The Game
• Johns Hopkins makes its second trip to Penn State in less than a week as the Blue Jays travel north to take on Rutgers in the Big Ten Semifinals. Faceoff on Thursday, May 6 is set for 7:30 pm with a live national television audience on the Big Ten Network.
Last Time Out
• The Blue Jays snapped a six-game losing streak with a 15-7 win at #19 Penn State in the B1G Quarterfinals last Saturday evening (May 1).
• Rutgers did not play last weekend after earning a bye into the B1G Semifinals. The Scarlet Knights last played on April 25, when they slipped past Michigan, 13-12.
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 996-354-15.
• JHU owns 44 national championships with nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA crowns to its credit.
Poll Position
• Johns Hopkins is tied for 20th in this week's USILA Coaches Poll; the Blue Jays are also receiving votes in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll.
• Rutgers checks in at #6 in both the USILA Coaches Poll and the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll this week.
Series History
• This week's game will be the 43rd all-time between Johns Hopkins and Penn State.
• The Blue Jays lead the all-time series 34-8, although Rutgers swept the two meetings during the 2021 regular season by scores of 15-9 and 17-11.
• Johns Hopkins and Rutgers met in the first-ever Big Ten men's lacrosse game with the Blue Jays taking a 9-7 win at Homewood Field on March 28, 2015.
• This will be the second time Johns Hopkins and Rutgers have met in the Big Ten Tournament. The Scarlet Knights knocked off the Blue Jays, 14-12, in the 2016 semifinals at Homewood Field.
• Prior to the start of Big Ten play in 2015, Johns Hopkins and Rutgers had not met since 1998.
On This Date
• Since 1955, this week's game against Rutgers will be the ninth for Johns Hopkins on May 6.
• The Blue Jays are 7-1 all-time in games played on May 6 since 1955.
• JHU has won four straight on this date, including a 12-11 win over Loyola in 1995 that capped a perfect 12-0 regular season for the Blue Jays.
B1G Tournament Schedule
Saturday, May 1 - Quarterfinals
4 pm - #5 Michigan-15, #4 Ohio State-11
6 pm - #6 Johns Hopkins-15, #3 Penn State-7
Thursday, May 6 (at Penn State) - Semifinals
5 pm - #1 Maryland vs. Michigan (BTN)
7:30 pm - #2 Rutgers vs. Johns Hopkins (BTN)
Saturday, May 8 (at Penn State) - Finals
8 pm - Semifinal Winners (BTN)
JHU in the Big Ten Tournament
• Johns Hopkins is making its sixth consecutive appearance in the Big Ten Tournament. Only Johns Hopkins and Maryland have appeared in every tournament since the league was formed in 2015.
• Since the formation of the Big Ten in 2015, Johns Hopkins has won the Big Ten Tournament title twice (2015, 2018) and advanced to the title game one other time (2019).
• Johns Hopkins' two Big Ten titles and three appearances in the league championship game are tied with Maryland for the most in league history.
• Johns Hopkins' six wins in the tournament and nine games played in the tournament are both the most in league history.
• JHU improved to 4-0 all-time in the tournament against #3 seeds with last week's 15-7 win at third-seeded Penn State.
• JHU's record vs. each seed in tournament history: vs. #1 (1-1), vs. #2 (0-2), vs. #3 (4-0), vs. #4 (1-0).
Extra-Extra
• Including last week's 0-or-2 showing against #19 Penn State, the Blue Jays are now 13-of-28 (.464) on extra-man this season.
• JHU has converted on eight of its last 16 (.500) extra-man attempts dating back to the game against Rutgers on March 20.
• Through 11 games, Johns Hopkins ranks third in the B1G and eighth in the nation in extra-man offense.
• JHU is one of just 10 teams in the nation that is converting at better than 45%.
• Johns Hopkins has converted on 50% or better of its EMO chances through an entire season just twice since 1975. JHU set a school record by converting on 60.5% of its chances (26-of-43) and also topped the 50% mark in 2014 (30-of-55 / .545).
• JHU had four EMO goals at Michigan earlier this season. This marked the 18th time since 2003 that Johns Hopkins has scored four or more extra-man goals in a game.
Offensive Notes of Interest
• Johns Hopkins enters this week's game against Rutgers averaging 11.18 goals per game on 31.5% shooting.
• In 44 quarters this season, the Blue Jays have scored two or more goals in 34 quarters, three or more in 25 quarters and four or more in 13 quarters.
• The Blue Jays' top four goal-scorers (Connor DeSimone, Joey Epstein, Cole Williams, Garrett Degnon) have combined to score 83 goals on 224 shots (.371).
• In last week's 15-7 win over #19 Penn State in the B1G Quarterfinals, the Blue Jays scored on 15-of-31 (.484) shots. The top four scorer's noted above (DeSimone, Epstein, Williams and Degnon) were 11-of-21 (.524) shooting.
Sharing the Rock
• A key to head coach Peter Milliman's offense is sharing the ball. During his three seasons as the head coach at Cornell, the Big Red collected assists on 357-of-550 (.649) goals scored.
• Without any practice in the fall and limited time in preseason, the Blue Jays' grasp of the offense continues to evolve and that is best exemplified in the number of assisted goals the team has scored.
• Through 11 games, the Blue Jays have collected assists on 72-of-123 (.585) of their goals.
• With 58.5% of their goals earning an assist, JHU ranks second in the B1G in percentage of assisted goals (Maryland / 62.7%).
Freshmen Contributing
• The Blue Jays got three total goals from their freshmen (all from Brendan Grimes) in the first seven games, but that production has picked up significantly in the last four outings.
• In the last four games, Blue Jay freshmen have combined for 12 goals and four assists, or an average of three goals and one assist per game. No coincidentally, Johns Hopkins has bumped its scoring average up nearly 2.5 goals/game in that time vs. the first seven games of the year.
• Against Ohio State on April 10, Blue Jay freshmen accounted for five goals as Grimes had the first hat trick of his career, while Johnathan Peshko and Tyler Dunn both scored their first collegiate goals.
• Peshko added a goal and an assist and Casey McDermott added an assist at Rutgers, while Peshko (2g), Dunn (1g) and McDermott (1a) all found their way onto the scoresheet against top-ranked Maryland.
• In the 15-7 win at #19 Penn State in the B1G Quarterfinals, the Blue Jays got one goal and one assist from McDermott and one goal each from Grimes and Peshko.
Strong in the Middle
• Johns Hopkins has outscored its 11 opponents by a combined margin of 73-62 in the second and third quarters this season and the Blue Jays have outshot the opposition by a total of 217-178 in those periods.
• Along the same lines, the Blue Jays have won 87-of-152 (.572) faceoffs in the second and third quarters combined.
Scoreless Drought
• 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 eight of 11 games this season.
• Through 11 games, Johns Hopkins has held the opposition scoreless for a stretch of 11:30 or longer 13 times and 21 minutes or longer twice.
• In the regular season 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.
• In the 15-7 win at #19 Penn State in the B1G Quarterfinals, the Blue Jays kept the Nittany Lions off the board for stretches for 11:53, 17:58 and 14:09.
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