• Johns Hopkins is back at Homewood Field to take on eighth-ranked Maryland in Big Ten action Saturday afternoon.
• The Blue Jays are coming off a well-rounded 17-6 win over the UMBC Retrievers on Tuesday afternoon.
• Hopkins is looking for its first Big Ten win of the season. 
  • The Blue Jays are 164-67-2 (.708) all-time in the month of March, including 132-55 (.706) under head coach Janine Tucker.
• Since moving to Division I in 1999, Hopkins is 114-51 (.691) in the month of March.
• The Blue Jays closed out March on a winning note Tuesday against the UMBC Retrievers.
  • The Blue Jays are 221-159-2 (.581) all-time in the month of April, including 115-69 (.625) under head coach Janine Tucker.
• Since moving to Division I in 1999, Hopkins is 74-62 (.544) in the month of April.
  • Three of Hopkins five losses this season have come by just one or two goals to ranked opponents.
• JHU lost in overtime at 25th-ranked Navy on March 10 and then dropped a tough two-goal decision to 10th-ranked Michigan eight days later. Hopkins fell by just one goal at 13th-ranked Rutgers last Saturday.
  • Head coach Janine Tucker announced in August that 2022 will be her final season at Johns Hopkins. She is in her 29th, and final, season and sports a career record of 309-176 (.637), including a 241-160 (.601) 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 309 wins are the second most by a female coach in any sport in Johns Hopkins history. In addition, she ranks seventh among all JHU coaches in career victories.
• 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.
  • Hopkins is ranked 20th in this week's IL Women/IWLCA Poll.
• Seven of the Blue Jays' 2022 opponents are ranked in the top-25 in this week's IL Women/IWLCA Poll, including four in the top-10 (Maryland, Northwestern, Stony Brook, Loyola).
• The Blue Jays boast the third toughest schedule in the nation this season. JHU's opponents have a combined win percentage of 68.6. Only Northwestern (69.5) and Penn State (68.9) have tougher schedules.  
• Hopkins has been ranked in 103 of the last 133 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 (Gr. • M):
• Needs 3 ground balls to rank 17th and 8 to rank 16th (has 105)
• Needs 41 draws to rank 5th (has 161)
• Needs 2 caused turnovers to rank 7th and 10 caused turnovers to rank 6th (has 73)
 
Kathleen Garvey (Gr. • GK):
• Needs 12 saves to rank 6th (has 281)
 
Shelby Harrison (Gr. • M):
• Needs 19 free position goals to rank 1st (has 36)
• Needs 1 caused turnover to rank 18th and 3 to rank 16th (had 49)
 
Jeanne Kachris (Gr. • D):
• Needs 2 ground balls to rank 15th, 4 to rank 14th and 11 to rank 13th (has 113)
• Needs 8 caused turnovers to rank 6th (has 75)
 
Annika Meyer (Sr. • D):
• Needs 5 caused turnovers to rank 13th (has 57)
• Needs 3 ground balls to rank 18th and 6 to rank 17th (has 102)
 
Kaitlyn Pham (Jr. • GK):
• Needs 2 saves to rank 13th and 11 to rank 12th (has 8)
  • 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 which advanced to the national semifinals.
  • Inside Lacrosse released its Midseason All-America Teams on Thursday and three Blue Jays were named to Honorable Mention - fifth-year seniors Shelby Harrison and Jeanne Kachris and senior Annika Meyer.
• Harrison leads the Blue Jays in goals (24), free position goals (9) and draws (42) and is second in points (25). She is seventh in the Big Ten in draws per game (3.82).
• Kachris leads Hopkins with 21 caused turnovers, one shy of her career high, and is also tied for second in ground balls (21). She ranks second in the league in caused turnovers per game (1.91) and is eighth in ground balls per game (1.91).
• Meyer is JHU's leader in ground balls (24) and is second in caused turnovers (13). She ranks fifth in the Big Ten in ground balls per game (2.27).
  • Fifth-year senior Shelby Harrison became Johns Hopkins all-time leader in draw controls last Saturday at Rutgers. She won the game's opening draw, the 268th of her career, to break Dene' DiMartino's (2013-16) record. Harrison finished with a game-high seven draws. It was the 24th time in her career (69 games) that she has had five or more draws.
• Harrison ranks 14th among all active players in the nation, and second among players in the Big Ten, with her 278 draws.
• Harrison has led the team in draws in each of her four seasons and notched the 200th draw of her career on February 28, 2021 versus Northwestern - in just her 47th career game. She averages 3.97 draws per game in her career, the best per game average in program history. Harrison holds the school record for draws in a game (11) and by a freshman (91).
• 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 sixth in school history with 161 career draws. and has had five or more draws in a game nine times in her career.  
• Senior Mia Farnella has emerged as a draw specialist this season and ranks second on the team with 22 daws (2.75 per game). She entered the season with nine career draw controls.
  • Johns Hopkins used a seven-goal run, that bridged halftime, to break open a close game en route to a 17-6 win over UMBC Tuesday.
• Georgia Esmond gave the Blue Jays an early one-goal lead as they capitalized off an early Retrievers' turnover. UMBC answered at the 10:58-mark to tie the game. Hopkins then got goals with three straight goals to push out to a 4-1 lead with 1:09 to go in the first. The Retrievers ended the run late in the first to make it a 4-2 game heading into the second.
• It was all Hopkins in the second quarter and third quarters as the Blue Jays' outscored the Retrievers 11-3 to blow open the game. Jeanne Kachris opened the second-quarter scoring when she picked off a UMBC pass and went coast-to-coast before scoring her first career goal.
• Ten different players scored and 12 had at least one point for the Blue Jays. Maeve Barker (2g, 2a) and Esmond (3g, 1a) lead Hopkins with four points each, while Keegan Barger (2g, 1a) and Madison McPherson (3g) added three points.
• Kachris led the defense with three caused turnovers and four ground balls. She also held the Retrievers' leading scorer, Claire Bockstie (5.88 points per game), to just one point. Esmond and Barker had two caused turnovers each as the Blue Jays held the Retrievers to just 16-of-26 on clears.
• Kathleen Garvey made 13 saves and picked up a pair of ground balls in nearly 50 minutes of action.
  • Junior middie Madison McPherson is having a breakout season on the offensive end of the field for the Blue Jays. After playing a primarily defense role in her first two seasons, she made the transition to more of a two-way middie.
• McPherson had not tallied a point in her first two seasons (17 games). This season, she ranks second on the team in goals (21) and is third in points (24) and assists (3). She also leads the team in shooting percentage (.538) and is second in free position goals (7).
  • A trio of Blue Jays - Jordan Carr, Georgie Gorelick and Charlotte Smith - scored their first career goals in the season-opening win versus VCU.
• Junior Madison McPherson scored her first career goal just 2:11 into the game versus ninth-ranked Loyola (February 19). She then tallied her first career hat trick in JHU's win over Georgetown (March 2). Senior Claire Mills also turned in her first career hat trick versus the Hoyas.
• Gorelick notched her first career hat trick in Hopkins come-from-behind win over Drexel (March 6).
• Four Blue Jays had career firsts in Tuesday's win over the Retrievers. Fifth-year defender Jeanne Kachris scored her first career goal. Sophomores Jordan Carr, Cameron Levine and Marielle McAteer each notched their first career assist.
  • Senior Georgia Esmond leads the Blue Jays and ranks fifth in the Big Ten  with 17 assists. She has at least one assist in eight of Hopkins' 11 games this season and has had four multi-assist games.
• Just four games into the season, Esmond had already doubled her career assist total. She entered the season with nine career assists and now has 27 helpers to her credit. 
  • Hopkins and Maryland meet for the 23rd time on Saturday. The Terrapins have won every meeting in the series which began in 1979. Though the teams didn't meet again until 2000.
• The Blue Jays and Terps faced off three times last season - twice during the regular season and once in the Big Ten Tournament. Maryland won each of those games by just one goal, including an overtime win at Homewood Field on March 12.
  • 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). 
  • 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. 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).
  • Senior attacker Georgia Esmond was named the Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week on February 15. She finished with a game and career-high six points and four assists, along with three ground balls in the season-opening win against VCU. 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.
• Freshman attacker Charlotte Smith was named the Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week for her effort in the Blue Jays' 10-8 win at 19th-ranked Penn (February 26). She scored twice and added an assist for three points.
  • The Blue Jay defense ranks third in the Big Ten and 16th in the nation with 9.64 caused turnovers per game. JHU is also fourth in the league and 17th in the nation in scoring defense (9.73).
• In 2021, the Blue Jays led the Big Ten and ranked 14th in the nation in caused turnovers (10.00). JHU also ranked second in the league in scoring defense (11.20) and ground balls (17.60) a year ago.
• Fifth-year senior Jeanne Kachris ranks seventh in school history and 12th among all active Division I players with 75 career caused turnovers. She is second in the Big Ten in caused turnovers (1.91/game). She also ranks 16th in JHU history with 113 career ground balls.
• Fifth-year senior Keegan Barger ranks eighth in JHU history, and is 15th among all active players in Division I, with 73 caused turnovers. She also holds the school single-game record with seven takeaways in a game.
• Senior Annika Meyer ranks eighth in the league in caused turnovers (1.27) and fifth in ground balls (2.27). She ranks 14th in program history with 59 career takeaways and is 19th with 102 career ground balls.
• Hopkins held VCU to just six goals on 15 shots in its season-opener (February 12). The Blue Jays' also forced 13 Rams' turnovers, led by Meyer's game-high four takeaways.
• In the come-from-behind win over Drexel (March 6), Hopkins held the Dragons scoreless for a stretch of 26:07 between the second and fourth quarters. Hopkins held ECU (March 20) scoreless for nearly 22 minutes in a drought that spanned the second and third quarters. Last Saturday, JHU held Rutgers scoreless for nearly 21 minutes in a drought that spanned the second and third quarters. And on Tuesday, the Blue Jays held the Retrievers scoreless for a span of 17:26 in the second and third quarters.
  Six Blue Jays carry active goal, assist and/or point streaks into Saturdays's game versus Maryland. Here's a look at those streaks:
 
Maeve Barker (Jr. • A):
• Has at least one point in 8 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 4 straight games
• Has at least one assist in 3 straight games
 
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
 
Georgie Gorelick (So. • M):
• Has at least one point in 2 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 2 straight games
 
Shelby Harrison (Gr. • M):
• Has at least one point in 9 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 9 straight games
 
Madison McPherson (Jr. • M):
• Has at least one point in 10 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 4 straight games
  • 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 was 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.
  • 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 welcomed eight freshmen to the team 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 141-71 (.665) within the friendly confines of Homewood Field and the Jays are 50-25 (.667) 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 on 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 459-296-4 (.607) and a 241-160 (.601) 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 makes the short-trip up Charles Street to take on Towson in another cross-town match-up. Opening draw at Tiger Field is slated for 6:30 pm.