• Johns Hopkins hits the road for the first time this season, traveling to the City of Brotherly Love to take on 19th-ranked Penn.
• The Blue Jays are coming off a 14-5 loss to the ninth-ranked Loyola Greyhounds last Saturday.
• Hopkins is 21-8 (.724) in season openers under head coach Janine Tucker and is 32-14-1 (.691) all-time. The Blue Jays have won 17 of their last 19 season-openers. 
  • Hopkins is 39-21 (.650) under head coach Janine Tucker in the month of February.
• Now in their 47th 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.
  • The Blue Jays are looking forward to a more traditional schedule in 2022 with 11 non-conference and six Big Ten contests. Last year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Hopkins was unable to practice in the fall and then faced a Big Ten-only schedule in the spring, playing each Big Ten team twice.
• The 2022 schedule features 10 home games and three new opponents (VCU, East Carolina and Coastal Carolina). Seven of the Blue Jays' 2022 opponents advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season, including one who advanced to the national semifinals.
  • Head coach Janine Tucker announced in August that 2022 will be her final season at Johns Hopkins. She enters her 29th, and final season, with a career record of 304-172 (.638), including a 236-156 (.602) record since she successfully transitioned the program from Division III to Division I in 1999.
• The all-time winningest coach in program history, Tucker has led the Blue Jays to double-digit wins 22 times, 13 NCAA Tournament appearances and three ECAC Division I championship games. Her 303 wins are the second most by a female coach in any sport in Johns Hopkins history.
• In a career filled with thrilling victories and big moments, Tucker's most recent milestone came in 2021 as she became just the ninth coach in NCAA Division I history to reach 300 wins when her Blue Jays beat 13th-ranked Penn State, on April 18.
• Tucker was presented with the IWLCA's Diane Geppi Aikens Award in November. The award is named in honor of the legendary Loyola coach whose courageous battle with cancer inspired the nation and recognizes lifetime achievement to the women's college game.
• After a successful career as an All-American lacrosse player at Loyola, Tucker broke into the coaching ranks at her alma mater as an assistant alongside Geppi Aikens.
  • Ninth-ranked Loyola used a five-goal run that spanned the second and third quarters to take control en route to a 14-5 win over Hopkins women's Saturday at Homewood Field.
• Hopkins jumped out to a 3-1 lead less than 10 minutes into the opening quarter. Junior Madison McPherson opened the scoring at 12:49 but an Elli Kluegel goal three minutes later tied the game at one. The Blue Jays then got a pair of free position goals from Georgia Esmond and Charlotte Smith to stake the Jays to a 3-1 lead with 5:31 to go. Loyola answered with three straight to take its first lead of the day.
• Junior Bailey Cheetham knotted the score at four with 3:17 to play in the second. Rosenzweig responded just 45 seconds later to spark that five-goal Greyhounds' run.
• Smith led the Blue Jays with two goals, her second straight two-goal outing. Fifth-year senior Jeanne Kachris had a game-high three ground balls and two caused turnovers. Senior Annika Meyer and sophomore Abbey Hurlbrink finished with two ground balls and two takeaways each. Fifth-year senior Kathleen Garvey made nine saves in the cage. 
  • Hopkins is ranked 24th in this week's IL Women/IWLCA Poll.
• Eight of the Blue Jays' 2022 opponents are ranked in the top-25 in the IL Women/IWLCA Poll, including five in the top-10.
• Hopkins has been ranked in 98 of the last 128 IWLCA Coaches Polls, beginning with the first regular season poll in 2012. 
  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 7 draws to rank 6th (has 146)
• Needs 1 caused turnover to rank 8th, 2 to rank 7th and 18 to rank 6th (has 65)
 
Kathleen Garvey (Sr. • GK):
• Needs 14 saves to rank 7th (has 212)
 
Shelby Harrison (Sr. • M):
• Needs 2 free position goals to rank 4th (has 28)
• Needs 23 draws to rank 1st (has 244)
 
Jeanne Kachris (Sr. • D):
• Needs 6 caused turnovers to rank 12th (has 56)
 
Annika Meyer (Sr. • D):
• Needs 1 caused turnover to rank 15th and 4 to rank 14th (has 51)
 
Kaitlyn Pham (Jr. • GK):
• Needs 4 saves to rank 13th and 13 to rank 12th (has 6)
  • A trio of Blue Jays scored their first career goals on Saturday vs. VCU in Jordan Carr, Georgie Gorelick and Charlotte Smith.
• Smith's first goal came with 5:06 to play in the first quarter and tied the game (2-2).
• Junior Madison McPherson scored her first career goal just 2:11 into Saturday's game versus ninth-ranked Loyola. 
  • Hopkins and Penn meet for the 15th time in a series that began in 2001.
• The Quakers lead the all-time series, 8-6, and have won four in a row.
• Penn won 15-12 when the two last met in Philadelphia in 2020. The two did not meet in 2021 as the Blue Jays played a Big Ten-only schedule and the Quakers did not play until late April due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
  • Senior defender Annika Meyer has been named to the 2022 Tewaaraton Award Watch List. She is just the third Blue Jay defender to be named to the watch list and the first since Alyssa Kildare in 2012. A Hopkins women's lacrosse player has been named to the watch list 16 times in the last 19 seasons.
• Meyer was named a Big Ten Preseason Player to Watch after earning First Team All-Big Ten honors in 2021. She was also named a preseason All-American by both USA Lacrosse Magazine (Second Team) and Inside Lacrosse (Honorable Mention). 
• Meyer anchored a Blue Jay defense that led the Big Ten and ranked 14th in the nation in caused turnovers (10.00)  a year ago. JHU also ranked second in the league in scoring defense (11.20) and ground balls (17.60). Meyer ranked second in the conference and 19th in the nation with 3.00 ground balls per game. She also ranked third in the league and 30th nationally with 1.73 caused turnovers per game.
  • Fifth-year seniors Shelby Harrison and Kathleen Garvey were also named Big Ten Preseason Players to Watch.
• Harrison, a two-time All-Big Ten selection in the midfield, returns as one of the top draw specialists in the 46-year history of the program. She has led the Blue Jays in draws in each of her four seasons and ranks third in JHU history with 236 career draws. She needs just 31 draws to tie Dene' DiMartino's school record. Harrison has also tallied 56 goals, including 27 free position goals, and 65 points in her career.
• Garvey returns after earning Big Ten Goalie of the Year honors in 2021. She led the league in saves (129) and was second in save percentage (.436), goals against average (11.14) and saves per game (8.60). She posted six double-digit save performances and ranks eighth in program history with 198 career saves.
  • Senior attacker Georgia Esmond was named the Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week on February 15. This is her second weekly conference honor as she was named B1G Freshman of the Week on March 4, 2019
• Esmond totaled a game and career-high six points and four assists, along with three ground balls. Five of her six points came in an 11-minute span of the second half as the Blue Jays turned a one-goal game into a nine-goal game.
  • Johns Hopkins was picked to finish fourth in the 2022 Big Ten Women's Lacrosse Preseason Poll of the league's seven head coaches.
• Northwestern is the unanimous pick to the win the Big Ten in 2022, followed by Maryland, Rutgers, Hopkins, Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan.
  • Fifth-year senior midfielders Keegan Barger and Shelby Harrison and senior defender Annika Meyer have been selected in a vote by their teammates as captains for the 2022 season.
• This is Barger's second turn as a captain as she was the Blue Jays' lone captain in 2021.
  • Fifth-year senior Shelby Harrison has led the team in draws in each of her four seasons and ranks second all-time in school history with 244 career draws. She notched the 200th draw of her career on February 28, 2021 versus Northwestern - in just her 47th career game. Harrison averages 4.06 draws per game in her career, the best per game average in program history. She needs 24 draws to break Dene DiMartino's all-time record of 267.  
• 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 15 times in her career.
• Fifth-year senior Keegan Barger is also a threat at the draw circle. She ranked second on the team in draws in a Covid-shortened 2020 (17) and as a freshman (54). She ranks seventh in school history with 146 career draws. and has had five or more draws in a game nine times in her career.  
  • The Blue Jay defense led the Big Ten and ranked 14th in the nation in caused turnovers (10.00) in 2021. JHU also ranked second in the league in scoring defense (11.20) and ground balls (17.60).
• Senior Annika Meyer ranked second in the Big Ten and 19th in the nation with 3.00 ground balls per game. She also ranked third in the league and 30th nationally with 1.73 takeaways per game. Meyer totaled 28 caused turnovers, which is tied for 12th in school Division I history. In addition, she totaled 45 ground balls – the most by a Blue Jay since 2014.
• Fifth-year senior Keegan Barger is the team's active career leader with 62 caused turnovers, which is tied for 11th in school Division I history. She also holds the school single-game record with seven takeaways in a game. Fifth-year senior Jeanne Kachris ranks 14th in school history with 54 caused turnovers.
• Hopkins held VCU to just six goals on 15 shots in its season-opener on February 12. The Blue Jays' also forced 13 Rams' turnovers, led by Meyer's game-high four takeaways. Hopkins also forced 12 turnovers versus Loyola last Saturday.
  Four Blue Jays carry active goal, assist and/or point streaks into Saturday's game at Penn. Here's a look at those streaks:
 
Eliza Bowman (So. • A):
• Has at least one point in 3 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 3 straight games
• Will miss the season due to injury
 
Bailey Cheetham (Jr. • M):
• Has at least one point in 2 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 2 straight games
 
Georgia Esmond (Sr. • A):
• Has at least one point in 2 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 2 straight games
 
Charlotte Smith (Fr. • A):
• Has at least one point in 2 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 2 straight games
  • The Blue Jays welcome back four seniors from last year's squad in Keegan Barger, Kat Garvey, Shelby Harrison and Jeanne Kachris. After the 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA granted all spring athletes an extra year of eligibility.
  • Head coach Janine Tucker welcomes eight freshmen to the Blue Jays this season. Joining Hopkins are Hadley Boston, Paris Colgain, Jordan Conversano, Alayna Costa, Ashley Mackin, Annie Marshall, Quinlan O'Brien and Charlotte Smith.
• Colgain was ranked #17 by Inside Lacrosse while Boston was named to the Watch List.
  • Under head coach Janine Tucker, the Blue Jays are 137-70 (.661) within the friendly confines of Homewood Field and the Jays are 46-24 (.657) at home since the start of the 2014 season.
• Hopkins will play 10 of its 17 regular season games at Homewood this spring. 
  • Johns Hopkins will play  three nationally-televised games this season. Hopkins' games versus Maryland (April 2) and Ohio State (April 23) will be televised by ESPNU while JHU's game at Penn State (April 28) will air on the Big Ten Network.
• In addition, Hopkins' games at Penn (Feb. 26), Navy (Mar. 10) and Stony Brook (Mar. 13) will be shown on ESPN+
  • This marks the 47th season for Johns Hopkins, which sports an all-time record of 454-293-4 (.607) and a 236-156 (.602) record as a Division I program.
• The Blue Jays have posted 35 winning seasons, including 21 straight from 1987 to 2007. Hopkins has also made 18 NCAA Tournament appearances, including nine in the Division I Tournament (2004, 2005, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021).
  • Hopkins returns to Homewood Field on Wednesday, March 2 to take on Georgetown. Opening draw is slated for 4:00 pm.