Coaches Poll. Hopkins picked up 77 points with seven first-place votes. The Blue Jays have been the preseason favorite for six straight years, dating back to the 2003 preseason coaches poll.