March 19, 2004

Don't mean to waste your time, but there is no reason to play the first 55 minutes of today's game between Johns Hopkins and Syracuse. Lets just skip to the final five minutes, because that's when this game will be decided. Heck, lets just skip to the final minute and call it 12-12.

The Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team will play its much-publicized 100th game against the University of Maryland on April 17, 2004. While that rivalry is regarded by some as the best in college lacrosse (the number of games played plus the proximity of the schools adds to the lure), the Blue Jays are also celebrating another "anniversary" this season.

The 2004 season is the 25th since the Johns Hopkins-Syracuse rivalry kicked into high gear with an 18-11 Blue Jay victory over the Orangemen in the 1980 NCAA Semifinals. Sure, the teams met 10 times before 1980, but it had been 12 years since their last meeting when they hooked up in the 1980 semifinals. The ensuing years have seen some of the greatest games and greatest players the sport has generated in the last quarter century.

"The Syracuse-Hopkins game is one that players, coaches and fans alike all look forward to," Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala noted in a bit of an understatement. "Both programs are rich in lacrosse tradition and each year are among the nation's elite. This, coupled with how evenly-matched both teams have been - despite different styles - has made this one of the great rivalries in college lacrosse."

For a series to be considered a rivalry it must be competitive. Has there been a more competitive series in college lacrosse in the last two decades than the Johns Hopkins-Syracuse series? Arguments will be made by many for other rivalries, but when it comes to finding two more evenly-matched opponents, you'd be hard-pressed to match Hopkins-Syracuse.

"If you look at the Johns Hopkins-Syracuse games during the last 25 years, they have generally been high-scoring and close," noted former Blue Jay goalie Larry Quinn, who guided the Blue Jays to the 1984 and 1985 NCAA Championships with victories over Syracuse. "Fans love high-scoring games that come down to the wire and some of the most well-attended games in lacrosse during that time have been the Hopkins-Syracuse games. Put the crowd, the scoring and the tight games together and this is easily the most competitive series over the last two decades."

Throw out the 19-8 victory for the Blue Jays in last season's NCAA Semifinals and the 19-7 Syracuse win in the 1988 season-opener. The series is highlighted by last-minute game-winning goals and amazing comebacks. Being ranked or seeded higher is irrelevant. Perhaps there has never been a more appropriate use of the phrase, "when those teams get together you can throw out the records (which are usually pretty good anyway)" than when applied to the Johns Hopkins-Syracuse rivalry.

Consider the following:

As expected, the Johns Hopkins-Syracuse games of the last 25 years have also featured some of the best players in either school's history. Yet, having those players didn't necessarily translate into success.

Current Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala played at JHU from 1986-89. He is generally regarded as one of the top defensive players in the history of college lacrosse and is building just as impressive of a resume as a head coach. Yet, as a player, he was on the winning side just once in five games against the Orangemen. Not surprisingly, four of the five were decided by one goal.

Pietramala has reversed that trend as the head coach of the Blue Jays, who are 3-1 against the Orangemen under his guidance. The first three games were decided by one goal (in all three instances, the trailing team had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds).

Has there been a more exciting player to watch in lacrosse in the last 10 years than Mike Powell (well, other than maybe his brothers, but even they couldn't do some of the things he does)? Powell is ticketed to become just the fourth player in the history of college lacrosse to be named a First Team All-American four times and he will go down as one of the best offensive players in the history of the game. His record against Johns Hopkins: 1-3 with, you guessed it, three one-goal games mixed in.

With such a list of close games, it's hard to pick the best. Do you differentiate between regular-season games and NCAA Tournament Games? While the NCAA games certainly have had more at stake, the regular-season matchups have provided a May-like atmosphere in March and April.

While the 1980 matchup jump-started the current 25-year period, the 1983 title-game is often referred to as the start of the rivalry. In fact, many at Syracuse refer to that game as "the beginning" of what has become one of the best runs in college sports history.

Hopkins led 12-5 with seven minutes remaining in the third quarter of the `83 title game before a stunning, 10-1 Syracuse run gave the Orange a 15-13 lead. The Blue Jays fought back to tie the game, but SU got its first title with a 17-16 victory.

Hopkins bounced back to win the NCAA Title in 1984 and 1985 with title-game victories over Syracuse. The first, a 13-10 win in 1984, saw the Blue Jays jump to a six-goal lead, hold off a furious SU rally and then pull away for the win. In 1985 Syracuse jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first 10 minutes, only to have JHU score four straight goals in the final five minutes of the first quarter. Quinn and the Blue Jays allowed just one goal in the final three quarters and cruised to an 11-4 victory.

The 1989 season saw a pair of epic battles, both of which were decided by one goal. Hopkins took a 14-13 decision in the season-opener to hand the Gait brothers their only loss in their final three seasons.

The rematch 11 weeks later was just as thrilling as Syracuse held on for a 13-12 victory. Syracuse led by one with under a minute to play when Pietramala stripped Gary Gait of the ball to give the Blue Jays one final chance to win. After a timeout, Hopkins worked the ball perfectly to John Dressel, whose point-blank shot was stopped by Syracuse goalie Matt Palumb.

The 1990s saw no shortage of hard-fought, down-to-the-wire affairs. An overtime win for the Blue Jays in 1995 during the regular season at the Carrier Dome was a highlight of a season that saw Hopkins post its last undefeated regular season, while a somewhat surprising 14-10 win for Hopkins in 1996 assured the Blue Jays of a trip to the NCAA Tournament after losing most of the offensive talent that led the way the year before.

Syracuse won the 2000 NCAA Championship with a 13-7 win over Princeton in the title game, but it was a 14-12 win over Hopkins in the NCAA Semifinals that most people remember about that rain-soaked weekend at Maryland's Byrd Stadium.

Senior midfielder A.J. Haugen netted a career-high five goals and freshman Tim Muir tied the game at 12-12 with less than five minutes remaining, but the Orangemen broke the tie with just over two minutes remaining and added an insurance goal late to seal the win.

Pietramala's first team at Hopkins in 2001 pulled off a big upset as the Blue Jays defeated then top-ranked Syracuse in the Dome, 11-10. The Blue Jays added a stunning, 9-8 come-from-behind win in 2002 against the top-ranked Orangemen (JHU trained 7-4 with less than eight minutes to play and SU led the game for over 52 minutes), before SU returned the favor with a come-from-behind win of its own during the 2003 regular season (15-14 / SU erased an early 8-2 deficit as Powell tied his career high with eight points).

Despite the even matchups, Syracuse had the best of the series in the NCAA Tournament from the 1989 title game through the 2000 semifinals. The Blue Jays, who are in the midst of their best three-year run since the 1980s, snapped a streak of seven straight losses in the NCAA Semifinals with the 19-8 win over the Orangemen last May at M&T Bank Stadium.

Like the two previous games, it was game-turning run that led to victory. After falling behind 3-0 early, the Blue Jays battled back to within 7-5 late in the second quarter. A shocking 14-0 run gave the Blue Jays a 19-7 lead as Hopkins advanced to the title game for the first time since 1989.

What's in store today? Again, throw out the rare blowouts in this series. Hopkins enters the game ranked number one in the nation for the third straight week, while the high-flying Orangemen are ranked third. This is the seventh straight game in the series where one of the teams enters ranked number one.

Syracuse has scored at least 18 goals in each of its first three games (the first time SU has scored 18 or more in three straight since 1995) and Powell is averaging a robust 6.3 points per game.

Hopkins hasn't quite been that efficient offensively (who is?), but the Blue Jays offer a nice balance of offense (13.5 goals/game) and defense (just 6.5 goals allowed/game).

Contrasting styles? Maybe, but the results always seem to be the same, especially when these two teams get together.

"The competitiveness of this series is evident in the results from year to year," Pietramala added. "We have tremendous respect for the Syracuse program, its players and coaches. It's always nice to see how you matchup with the best teams in the nation and we look forward to the challenges that Syracuse presents."

If lacrosse fans have their way, today's game may just be the preliminary for May's main event.

By Ernie Larossa

Associate Director of Athletics

Johns Hopkins University