The Game
«  Johns Hopkins (6-5, 2-1 B1G) hits the road for the fourth time in five years on Easter Sunday as the Blue Jays travel to Penn State (10-1, 3-0 B1G) to take on the top-ranked Nittany Lions.
«  Johns Hopkins is coming off a 14-13 loss to then eighth-ranked Ohio State last Sunday at Homewood Field.

The Facts
«  This is the 132nd season of Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse.  JHU first fielded a team in 1883.
«  Johns Hopkins enters this week's game with an all-time record of 989-339-15.
«  JHU owns 44 national championships with nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA crowns to its credit.

April Reign
«  JHU is 18-8 in its last 26 games in the month of April dating back to the 2014 season.

Poll Position
«  Johns Hopkins is ranked 16th in this week's USILA Coaches Poll and 19th in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll.  These are the two official in-season polls conducted throughout the regular season.
«  Penn State is the unanimous number-one team in the nation as the Nittany Lions are ranked first in this week's USILA Coaches Poll and first in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll.

Series History
«  This week's game will be the 11th game in a series that dates to a 14-1 Johns Hopkins win in 1914.
«  JHU leads the all-time series 9-1 and has won four of the five games since the Big Ten added men's lacrosse in 2015.
«  Penn State scored its first-ever victory against Johns Hopkins last season as the Nittany Lions scored a 14-12 victory in State College.

B1G Tournament - What We Know
«  Entering this week's action, none of the six teams has clinched a spot in the upcoming B1G Tournament and none of the six have been eliminated.
«  Before it even plays on Sunday, Penn State clinches a spot in the tournament with a loss by either Ohio State or Rutgers on Saturday.  A win Sunday assures the Nittany Lions of a spot and the top seed.
«  Maryland clinches a spot with a win.
«  Johns Hopkins clinches a spot with a win on Sunday and a loss by either Rutgers or Ohio State on Saturday.
«  Rutgers can clinch a spot in the tournament with a win this weekend coupled with a loss by Ohio State and a win by Johns Hopkins.
«  Ohio State is eliminated with a loss coupled with wins by Rutgers and Johns Hopkins.  The Buckeyes remain alive with a win regardless of the results of the other two games.
«  Michigan is eliminated with a loss.

On This Date
«  This week's game against Penn State will be Johns Hopkins' 12th game on April 21st since 1955 (dates for games prior to 1955 not all available).  The Blue Jays are 9-1 in the previous 10 games played on this date.
«  Notable efforts on this date include a 31-7 win over St. Joe's in 1999 ... the 31 goals the Blue Jays scored that night are the most in school history.  In addition, a 10-9 win over Navy on April 21, 2007 was the second consecutive win in what became a nine-game season-ending winning streak that culminated with JHU's ninth NCAA Championship.

For What It's Worth
«  This week's game will be JHU's 12th game of the season. Not including their games against JHU, the Blue Jays' first 11 opponents are a combined 77-41 (.653) through games of April 17. That ranks as the third-best opponent winning percentage in the nation. 
«  Johns Hopkins' 13 regular season opponents are currently a combined 97-44 (.688).  That ranks as the highest opponent win percentage in the nation.
«  JHU's two remaining opponents are a combined 20-3 (.870) - that ranks as the toughest remaining schedule in the nation.  In fact, no other team in the nation has remaining regular season games against opponents whose combined winning percentage is above 75%.

Against Number One
«  This week's game against Penn State will be the Blue Jays' first against a team ranked number one in the nation since JHU topped then top-ranked Syracuse, 16-15, in the 2015 NCAA Quarterfinals.
«  This week's game will be Johns Hopkins' 16th against the number-one ranked team in the nation under the direction of head coach Dave Pietramala.  The Blue Jays are 9-6 in the first 15 of those games.

Great for the Fans
«  Of the 15 games Johns Hopkins has played against a top-ranked team under head coach Dave Pietramala, nine of the 15 have been decided by one goal.
«  JHU is 7-2 under Pietramala in one-goal games against a team ranked number one in the nation.
«  The last seven times JHU has played the top-ranked team in the nation, the game has been decided by three goals or less.

Doing the Little Things
« In the last nine games, JHU is 154-of-179 (.860) on clears and has won 143-of-236 (.606) faceoffs.  This is a big improvement from the Blue Jays' first two games of the season, when they were 28-of-40 (.700) on clears and 25-of-61 (.417) on faceoffs in losses to Towson and Loyola.

Lending a Hand
«  Through 11 games, 83 of Johns Hopkins' 131 goals have been assisted ... that's 63.4%.  By comparison, JHU collected assists on 62.3% of its goals last season.
«  For the record, the last time Johns Hopkins assisted on better than 65% of its goals for an entire season was in 2003, when the Blue Jays totaled 151 assists on 224 goals (67.4%).

Spreading it Around
«  Johns Hopkins has 17 different goal-scorers and 21 different players have registered at least one point through 10 games.

Class Act
«  Johns Hopkins has scored 131 goals and collected 83 assists for 214 points through 11 games with a strong balance in the scoring breakdown among the four classes.
«  Blue Jay seniors lead the way with 41 goals and 62 points, while the team's juniors lead the way with 23 assists.
«  The balance in scoring has been remarkable as each class has totaled at least 19 goals and 41 points through 11 games.  The freshman, junior and senior classes all have at least 54 points in 11 games.

Non-Offensive Scoring
«  With the addition of a shot clock this season, the pace of play has quickened and has resulted in more transition lacrosse.  This has resulted in more scoring for Johns Hopkins' non-offensive players.
«  Through 11 games, non-offensive players  (defensemen, long & short-stick defensive middies, faceoff specialists & goalies) have accumulated 11 goals and 19 assists (30 points) for the Blue Jays.
«  By comparison, in 17 games last season, the Blue Jays' non-offensive players totaled 10 goals and 7 assists (17 points).
« JHU's non-offensive players have combined for 27 points (10g, 17a) in the last nine games - an average of three points per game.  They combined for three goals and three assists in the 11-10 win at North Carolina and two goals and three assists in the wins over Princeton and Rutgers.

In Case We Get There
«  Johns Hopkins is 27-16 (.628) in overtime under the direction of head coach Dave Pietramala.  JHU's last overtime game came in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament, when the Blue Jays topped Georgetown, 10-9.
«  Johns Hopkins has won seven of its last 10 overtime games.

One-Goal Wonders
«  Including the 14-13 loss to Ohio State on April 14, Johns Hopkins is 56-27 (.675) in one-goal games under head coach Dave Pietramala.
«  The Blue Jays were 4-1 in one-goal games in 2018 and are 6-2 in their last eight one-goal games.

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