The Game
• Johns Hopkins (5-5) heads north to Rutgers (9-1) for the first of two straight Big Ten games on the road. Faceoff at SHI Stadium is set for 7 pm with a live national television broadcast on BTN.
Last Time Out
• Johns Hopkins bounced back from a pair of tight losses with a 15-12 win over Michigan at Homewood Field on Homecoming last Saturday (March 26).
• Rutgers made it three straight in the win column as the Scarlet Knights raced past Ohio State, 18-7, at home on Sunday (March 27).
The Facts
• This is the 135th season of Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse. JHU first fielded a team in 1883.
• Johns Hopkins enters this weekend's games with an all-time record of 1,002-360-15 (.733).
• JHU owns 44 national championships with nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA crowns to its credit.
First to 1,000
• Johns Hopkins became the first men's lacrosse program in history to reach 1,000 all-time victories with an 11-10 win over Loyola (2-19-22).
• With the win (and subsequent results), the Blue Jays are 1,002-360-15 all-time and sit 74 wins ahead of Syracuse on the all-time victories list among Division I men's lacrosse programs.
On This Date
• This week's game against Rutgers will be the 12th all-time for Johns Hopkins on April 3. The Blue Jays are 9-2 all-time on this date.
• Among the notable wins on this date was a 12-11 overtime win at then fourth-ranked Virginia in 1982 and a 10-9 win against then fourth-ranked North Carolina in the Big City Classic at Met Life Stadium in 2011.
Series History
• This week's game will be the 44th all-time between Johns Hopkins and Rutgers in a series that dates to a 13-0 Johns Hopkins victory in 1920.
• JHU leads the series 35-8 and the teams have met nine times since Johns Hopkins joined the Big Ten as a sport affiliate member in 2015.
• The Blue Jays hold a slender 5-4 advantage in the series since 2015 and picked up a stunning 12-10 win over then sixth-ranked Rutgers in the 2021 Big Ten Semifinals in the teams' last meeting.
Johns Hopkins and the Big Ten
• The Blue Jays opened Big Ten play with last week's game against Michigan. Johns Hopkins joined the Big Ten as a sport affiliate member in 2015, the first year the league offered men's lacrosse as a championship sport.
• Since the league was formed, the Blue Jays are tied for the league-lead in all-time appearances in the Big Ten title game (5) and rank second in Big Ten Tournament titles (2). The seven games JHU has won in the Big Ten Tournament are tied for the most in league history.
• Johns Hopkins is 138-66-1 (.676) all-time against teams currently competing in the Big Ten.
Poll Position
• Johns Hopkins is listed as receiving votes in both the USILA Coaches Poll and the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll this week.
• Rutgers is ranked in the top five in both the USILA Coaches Poll (4th) and the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll (5th) this week.
Strength of Schedule
• The strength of JHU's 2022 schedule has been well documented since head coach Peter Milliman announced the schedule last fall. The strength of the schedule has played out as expected with a quick look at the opposition's record to date bearing that out.
• To-date, the 10 opponents the Blue Jays have played have compiled a record of 53-25 ... that .679 opponent winning percentage ranks fourth in the nation.
• The Blue Jays' four remaining opponents currently have a combined record of 25-11 ... that .694 winning percentage of future opposition gives the Blue Jays the second-toughest remaining schedule in the nation.
• Overall, JHU's 14 regular season opponents are currently a combined 78-36 ... that .684 opponent winning percentage ranks as the second-highest in the nation.
Balance on Offense
• A quick look at the stat sheet reveals the Blue Jays feature a balanced scoring unit through the first 10 games of the season.
• Johns Hopkins has seven players with eight or more points, 10 players with at least three goals and four players with 10 or more assists.
• In all, 18 different players have already scored at least one goal and 20 players have at least one point to their credit through 10 games. The 18 players who have scored a goal this season in 10 games is already two more than scored a goal for the Blue Jays in 13 games last season.
Defensive Notes of Interest
• The Blue Jay enjoyed one of their top defensive performances of the Peter Milliman era in the recent 10-7 win over Syracuse.
• Hopkins held the Orange more than nine goals below their season scoring average entering the game and the seven goals SU scored were its fewest since March 10, 2018. Ironically, JHU was also the last team to hold the Orange to seven as Hopkins scored an 18-7 win at the Carrier Dome in that game on March 10, 2018.
• Hopkins held the Orange to just one goal in the final 22 minutes of the game as SU went scoreless for more than 11 minutes at one point in the first half and more than 16 minutes at one point in the second half.
• While there are many factors that go into winning a game, scoring defense is a big key. Since Milliman took over in 2021 and appointed Jamison Koesterer as the defensive coordinator, JHU is 5-0 when holding the opposition to less than 10 goals.
Causing Trouble-Part I
• Johns Hopkins was credited with 11 caused turnovers in the 11-8 season-opening win against Jacksonville, added 10 against Navy, 11 at Delaware and nine against Michigan; in all, the Blue Jays have totaled 76 CTs through 10 games.
• The 11 caused turnovers at Delaware mark the 18th time in school history that JHU has had 10 or more caused turnovers in a game (CTs became an official stat in 2009).
Causing Trouble-Part II
• In its last three games, Johns Hopkins has been credited with 10 (Navy), 11 (Delaware) and nine (Michigan) caused turnovers. This marks the first time since caused turnovers became an official statistic in 2009 that JHU has caused 9+ turnovers in three consecutive games.
Extra-Extra
• JHU has converted on 11-of-27 (.407) extra-man chances through 10 games and currently ranks 30th in the nation in extra-man offense.
• Seven different players have an scored extra-man goal on the year - Garrett Degnon, Joey Epstein, Brendan Grimes, Jack Keogh, Johnathan Peshko, Scott Smith - and 10 of the 11 have been assisted.
• Johns Hopkins converted on 15-of-35 (.429) extra-man chances in 2021 to finish tied for 12th nationally in extra-man offense.
• Epstein is JHU's career active leader in EMO goals with 13, while Degnon has nine to his credit.
• The Blue Jays' 42.9% conversion percentage last season marked the eighth time since 2012 that Hopkins has finished the season at better than 40% on extra-man.
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