Oct. 4, 2007
BALTIMORE, MD -- Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse coach Dave Pietramala announced today that four players have been selected to serve as team captains for the upcoming 2008 season. Johns Hopkins, which won its ninth NCAA Championship in 2007 and its second in the last three years, will open the 2008 season at home on Saturday, February 23 against Albany.
Senior attackman Michael Doneger (Hewlett, NY/Lynbrook), senior midfielders Stephen Peyser (Lloyd Harbor, NY/Cold Spring Harbor) and Paul Rabil (Gaithersburg, MD/DeMatha) and senior defenseman Eric Zerrlaut (Gambrills, MD/St. Mary's) were selected in a vote by their teammates to serve as team captains for the 2008 season. This will be the first time any of the four has served as a team captain.
Doneger has played in 36 games since arriving at Hopkins and has been a key member of the Blue Jay extra-man unit during his career. He has scored 19 goals in his career, including five during each of Johns Hopkins' national championship seasons during his career (2005, 2007), and a personal-best nine in 2006. His is the second member of the Doneger family to serve as a team captain under Pietramala as his older brother, Adam, captained the 2003 Hopkins lacrosse team.
Peyser has played in 39 games in his career and started all 17 during the 2007 season. A standout midfielder/face-off specialist, Peyser earned Third Team USILA All-America honors and a spot on the NCAA All-Tournament Team last season, when he posted career highs of 16 goals and 10 assists for 26 points. He also won 106-of-189 (.561) faceoffs and led the team with 80 ground balls. He was particularly effective during JHU's nine-game season-ending winning streak as he won 69-of-112 (.616) faceoffs and grabbed 55 ground balls during the late-season surge. He is the third member of the Peyser family to serve as a team captain under Pietramala as his older brothers, Michael and Greg, captained the 2003 and 2006 teams, respectively.
Rabil enters his final season as one of the most decorated players in school history. A two-time First Team USILA All-American, the 2007 McLaughlin Award winner as the nation's top midfielder and a finalist for the 2007 Tewaaraton Trophy, he has played in all 47 games in his career with 43 starts to his credit. He paced the team in scoring in each of the last two years and rang up career highs of 27 goals and 26 assists for a personal-best 53 points last season. Will carry career totals of 75 goals and 53 assists into the 2008 season. In addition to his well-documented exploits on the field, Rabil also garnered Third Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America honors last season.
Zerrlaut returns for a fifth year after missing the 2004 season with an injury. He has started all 31 games in the last two years and has played in 36 games in his career. Zerrlaut made a remarkable recovery from a torn ACL last fall to start every game during the 2007 season, when he grabbed a career-high 31 ground balls to finish sixth on the team in that category. He helped anchor a defense that allowed just 7.22 goals per game during JHU's nine-game season-ending winning streak last season.
Since Pietramala took over in 2001 the Blue Jays have posted an 85-19 record, qualified for the NCAA Tournament every year, advanced to the NCAA Semifinals five times (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007), finished as national runner-up once (2003) and won the 2005 and 2007 national championships.
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