OPENING DRAW
• Johns Hopkins opens its 45th season overall, and 22nd in Division I, against Drexel on Saturday at Homewood Field. This is tied for the earliest the Blue Jays have ever opened the season (2015 - February 8 vs. Marquette). 
• Hopkins is 19-7 (.731) in season openers under head coach Janine Tuckers and is 30-13-1 (.693) all-time. The Blue Jays have won 11 straight and 15 of the last 16 season-openers.  

IN FEBRUARY 
• Hopkins is 34-15 (.694) under head coach Janine Tucker in the month of February. Now in their 45th season, the Blue Jays did not play a game in the month of February until 2002. Hopkins, then in just its fourth season as a Division I program, lost to Vanderbilt, 7-4, on February 24.

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN! 
• Senior attackers Mackenzie Heldberg and Maggie Schneidereith and senior midfielder Lexi Souder have been selected in a vote by their teammates as captains for the 2020 season.
• A three-year starter, Schneidereith returns as the Blue Jays' active career leader in goals (107), assists (71) and points (178). She led the team with 48 goals, 29 assists and 77 points en route to earning All-Big Ten and IWLCA All-Mid-Atlantic honors a year ago. 
• Heldberg returns after missing the final nine games of the 2019 season with a knee injury. Named a Big Ten Preseason Player to Watch, she still ranked fourth on the team in assists (13), fifth in points (31) and seventh in goals (18). 
• Souder has played in all but one game in her career and ranks 16th in school Division I history with 87 career draw controls. She ranked fourth on the team in draws (28) and finished with a career-best 17 goals and 18 points last year.

AROUND THE BIG TEN 
• Johns Hopkins was picked to finish fifth in the 2020 Big Ten Women's Lacrosse Preseason Poll of the league's seven head coaches. Defending national champion Maryland was voted the preseason favorite to win the 2020 title, followed by Northwestern, Michigan, Penn State and Hopkins. Ohio State (6th) and Rutgers (7th) round out the preseason poll.
• In addition, three players from each team were named to the preseason players to watch list with senior Maggie Schneidereith and juniors Shelby Harrison and Jeanne Kachris earning the honor for Hopkins.
• Schneidereith and Kachris return after earning All-Big Ten honors a year ago. Schneidereith led the team with 48 goals, 29 assists and 77 points last season. In addition, she led the Big Ten in assists per game (1.61) and ranked second in points (4.28) and third in goals per game (2.67). 
• Harrison continued her domination at the draw circle last season, as she led the team and ranked fifth in the Big Ten with 76 draws. She also posted career highs in goals (20), assists (4), points (24), ground balls (21) and caused turnovers (16). 
 • Kachris is the Blue Jays' top match-up defender and led a defense that ranked second in the Big Ten in caused turnovers (9.67), third in scoring defense (11.56) and fourth in ground balls (17.83) in 2019. The only two-time All-Big Ten player in program history, she totaled 28 ground balls and 16 caused turnovers a year ago.

POLL POSITION 
• Hopkins is ranked 24th in the IWLCA Coaches preseason poll and is receiving votes in both the Inside Lacrosse Media and Nike/US Lacrosse polls. 
• Eight of the Blue Jays' 2020 opponents are ranked in the top-25 by the IWLCA, including three in the top-10 (Maryland, Northwestern, Michigan). 
• Hopkins has been ranked in the IWLCA Top-25 in each of the last 25 polls, dating back to the 2018 preseason poll. In addition, JHU has been ranked in 92 of the last 115 polls, beginning with the first regular season poll in 2012.  

CLIMBING THE RANKS 
Several Blue Jays are making their move up the Johns Hopkins Division I record book. Here's a look at where they rank:

Keegan Barger (Jr. • M):
• Needs 7 draws to rank 8th (has 115)
• Needs 1 caused turnover to rank 20th and 2 to rank 19th (has 42)

Aurora Cordingley (Jr. • A):
• Needs 10 points to reach 100 for her career (has 90)
• Needs 1 free position goal to rank 15th and 2 to rank 13th (has 16)
• Needs 1 assist to rank 20th (has 30)

Kathleen Garvey (Jr. • GK):
• Needs 100 saves to rank 10th (has 20)

Shelby Harrison (Jr. • M):
• Needs 1 free position goal to rank 18th and 2 to rank 15th (has 15)
• Needs 35 draws to rank 4th (has 167)

Maggie Schneidereith (Sr. • A):
• Needs 8 points to rank 7th (has 178)
• Needs 3 goals to rank 10th and 6 to rank 9th (has 107)
• Needs 20 assists to rank 4th (has 71)

Lexi Souder (Sr. • M):
• Needs 4 draws to rank 14th (has 87)

AT THE DRAW
• Junior Shelby Harrison has led the team in draws the last two seasons and enters the season ranked fifth in school history with 167 career draws. She needs just 100 draws to break the program's all-time record, held by Dene' DiMartino '16.
• Harrison holds the school record for draws in a game (11) and by a freshman (91). 
• Junior Keegan Barger is also a threat at the draw circle, as she ranked third on the team in draws a year ago (61) and second as a freshman (54). She ranks 11th in school history, and ninth in Division I, with 115 career draws. 

WELCOME TO HOMEWOOD 
• Head coach Janine Tucker welcomes eight freshmen to the Blue Jays this season. Joining Hopkins are Maeve Barker, Olivia Caan, Bailey Cheetham, Madison McPherson, Alex Miller, Haleigh Moore, Bryce Pfundstein and Carly Steinlauf.
• Pfundstein and Steinlauf were named to Inside Lacrosse's Power 100 Incoming Freshmen list.

AGAINST THE DRAGONS 
• Hopkins and Drexel meet for just the sixth time with the Blue Jays winning the previous five meetings. 
• Last season, Ellie McNulty, Maggie Schneidereith and Keegan Barger combined for 10 goals to lead the Blue Jays to a 17-9 win over the Dragons in Philadelphia. The trio also combined for 16 draws as JHU outdrew Drexel, 18-10. 

HEY I KNOW YOU! 
• Senior Maggie Schneidereith will see two very familiar faces on the Drexel sideline on Saturday in her sisters Jamie and Lucy. The three are quadruplets with their fourth sister, Georgia, also playing Division I lacrosse at Albany.

SCOUTING THE DRAGONS 
• In the first season under Jill Batcheller, the Dragons finished with a 6-10 record. Drexel is picked to finish fifth in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) in the preseason vote of the leagues' coaches. 
• Karson Harris and Colleen Grady were named All-CAA First Team performers in 2019, the first time since 2013 that Drexel has two first team all-conference selections. The duo were also named to the 2020 CAA Preseason Team. 
• Harris set a program record with 90 draw controls on the season, the sixth most in a single season in CAA history. She also tied for a team-high 35 goals while finishing second with 17 assists and 52 points. 
• Grady led the team with 54 points and 19 assists while tying for a squad-best 35 goals. She scored at least one goal in every contest and has previously been named the CAA Rookie of the Year and to the All-CAA Second Team and CAA All-Rookie Team back in 2018.
• Harris and Grady were joined by Jamie Schneidereith (Second Team) and Claire Jarema (All-Rookie) on CAA postseason squads in 2019.

WE'RE STREAKING! 
Two Blue Jays carry active goal, assist and/or point streaks into Saturday's season-opener versus Drexel. Here's a look at those streaks:

Aurora Cordingley (Jr. • A):
• Has at least one point in 22 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 4 straight games
• Has at least one assist in 2 straight games

Maggie Schneidereith (So. • A):
• Has at least one point in 27 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 23 straight games
• Has at least one assist in 7 straight games

AT THE HELM 
• The all-time winningest coach in program history, Janine Tucker returns for her 27th season with the Blue Jays. With a record of 291-161 (.644), she accounts for nearly 66 percent of the program's all-time wins (441). 
• Tucker successfully guided the program through its transition from Division III to Division I in 1999. She has led the Blue Jays to double-digit win totals in 22 of her 26 seasons and 12 NCAA Tournament appearances, including five in the last six years. 
• Tucker became the ninth coach in NCAA Division I history to reach 250 wins when JHU beat Marquette on February 12, 2016. She enters the 2020 season needing nine wins to reach the 300-win mark.

FOR THE RECORD 
• This marks the 45th season for Johns Hopkins, which sports an all-time record of 441-282-4 (.609) and a 223-145 (.606) record as a Division I program.
• The Blue Jays have posted 33 winning seasons, including 21 straight from 1987 to 2007. Hopkins has also made 17 NCAA Tournament appearances, including eight in the Division I Tournament (2004, 2005, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019). 
• Last year was the 22nd double-digit win season under head coach Janine Tucker and the 28th all-time. 

HOME SWEET HOME(WOOD) 
• Under head coach Janine Tucker, the Blue Jays are 133-65 (.672) within the friendly confines of Homewood Field and the Jays are 41-18 (.695) at home since the start of the 2014 season. 
• Hopkins will play nine of its 17 regular season games at Homewood this spring.  

IT'S A FAMILY AFFAIR 
• Athletics at Johns Hopkins is a family affair and this year's team is no different. 
• Senior Shannon Logan joined the Blue Jays in 2017 and played alongside her older sister, Holly, for two seasons. Freshman Madison McPherson joins her sister, junior Trinity, at Homewood this spring. The McPhersons are the 12th pair of sisters to don the Hopkins Blue & Black. 

ON TAP 
• Hopkins kicks off a three-game road swing next Saturday. 
• The Blue Jays make the short trip to the Ridley Athletic Complex to take on the 11th-ranked Loyola Greyhounds. Opening draw is slated for 12:00 pm.