The Game
« Johns Hopkins (5-4, 1-0 B1G) returns home for the first of two consecutive games at Homewood Field as the Blue Jays welcome Rutgers (6-4, 1-0 B1G) for Homecoming.
« Johns Hopkins is coming off a 14-8 win at Michigan in its B1G-opener last Saturday in Ann Arbor.
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 988-338-15.
« JHU owns 44 national championships with nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA crowns to its credit.
April Reign
« JHU is 17-7 in its last 24 games in the month of April dating back to the 2014 season.
« Also dating back to 2014, the Blue Jays are 9-2 in their last 11 home games played in the month of April.
Poll Position
« Johns Hopkins is ranked 20th in this week's USILA Coaches Poll and is receiving votes in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. These are the two official in-season polls conducted throughout the regular season.]« Rutgers is ranked 19th in this week's USILA Coaches Poll and 18th in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. Both complete polls can be found on page 11.
Series History
« This week's game will be the 40th game in a series that dates to a 13-0 Johns Hopkins win in 1920.
« JHU leads the all-time series 33-6 and won last season's meeting, 13-12, at Rutgers.
« Since the formation of the B1G in 2015, Johns Hopkins and Rutgers have played five times with JHU winning three of five. The aggregate score in those five games is 55-55.
On This Date
« This week's game against Rutgers will be Johns Hopkins' 11th game on April 6 since 1955 (dates for games prior to 1955 not all available). The Blue Jays are 8-2 in the previous 10 games played on this date.
« The Blue Jays last played a game on April 6 in 2002. On that day, a junior attackman named Bobby Benson scored five goals and added two assists to lead JHU to a 12-9 win at Ohio State.
For What It's Worth
« This week's game will be JHU's 10th game of the season. Not including their games against JHU, the Blue Jays' first nine opponents are a combined 50-27 (.649) through games of April 2 . That ranks as the fifth-best opponent winning percentage in the nation.Â
« Johns Hopkins' 13 regular season opponents are currently a combined 79-35 (.693). That ranks as the second-best opponent win percentage in the nation.
« JHU's four remaining opponents are a combined 29-8 (.784) - that ranks as the toughest remaining schedule in the nation.
Into Something B1G
« This week's game against Rutgers is the second of five straight to close the regular season against Big Ten opponents for Johns Hopkins.
« The Blue Jays are 14-7 (.667) in B1G regular season games since the league was formed in 2015.
Doing the Little Things
« In the last six games, JHU is 117-of-135 (.867) on clears and has won 108-of-178 (.607) 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 nine games, 65 of Johns Hopkins' 103 goals have been assisted ... that's 63.1%. 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 nine games.
Class Act
« Johns Hopkins has scored 103 goals and collected 65 assists for 168 points through nine games with a strong balance in the scoring breakdown among the four classes.
« Blue Jay seniors lead the way with 31 goals and 48 points, while the team's juniors lead the way with 19 assists. The contribution of the freshman (29g, 14a) and sophomore (18g, 15a) classes have also been strong.
« The balance in scoring has been remarkable as each class has totaled at least 18 goals and 33 points through nine 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 nine games, non-offensive players (defensemen, long & short-stick defensive middies, faceoff specialists & goalies) have accumulated nine goals and 15 assists (24 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 21 points (8g, 13a) in the last seven games. They combined for three goals and three assists in the 11-10 win at North Carolina and the group came back with two goals and three assists in the 14-12 win at Princeton.
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 11-10 win at North Carolina, Johns Hopkins is 56-26 (.683) in one-goal games under head coach Dave Pietramala.
« The Blue Jays were 4-1 in one-goal games in 2018 and are 6-1 in their last seven one-goal games.
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