The Game
• Johns Hopkins opens the 2020 season as the Blue Jays welcome local rival Towson to Homewood Field.
• The Blue Jays posted an 8-8 record, advanced to the Big Ten Tournament Championship Game and qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the 47th time in program history last season.
The Facts
« This is the 133rd 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 991-342-15.
« JHU owns 44 national championships with nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA crowns to its credit.
For Openers
« The Blue Jays are 16-3 in season openers under head coach Dave Pietramala.
« The Blue Jays had won 11 straight season openers prior to falling at Towson in the 2019 season opener.
« Johns Hopkins has scored at least 10 goals in its season opener in 11 of the last 12 years and at least 12 goals in six of the last eight.
In February
« This week's game against Towson will be the 41st all-time for Johns Hopkins in the month of February.
« JHU is 28-12 (.700) all-time in games played in the month of February.
« Johns Hopkins played its first game in the month of February in 1998, didn't play again in February until 2004 and has now played at least one game in the opening month of the season every year since 2006.
Poll Position
« Johns Hopkins is ranked 11th in the USILA Coaches Poll and 13th in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. These are the two official in-season polls conducted throughout the regular season.
Series History
« This week's game will be the 48th between Johns Hopkins and Towson. The series dates to a 15-8 Blue Jay victory in 1976.
« JHU leads the all-time series 41-6, including a 14-6 victory in the last meeting between the two teams at Homewood Field (2018).
« The home team has won the last six games in the series.
« Complete series history can be found on page 9.
On This Date
« Johns Hopkins has played just one game on February 8 as the Blue Jays topped Siena, 15-6, on this date in 2013.
« Of note that day against Siena - Ryan Brown (2013-16) scored the first of his 159 career goals for the Blue Jays.
Familiar Faces
« Towson is coached by Shawn Nadelen, who played at Johns Hopkins from 1998-2001 and was a co-captain on Dave Pietramala's first team at JHU. He twice helped the Blue Jays to the Final Four (1999, 2000).
« Andy Shilling, Towson's volunteer assistant coach, is the father of Johns Hopkins junior attackman Luke Shilling.
« Towson senior defenseman Gary Bodden is the younger brother of Maddie Bodden, who played on the women's lacrosse team at Johns Hopkins from 2014-17 and helped JHU to the NCAA Tournament three times (2014, 2015, 2016).
Returning Firepower
« Johns Hopkins scored 194 goals and added 117 assists for 311 points during the 2019 season.
« The Blue Jays return players who scored 80.4% of their goals (156), amassed 82.1% of their assists (96) and accounted for 81.% of the team's points (256) in 2019.
One of Two
« Junior Kyle Prouty (229) and sophomore Matt Narewski (211) combined to take 440 of the 450 faceoffs Johns Hopkins attempted during the 2019 season.
« Did you know that Johns Hopkins is one of just two teams in the nation that returns two players who attempted 200 or more faceoffs last season?Â
« The only other team in the nation with two players returning who took 200+ faceoffs in 2019 is Brown (Matt McShea, Jason Simaan).
Extra-Extra
« Johns Hopkins finished fifth in the nation in extra-man offense last season as the Blue Jays converted on 26-of-57 (.456) EMO chances.
« Players who totaled 19 of those 26 extra-man goals return as Joey Epstein (6), Alex Concannon (6), Forry Smith (4) and Luke Shilling (3) were all part of the Blue Jay EMO unit in 2019.
« Clicking at better than 40% on extra-man is nothing new for the Blue Jays as JHU has converted on 40% or better in seven of the last eight years and nine of 13 seasons under offensive coordinator Bobby Benson.
Strength of Schedule
« Johns Hopkins will play 13 regular season games against teams that compiled a combined record of 119-76 (.610) in 2019.
« Six of the first seven teams on the Blue Jays' 2020 schedule posted winning records in 2019 and the seventh (Princeton), went 7-7 (.500). In all, 10 of JHU's 13 opponents this season finished with a record of .500 or better (nine were above .500).
« JHU will not play a team that finished under .500 last season until visiting Navy (6-7) on March 14. Two of the three teams on JHU's 2020 schedule that finished under .500 last season were just one game under (Navy, Rutgers).
Against the CAA
« This week's game against Towson will be the 88th all-time for Johns Hopkins against a team currently in the CAA.
« Johns Hopkins is 77-11 (.875) all-time against current CAA members.
« 47 of JHU's 88 all-time games against current CAA members have come against Towson with JHU winning 41 of the 47.
State of Affairs
« This week's game against Towson will be the 100th for Johns Hopkins against a team from the state of Maryland since head coach Dave Pietramala took over in 2001.
« Johns Hopkins is 80-19 (.808) all-time against in-state rivals under Pietramala's direction.
« JHU was 2-2 against Maryland-based teams in 2019. The Blue Jays fell to Towson and Loyola, but swept a pair of games against rival Maryland.
In Case We Get The
« Johns Hopkins is 27-17 (.614) in overtime under the direction of head coach Dave Pietramala. JHU's last overtime game came in the championship game of the 2019 Big Ten Tournament. The Blue Jays dropped an 18-17 decision to top-ranked Penn State in that game.
« Johns Hopkins has won seven of its last 11 overtime games.
One-Goal Wonders
« Including the 18-17 overtime loss to Penn State on May 4, 2019, Johns Hopkins is 56-28 (.667) in one-goal games under head coach Dave Pietramala.
« The Blue Jays were 4-1 in one-goal games in 2018 and are 6-3 in their last nine one-goal games.
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