The Game
• Johns Hopkins (5-7, 1-2 B1G) welcomes Penn State (3-8, 1-2 B1G) to Homewood Field for the first of two straight at home to close the 2022 regular season.  Faceoff is set for 6 pm (ESPNU).

Last Time Out
•  Johns Hopkins slipped to 1-2 in the Big Ten with a 12-10 loss at then ninth-ranked Ohio State last Saturday.
• Penn State snapped a five-game losing streak with a 9-8 win in overtime against Michigan last Friday night.

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 1,002-362-15 (.732).
•  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 1,002-362-15 all-time and sit 74 wins ahead of Syracuse on the all-time victories list among Division I men's lacrosse programs.

B1G Tourney Talk
•  With two games to play in the 2022 regular season, there is still much to be determined in terms of the matchups for the upcoming Big Ten Tournament.
• Below is a quick look at the simplest things that can happen this weekend relative to seeding (these are not the only things that can happen - just the most obvious):

Johns Hopkins - Can clinch a home game in the Big Ten quarterfinals (April 30) with a win against Penn State.

Penn State - Can clinch a home game in the Big Ten quarterfinals (April 30) with a win against Johns Hopkins.

• A Michigan loss to Rutgers coupled with an Ohio State win against Maryland locks Johns Hopkins-Penn State in the 4v5 game in the Big Ten Tournament.  In that scenario, the winner of this week's JHU-PSU game would host the  quarterfinal game between the Blue Jays and Nittany Lions on April 30.
• Maryland clinches the top seed with a win against Ohio State.
• A Rutgers win against Michigan secures a bye into the semifinals for the Scarlet Knights.
• A loss to Rutgers locks Michigan into the number six seed in the tournament.

On This Date
•  This week's game against Penn State will be the 12th all time for Johns Hopkins on April 16 dating back to 1955.  The Blue Jays are 9-2 all-time on this date.

• Included among the 11 previous games Johns Hopkins has played on this date are a 12-11 loss at number one Cornell in 1977 and a 12-11 overtime victory at Maryland in 2011.  In the 2011 game against the Terrapins, the Blue Jays erased an 8-3 third-quarter deficit and won on a goal from Kyle Wharton goal with 16 seconds remaining in the first overtime.

Series History
•  This week's game will be the 16th all-time meeting between Johns Hopkins and Penn State.  The Blue Jays lead the all-time series 11-4, and took 2-of-3 against the Nittany Lions in 2021.
• JHU topped PSU, 15-7, in the 2021 BIG Quarterfinals after the teams held serve on their home fields during the regular season.  

Johns Hopkins and the Big Ten
•  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.
• Including games played before the Big Ten was formed in 2015, Johns Hopkins is 138-68-1 (.669) all-time against teams currently competing in the Big Ten.

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 12 opponents the Blue Jays have played have compiled a record of 78-42  ... that .650 opponent winning percentage ranks fifth in the nation.
• Overall, JHU's 14 regular season opponents are currently a combined 91-50 ... that .645 opponent winning percentage ranks as the fourth-highest in the nation.

Lacrosse's All-Time Winningest Program
•  Johns Hopkins enters this week's game with an all-time record of 1,002-362-15 to rank as the all-time winningest program in college lacrosse history.
• With the win against Loyola on February 19, Johns Hopkins became the first men's college lacrosse program to reach 1,000 all-time wins.]
•  JHU is one of just seven schools with 700+ victories, one of just five with 800+ wins and one of two that has won 900 or more games.
•  The seven schools with 700+ wins in Division I men's lacrosse history are listed below.

Lending a Hand
• Through 12 games, Johns Hopkins has collected an assist on 78-of-128 (.609) goals this season.  The Blue Jays are one of just 26 teams in the nation assisting on 60% or more of their goals and rank 21st with a helper on 60.9% of their goals thus far.

Balance on Offense
• A quick look at the stat sheet reveals the Blue Jays feature a balanced scoring unit through the first 12 games of the season.
• Johns Hopkins has eight players with eight or more points, eight players with at least six goals and four players with 10 or more assists.
• In all, 18 different players have already scored at least one goal and 22 players have at least one point to their credit through 12 games.  The 18 players who have scored a goal this season in 12 games is two more than scored a goal for the Blue Jays in 13 games last season.

Defensive Notes of Interest
•  While there are many factors that go into winning a game, scoring defense is a big key.  Since Peter 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.
• Through 12 games, the Blue Jay defense has held the opposition scoreless for a stretch of 10 minutes or longer 11 times with seven of those stretches coming in the last six games.

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, nine against Michigan and eight at Rutgers; in all, the Blue Jays have totaled 88 CTs through 12 games.
• The 11 CTs at Delaware mark the 18th time in school history that JHU has had 10 or more CTs in a game (CTs became an official stat in 2009).

Causing Trouble-Part II

•  In a recent four-game stretch, Johns Hopkins was credited with 10 (Navy), 11 (Delaware), nine (Michigan) and eight (Rutgers)  caused turnovers.  This marked the first time since caused turnovers became an official statistic in 2009 that JHU has caused 8+ turnovers in four consecutive games.

Extra-Extra
• JHU has converted on 12-of-30 (.400) extra-man chances through 12 games and is tied for 29th in the nation in extra-man offense.  Amazingly, in three of the last seven games the Blue Jays have not had an extra-man opportunity.
• Seven different players have an scored extra-man goal on the year - Garrett Degnon, Connor DeSimone, Joey Epstein, Brendan Grimes, Jack Keogh, Johnathan Peshko, Scott Smith - and 11 of the 12 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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