OPENING DRAW
• Johns Hopkins opens its 46th season overall, and 23rd in Division I, against Rutgers on Sunday at Homewood Field. Sunday's game kicks off the Blue Jays' Big Ten only 2021 slate, in which JHU will face each B1G opponent twice.
• JHU is back in action for the first time since March 7, 2020 - a stretch of 351 days - when it defeated host Saint Joseph's, 13-10. The Blue Jays were prepping for their Big Ten opener on March 14 versus Ohio State when the 2020 season was cancelled due to COVID-19. 
• Hopkins is 20-7 (.741) in season openers under head coach Janine Tucker and is 31-13-1 (.700) all-time. The Blue Jays have won 12 straight and 16 of their last 17 season-openers.
• This is the latest JHU has opened the season since 2009, when Hopkins beat visiting George Mason, 15-10, on February 21. In fact, Sunday's game will be just the third all-time on February 21; the Blue Jays are 2-0 on this date.  

IN FEBRUARY 
• Hopkins is 38-17 (.691) under head coach Janine Tucker in the month of February. Now in their 46th 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.

COUNTDOWN TO 300 
• Head coach Janine Tucker  needs just five wins to reach 300 for her career. She would become just the ninth coach in NCAA Division I history to reach the milestone.'

AROUND THE BIG TEN 
• Johns Hopkins was picked to finish fifth in the 2021 Big Ten Women's Lacrosse Preseason Poll of the league's seven head coaches. Northwestern, the 2019 champion, was voted the preseason favorite to win the 2021 title, followed by defending NCAA Champion Maryland, 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 Player to Watch list with seniors Keegan Barger, Aurora Cordingley and Jeanne Kachris earning the honor for Hopkins.
• Barger was second on the team in draws (17), third in caused turnovers (8) and fourth in ground balls (11) last season. She enters the season ranked eighth all-time in JHU history with 132 career draws and 16th with 50 career caused turnovers.
• Cordingley returns after leading the Blue Jays with 17 goals and 18 assists before the 2020 season was cancelled. She led the Big Ten in assists per game (2.57) and ranked second in points per game (5.00). Cordingley ranks in the top-20 in school Division I history in career points (125) and assists (48).
• A two-time All-Big Ten selection, Kachris is named a Big Ten Preseason Player to Watch for the third straight year. She totaled 12 ground balls, tied for second on the team, and eight caused turnovers, tied for third in seven games last season. Kachris ranks 20th in school Division I history with 45 caused turnovers.

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 (Sr. • M):
• Needs 21 draws to rank 6th (has 132)
• Needs 2 caused turnovers to rank 13th and 12 to rank 11th (has 50)

Aurora Cordingley (Sr. • A):
• Needs 2 points to rank 17th and 10 to rank 16th (has 125)
• Needs 1 free position goal to rank 13th and 2 to rank 11th (has 18)
• Needs 1 assist to rank 11th, 2 to rank 10th and 3 to rank 9th (has 48)

Kathleen Garvey (Sr. • GK):
• Needs 51 saves to rank 10th (has 69)

Shelby Harrison (Sr. • M):
• Needs 2 free position goals to rank 10th (has 20)
• Needs 8 draws to reach 200 for her career (has 192)
• Needs 10 draws to rank 4th and 11 to rank 3rd (has 192)

Mackenzie Heldberg (Gr. • A):
• Needs 1 assist to rank 17th, 2 to rank 16th and 3 to rank 14th (has 36)

Jeanne Kachris (Sr. • D):
• Needs 2 caused turnovers to rank 19th and 3 to rank 17th (has 45)

Kaitlyn Pham (Jr. • GK):
• Needs 4 saves to rank 13th and 13 to rank 12th (has 6)

Maggie Schneidereith (Gr. • A):
• Needs 14 points to rank 4th (has 203)
• Needs 2 goals to rank 8th and 6 to rank 7th (has 124)
• Needs 12 assists to rank 4th (has 79)

Lexi Souder (Gr. • M):
• Needs 4 draws to rank 15th (has 87)

CENTURY CLUB 
• Aurora Cordingley and Mackenzie Heldberg both notched the 100th point of their careers last season. In fact, they did so a in a four-day span and joined Maggie Schneidereith as the only current Blue Jays with 100 career points.  
• Heldberg achieved the milestone in just 36 days, making her the sixth fastest to reach the mark since the program moved to Division I in 1999. Cordingley reached the milestone in just 40 games. 
• In what turned out to be the final game of the 2020 season, Maggie Schneidereith tallied the 200th point of her career in a 13-10 win at Saint Joseph's. She is the seventh player in school Division I history, and 12th overall, to reach the milestone. In addition, it took Schneidereith just 62 games to score 200 points. 
• This is the 12th time in program history that at least three teammates have had 100 (or more) career points. 

ON THE OFFENSIVE 
• The Blue Jays return an astonshing amount of their offense from the 2020 season - 96.7% of their goals (90), 97.9% of their assists (48) and 97.2% of their points (138).
• Leading the way are Aurora Cordingley (17g, 18a), Mackenzie Heldberg (16g, 12) and Maggie Schneidereith (17g, 8a), who each totaled at least 20 points in seven games. 

LENDING A HAND
• Last season, Hopkins ranked second in the Big Ten and 20th nationally in assists per game (7.00). 
• Aurora Cordingley led the Blue Jays and the Big Ten, and ranked 12th nationally with 18 helpers. Mackenzie Heldberg ranked second on the team and fourth in the conference with 12 assists. 
• Cordingley ranks 12th in school Division I history with 48 assists, while Heldberg is tied for 18th with 36. 
• Maggie Schneidereith is Hopkins' active career leader with 79 assists, which ranks fifth in school DI history and eighth all-time.  

WE'RE STREAKING! 
Four Blue Jays carry active goal, assist and/or point streaks into Sunday's season-opener versus Rutgers. Maggie Schneidereith's 30-game goal-scoring streak is the fourth longest in school Division I history. With a goal on Sunday, her streak would be tied for third at 31. Here's a look at those streaks:

Aurora Cordingley (Sr. • A):
• Has at least one point in 29 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 11 straight games
• Has at least one assist in 9 straight games

Mackenzie Heldberg (Gr. • A):
• Has at least one point in 7 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 7 straight games
• Has at least one assist in 7 straight games

Claire Mills (Jr. • A):
• Has at least one point in 3 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 3 straight games

Maggie Schneidereith (Gr. • A):
• Has at least one point in 34 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 30 straight games
• Has at least one assist in 4 straight games

D - FENCE 
• Last season, Hopkins led the Big Ten and ranked 14th in the nation with 10.86 caused turnovers per game. 
• Annika Meyer led the Blue Jays and the Big Ten, and ranked 24th in the nation with 1.86 takeaways per game. Shelby Harrison ranked second in the conference with 1.57 caused turnovers per game. 
• Keegan Barger is the team's active career leader with 50 caused turnovers, which is tied for 14th in school Division I history. She also holds the school single-game record with seven takeways in a game. 

AT THE DRAW 
• Junior Shelby Harrison has led the team in draws the last three seasons and currently ranks fifth all-time in school history with 192 career draws. She needs just 75 draws to break the program's all-time record of 267, held by Dene' DiMartino '16.
• Harrison holds the school record for draws in a game (11) and by a freshman (91). She has had six or more draws in a game 12 times in her career.  
• Junior Keegan Barger is also a threat at the draw circle and she ranked second on the team in draws a year ago (17) and as a freshman (54). She ranks eighth in school history, and seventh in school Division I history, with 132 career draws. She has had five or more draws in a game nine times in her career.   

WELCOME BACK TO HOMEWOOD 
• The Blue Jays welcome back three seniors from last year's squad in Mackenzie Heldberg, Maggie Schneidereith and Lexi Souder. After the 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA granted all spring athletes an extra year of eligibility. 
• Heldberg is enrolled in the Carey Business School pursuing a Master's Degree in Health Care Management.
• Schneidereith is pursuing a Master's Degree in Communications in the Kreiger School of Arts and Sciences.
• Souder is enrolled in the Bloomberg School of Public Health working towards a Master's Degree in Environmental Health.

AGAINST THE SCARLET KNIGHTS 
• Hopkins and Rutgers meet for the sixth time since the series began in 2015. The Blue Jays have won the five previous meetings, including the three Big Ten regular season games. 
• In the last meeting between the two (March 23, 2019), Hopkins turned a one-goal halftime lead into a seven-goal win, fueled by a five-goal performance by then senior Nicole DeMase. She scored those five goals in a span of just 19:48. Then sophomore Shelby Harrison controlled nine draws in the win, two more than Rutgers had as a team.

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