The Game
•  For the second time in three weeks, Johns Hopkins and Penn State will tangle in a Big Ten game on national television. Faceoff is set for 2 pm on Sunday March 28 from Penn State's Panzer Stadium and the game will air live on ESPNU.

Last Time Out
• The Blue Jays fell to 2-3 on the year with a 15-9 loss at home last Saturday against then seventh-ranked Rutgers.
• Penn State dropped its second straight and fell to 1-4 on the year with a 14-12 loss at Michigan last Saturday.

The Facts
•  This is the 134th 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 995-349-15.
•  JHU owns 44 national championships with nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA crowns to its credit.

Poll Position
•  Johns Hopkins is ranked 17th in this week's USILA Coaches Poll and 18th in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll.
• Penn State is listed as receiving votes in both the USILA Coaches Poll and the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll this week.

Series History
• This week's game will be the 14th all-time between Johns Hopkins and Penn State.
• The Blue Jays lead the all-time series 10-3 after scoring a 13-6 win against the Nittany Lions at Homewood Field on March 13.]
• A full series history, including all-time results, can be found on page 13.

That Took Some Digging
• The unique 2021 schedule for all lacrosse-playing schools in the Big Ten has each team playing a double round robin.  To date, each team has played five games with one game against each of the other teams.
• This week, Johns Hopkins begins the back half of the schedule with the game at Penn State, which means this is the second time the Blue Jays and Nittany Lions will be meeting in the regular season.
• Did you know that the last time Johns Hopkins played the same team twice in the regular season was in 1943, when the Blue Jays played ..... you guessed it, Penn State twice.
• The meetings in 1943 - the third and fourth in series history - resulted in Johns Hopkins wins by the scores of 11-7 (April 10) and 12-1 (April 22).

On This Date
•  This week's game against Penn State will be the 10th all-time for Johns Hopkins on March 28.
• The Blue Jays are 6-3 all-time in games played on March 28, although only two of those games have come in this century.
• Of note, in the last game JHU played on this date (in 2015), the Blue Jays beat Rutgers, 9-7, in the first-ever Big Ten men's lacrosse game.  Then-Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany was on-hand for that game at Homewood Field.

Extra-Extra
• Johns Hopkins cashed in on all four of its extra-man chances at Michigan, was 3-for-3 against Rutgers and is now 8-of-15 (.533) on the year.
• Through five games, Johns Hopkins is tied for first in the Big Ten in EMO goals and ranks second in extra-man percentage.
• Nationally, the Blue Jays rank seventh in extra-man percentage and JHU is one of just 11 teams in the nation that is converting at better than 50%.
• The four extra-man goals against the Wolverines are the most for JHU since the Jays had six in the 2019 Big Ten Championship game against Penn State.
• The effort at Michigan marked the 18th time since 2003 that Johns Hopkins has scored four or more extra-man goals in a game.

Offense Developing
• Johns Hopkins enters this week's game against Penn State averaging 10.80 goals per game on 30.9% shooting.
• After scoring a total of nine goals in the first five quarters of the season, the Blue Jay offense found its groove in the second and third quarters at Michigan.
• The Blue Jays scored five goals in the second period and six in the third against the Wolverines.  That marked the first time JHU had scored 5+ goals in back-to-back quarters since the 2019 Big Ten Championship game against Penn State, when they scored six in
the first quarter and five in the second.
•In 20 quarters this season, the Blue Jays have scored two or more goals in 14 quarters, three or more in nine quarters and four or more in six quarters.

Strong in the Middle
•  Through five games, Johns Hopkins has outscored its five opponents by a combined margin of 34-25 in the second and third quarters and the Blue Jays have outshot the opposition by a total of 100-78 in those periods.
• Along the same lines, the Blue Jays have won 41-of-66 (.621) faceoffs in the second and third quarters combined.

Scoreless Droughts
•  The Johns Hopkins defense, which has been nearly entirely remade by first-year defensive coordinator Jamison Koesterer, continues to develop as the season unfolds and has held the opposition scoreless for extended stretches in four of the first five games this season.
• Through five games, Johns Hopkins has held the opposition scoreless for a stretch of 11:30 or longer six times and 21 minutes or longer twice.
• In the win over Penn State, the Blue Jays held the Nittany Lions scoreless for 13:31 from the first to the second quarter and then blanked them for 29:02 between the second and fourth quarters.

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