The Game: Johns Hopkins (6-4, 1-1 B1G) heads to Happy Valley to take on Penn State (7-4, 1-1 B1G) in a key midseason Big Ten game. Faceoff is set for 7 pm on Sunday, April 17 and the game will air live on the Big Ten Network.
A Look Back: Johns Hopkins picked up its first Big Ten win of the season as the Blue Jays edged Ohio State, 13-12, at Homewood Field last Saturday. Penn State dropped an 11-10 overtime decision at home against Maryland last Sunday night.
Series History: Johns Hopkins and Penn State are meeting for the eighth time in series history. Johns Hopkins swept both meetings last season, including a 14-9 decision in the Big Ten Semifinals. Detailed series information can be found on page 12.
These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters this week’s game against Penn State with an all-time record of 961-319-15 (.748). The Blue Jays own nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 44 national championships.
Poll Position: Johns Hopkins is ranked 17th in this week’s USILA Coaches Poll and is tied for 14th in the Cascade/Maverick Media Poll. Penn State is ranked 14th in the USILA Coaches Poll and tied for 14th in the Cascade/Maverick Media Poll.
Something B1G: Johns Hopkins’ last five games of the regular season are all Big Ten games. The Blue Jays are 5-2 all-time in B1G regular season play as they posted a 4-1 mark in last season’s inaugural year and stand at 1-1 this season.
B1G at Home: Johns Hopkins is 4-0 all-time in Big Ten home games as the Blue Jays topped Rutgers, Penn State and Michigan at Homewood Field last season and added the 13-12 win over Ohio State last week.
B1G Road: Johns Hopkins posted a 1-1 record in two Big Ten road games last season and now stand at 1-2 all-time on the road in B1G play after the recent loss at Rutgers.
Blue Jays Win First-Ever Big 10 Tournament: Johns Hopkins earned the first conference title in school history with a 13-6 win over Ohio State in last season’s Big Ten title game. The Big Ten sponsored men’s lacrosse for the first time in 2015. JHU shared the regular season title with Maryland, earned the top seed in the tournament via a head-to-head win against the Terps and then topped Penn State and Ohio State in the tournament to claim the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Schedule Update: Please note that the time of the Johns Hopkins-Michigan game on April 23 has been moved to 5 pm. It was originally scheduled for 7 pm. The game will air live on the Big Ten Network.
It’s Been a While: The 19 goals Johns Hopkins scored at UMBC on March 30 are the most for the Blue Jays this season, the most they’ve scored in a game since a 19-7 win at Virginia in the first round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament and the most in a regular season game since March 5, 2013, when JHU topped Mount St. Mary’s 19-9.
Yes, They Belong to Pietramala: Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse coach Dave Pietramala missed the games against Syracuse, Virginia, UMBC and Rutgers. Although the team was led by associate head coach Bill Dwan in each of those games, per NCAA policy, Pietramala is credited with the victories (2) and defeats (2) in his record.
That’s 175: The 13-12 win last week against Ohio State was the 175th for Dave Pietramala as the head coach at Johns Hopkins. Since returning to Homewood in 2001, Pietramala now boasts a record 175-66 (.726)
Closing on 200: The win against Ohio State was the 198th in the college coaching career of Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse coach Dave Pietramala. Pietramala’s overall record now stands at 198-83 (.705) and his record at Johns Hopkins is 175-66 (.726).
That’s Tough: Through games of April 12, Johns Hopkins had the third toughest schedule in the nation based on the cumulative record of all of its regular season opponents. The Blue Jays’ 13 regular season opponents have posted a combined record of 79-50 (.612) through games of April 12.
Most Viewed – Part I: Johns Hopkins ranks fourth in the nation in average home attendance through games of April 12 as the Blue Jays have averaged 2,643 fans for their first five home games. Only five teams are averaging more than 2,000 fans per home game with Syracuse (4,625), Notre Dame (2,709), Maryland (2,678) and Denver (2,541) joining Johns Hopkins as only teams in the nation averaging more than 2,000 fans per home game.
Against the Big Ten: While this is just the second season of Big Ten men’s lacrosse, the Blue Jays are no strangers to the teams in the league. In fact, this week’s game against Penn State will be the 168th all-time for Johns Hopkins against a team in the Big Ten. The Blue Jays are currently 119-47-1 (.716) in the previous 167 games against Big Ten teams. A majority of the previous 167 have come against long-time rival Maryland (113-of-167).
Balanced Scoring: Through 10 games, Johns Hopkins is using a balanced scoring attack to average 12.6 goals per game. The Blue Jays, who rank 12th in the nation in scoring offense, have eight different players who have scored eight or more goals and 10 players with five or more points thus far.
In all, Johns Hopkins has gotten goals from 17 different players, assists from 16 different players and 21 players have at least one point.
In the entire 2015 season, Johns Hopkins got goals from 14 players and assists from 15 players – marks the Blue Jays have already surpassed through just 10 games.
Scoring From Different Places: In addition to the scoring the Blue Jays are receiving from the attack and midfield, the Blue Jays are also getting production from their faceoff specialists, defensive midfielders (LSM & SSDM) and close defensemen. In fact, through 10 games, players who play these positions have combined for seven goals and six assists.
Brown, Stanwick on Tewaaraton Watch List: Senior attackman Ryan Brown and sophomore attackman Shack Stanwick are among the 65 men’s players listed on the 2016 Tewaaraton Watch List. Brown was among the 50 original players named on February 23, while Stanwick was among 15 players added to the list on March 17.
The Tewaaraton Award annually honors the top male and female college lacrosse player in the United States.
Brown Has Nation’s Fifth-Longest Streak: Senior attackman Ryan Brown extended his point-scoring streak to 44 games with three goals and one assist against Ohio State. The streak is tied for the fifth-longest active streak in the nation entering this week’s game against Ohio State and is the longest by a Johns Hopkins player since Terry Riordan had a school-record 56-game streak from 1992-95.
New Faces on Defense: Juniors Nick Fields (D) and Joe Carlini (SSDM) are the only two players who saw extended regular playing time on defense last season for the Blue Jays who are back in the rotation this season.
Fields is joined on close defense by freshman Patrick Foley, junior transfer Austin Spencer and graduate student transfer Ben Kellar. Kellar started the first three games, but Spencer has stepped in since then with Kellar coming off the bench. Spencer had been playing long stick midfield before moving down low. Carlini’s regular linemates include freshman Robert Kuhn (LSM), senior Derrick Kihembo (LSM), sophomores Tal Bruno (SSDM) and Chris Hubler (SSDM) and senior Kelton Black (SSDM).
In addition to their efforts on defense, Fields (1g, 1a), Kuhn (2a), Foley (1g), Kihembo (1g), Bruno (1g), and Carlini (2a) have also worked their way onto the scoresheet.
Add in sophomore goalie Brock Turnbaugh, who is in his first season as a starter, and senior Matt O’Keefe, a man-down specialist, and the wholesale changes on that end of the field are even more obvious.
Extra-Extra: Johns Hopkins has scored at least two extra-man goals in seven of its 10 games this season and is currently 18-of-34 (.529) in extra-man situations on the year. Johns Hopkins ranks second in the nation in extra-man percentage and the Blue Jays are one of just seven teams converting at better than 50%.
More Extra-Extra: Johns Hopkins scored 38 extra-man goals in 2015 and much of the damage was done by players who are back this season. In fact, players who accounted for all 38 Blue Jay extra-man goals are back, while 23 of the team’s 33 assists accumulated on the extra-man are also back. Hopkins converted 38-of-82 (.463) extra-man chances last season to finish 11th in the nation. The 38 extra-man goals the Blue Jays scored last season were the most for Johns Hopkins since 2003 (40).
Scoring Droughts: After allowing a total of 35 goals in the first three games (11.7/game), the Blue Jay defense has held the opposition to a total of just 73 goals in its last seven outings (10.4) – despite the wholesale changes in personnel noted above.
A big part of the unit’s success has been its ability to hold the opposition scoreless for long stretches. In fact, through 10 games, Johns Hopkins has already held the opposition without a goal for a stretch of 10 minutes or longer 17 times and 15 minutes or longer four times.
In Overtime: With the recent 13-12 loss at Virginia, Johns Hopkins is 23-14 (.622) all-time in overtime under head coach Dave Pietramala. The Blue Jays had won three straight overtime games before the setback in Charlottesville.
One Goal Games: With last week’s 13-12 win against Ohio State, Johns Hopkins is 49-25 (.662) in one-goal games under head coach Dave Pietramala.
More One Goal Games: Johns Hopkins has played 74 games that have been decided by one goal since head coach Dave Pietramala took over in 2001. The 74 games represent 30.7% of the games Johns Hopkins has played under his direction (74-of-241).
In the Polls: The Blue Jays are ranked 17th in this week’s USILA Coaches Poll. The Johns Hopkins Athletic Communications Office uses the USILA Poll to represent JHU’s official ranking at the time of a game. Prior to falling out of the top 20 of the USILA Poll on April 26 and May 3, 2010 (JHU was receiving votes in both polls), the Blue Jays had been ranked in the top 20 in 367 consecutive polls dating back to the first poll in 1973.
More Polls: Including the most recent USILA Poll, there have been 445 weekly polls since the inception of the poll in 1973. Amazingly, JHU has been ranked in the top 20 in 440 of those 445 polls (98.9%). The Blue Jays have been in the top 10 in 401 of the 445 and the top five in 304 of those 445. Johns Hopkins has been ranked number one 104 times since the poll debuted in 1973.