The Game
• Johns Hopkins returns to the Big Ten Championship game for the third consecutive (complete) season. The sixth-seeded Blue Jays will take on top-seeded and top-ranked Maryland in the title game at Penn State's Panzer Stadium. Faceoff is set for 8 pm with a live national television audience on BTN.
Last Time Out
• The Blue Jays avenged a pair of regular season losses to Rutgers as the Blue Jays upset the second-seeded and sixth-ranked Scarlet Knights, 12-10, in the B1G Semifinals.
• Maryland erased an early two-goal deficit and eased past Michigan, 16-8, to advance to the title game.
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 997-354-15.
• 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.
• Maryland checks in at #1 in both the USILA Coaches Poll and the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll this week.
Series History
• This week's game will be the 122nd all-time between Johns Hopkins and Maryland.
• The Blue Jays lead the all-time series 74-46-1, although Maryland picked up a pair of regular season wins this year (18-10, 14-13).
• This week's game will mark the first time Johns Hopkins and Maryland have met three times in a season.
• This week's game will mark the fifth time in the last 22 games (for JHU) dating back to late in the 2019 season that Johns Hopkins and Maryland will meet and the seventh time in the last 39 games (for JHU) dating back to late in the 2018 season that the Blue Jays and Terps will meet.
On This Date
• Since 1955, this week's game against Maryland will be the seventh for Johns Hopkins on May 6.
• The Blue Jays are 3-3 all-time in games played on May 8 since 1955.
• JHU has won two straight and three of its last four on this date.
Big Ten 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-16, #5 Michigan-8
7:30 pm - #6 Johns Hopkins-12, #2 Rutgers-10
Saturday, May 8 (at Penn State) - Finals
8 pm - #6 Johns Hopkins vs. #1 Maryland (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 now four appearances in the league championship game are tied with Maryland for the most in league history.
• Johns Hopkins' seven wins in the tournament and 10 games played in the tournament are both the most in league history.
• Johns Hopkins will tie the record for most consecutive appearances in the title game with this week's game against Maryland (Maryland (2016-18)).
• JHU improved to 4-0 all-time in the tournament against #3 seeds with the 15-7 quarterfinal win at third-seeded Penn State.
• JHU's record vs. each seed in tournament history: vs. #1 (1-1), vs. #2 (1-2), vs. #3 (4-0), vs. #4 (1-0).
• There has never been a Big Ten men's lacrosse championship game that hasn't involved either Johns Hopkins, Maryland or both (2018, 2021).
Extra-Extra
• Including the 2-for-4 showing against #6 Rutgers in the Big Ten Semifinals, the Blue Jays are now 15-of-32 (.469) on extra-man this season.
• JHU has converted on 10 of its last 20 (.500) extra-man attempts dating back to the game against Rutgers on March 20.
• Through 12 games, Johns Hopkins ranks second in the B1G and seventh in the nation in extra-man offense.
• JHU is one of just eight 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 in 2017 (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 Maryland averaging 11.25 goals per game on 31.6% shooting.
• In 48 quarters this season, the Blue Jays have scored two or more goals in 38 quarters, three or more in 27 quarters and four or more in 14 quarters.
• The Blue Jays' top four goal-scorers (Connor DeSimone, Joey Epstein, Cole Williams, Garrett Degnon) have combined to score 89 goals on 244 shots (.365).
• 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 12 games, the Blue Jays have collected assists on 76-of-135 (.563) of their goals.
• With 56.3% of their goals earning an assist, JHU ranks third in the B1G in percentage of assisted goals (Maryland / 63.2%).
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 five outings.
• In the last five games, Blue Jay freshmen have combined for 16 goals and five assists, or an average of 3.2 goals and one assist per game. No coincidentally, Johns Hopkins has bumped its scoring average up by more than 2.3 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.
• Peshko carried the load for the group in the B1G Semifinals with a career-high four goals, while McDermott added an assist in the 12-10 win over #6 Rutgers.
Strong in the Middle
• Johns Hopkins has outscored its 12 opponents by a combined margin of 81-65 in the second and third quarters this season and the Blue Jays have outshot the opposition by a total of 239-196 in those periods.
• Along the same lines, the Blue Jays have won 97-of-165 (.588) 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 nine of 12 games this season.
• Through 12 games, Johns Hopkins has held the opposition scoreless for a stretch of 11:30 or longer 14 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.
• The defensive group turned in an impressive performance in the B1G Semifinals as they held high-scoring Rutgers off the board for nearly 20 minutes at one point (19:55) and the 10 goals the 'Knights scored were nearly five less than their season average (15.3.).
All-Time Against Number One
• This week's game will be Johns Hopkins' 48th all-time against a team ranked number in the nation at the time of the game (USILA Coaches Poll - poll debuted in 1973).
• JHU is currently 19-28 all-time against teams ranked number one at the time of the gam and has dropped its last four games against the top ranked team in the nation.
• This will be the 11th time Johns Hopkins has played Maryland when the Terrapins are ranked number one in the nation at the time of the game. JHU is 5-4 all-time against Maryland when the Terps are number one, including a 14-13 loss earlier this season at Homewood Field (April 24). JHU had won two straight against Maryland (2013 (7-4), 1998 (10-6)) when the Terps were number one prior to the meeting earlier this season.
• Eighteen of JHU's previous 47 games against #1 have been one-goal games. The Blue Jays are 8-10 in one-goal games against #1 and have currently won three of their last five and seven of their last 11 such games.
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