• Johns Hopkins travels to Happy Valley this week to wrap up the regular season at Penn State Thursday night.
• Hopkins is coming off a 17-14 win over Ohio State on Saturday afternoon to pick up its first Big Ten win of the season. It was also the final regular season home game for head coach Janine Tucker.
  • Hopkins can clinch a spot in the Big Ten Tournament with a win at Penn State, combined with a Rutgers' win over Ohio State and a Maryland win over Michigan.
• In that scenario, the Blue Jays would finish in a three-way time for fourth with the Wolverines and Buckeyes. Hopkins would win the tiebreaker on goal differential (JHU +1 / UM 0 / OSU -1).
  • The Blue Jays are 224-161-2 (.581) all-time in the month of April, including 118-71 (.624) under head coach Janine Tucker.
• Since moving to Division I in 1999, Hopkins is 77-64 (.546) in the month of April.
  • On March 15, 1994, Hopkins beat Salisbury 14-5 to give head coach Janine Tucker a win in her first game on Homewood Field. On Saturday, Hopkins beat Ohio State, 17-14, to give Tucker a win in her final game on Homewood Field. That's a span of 10,266 days.
  • Three of Hopkins' 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 (March 26).
• In addition, two of the Blue Jays' wins have come by one or two goals. Hopkins beat host and 19th-ranked Penn (February 26) by two goals. On April 6, JHU beat host Towson in overtime.
  • 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 312-178 (.636), including a 244-162 (.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 311 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 moved back into this week's IL Women/IWLCA Poll and is ranked 25th with 26 points. In addition, Hopkins is receiving votes in the USA Lacrosse Magazine Poll.
• Six 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 10th toughest schedule in the nation this season. JHU's opponents have a combined win percentage of 63.5.  
• Hopkins has been ranked in 106 of the last 137 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 1 ground ball to rank 18th and 6 to rank 17th (has 107)
• Needs 39 draws to rank 5th (has 163)
• Needs 5 caused turnovers to rank 7th (has 76)
 
Kathleen Garvey (Gr. • GK):
• Needs 6 saves to rank 4th and 68 to rank 3rd (has 331)
 
Shelby Harrison (Gr. • M):
• Needs 7 goals to reach 100 for her career (has 93)
• Needs 12 free position goals to rank 1st (has 43)
• Needs 1 caused turnover to rank 15th and 8 to rank 14th (has 54)
 
Jeanne Kachris (Gr. • D):
• Needs 2 ground balls to rank 13th, 3 to rank 12th and 7 to rank 11th (has 122)
• Needs 2 caused turnovers to rank 6th and 9 to rnak 5th (has 81)
 
Annika Meyer (Sr. • D):
• Needs 8 caused turnovers to rank 8th (has 68)
• Needs 3 ground balls to rank 16th and 5 to rank 15th (has 112)
 
Kaitlyn Pham (Jr. • GK):
• Needs 2 saves to rank 13th and 11 to rank 12th (has 8)
  • With her goal just 2:02 into the third quarter at Northwestern, Shelby Harrison became the 26th player in school Division I history, and 44th all-time, to score 100 career points.
• Harrison also needs seven goals to score 100 for her career. She would be the 16th in school DI history to reach the mark, and 30th all-time. 
  • Kathleen Garvey notched her 300th career save in the win at Towson (April 6). She is the sixth goalie in school Division I history, and 10th all-time, to reach the mark.
• Garvey ranks fifth in JHU DI history with 331 career saves and is eighth all-time. She also leads all active goalies in the Big Ten in career saves.
  • 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 March 31 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 (37), points (40), free position goals (16) and draws (54). She leads the Big Ten in free position goals, ranks ninth in goals per game (2.31) and is 10th in draws per game (3.38).
• Kachris leads Hopkins with a career-high 27 caused turnovers and is also second in ground balls (30). She ranks second in the league in caused turnovers per game (1.69) and is ninth in ground balls per game (1.88).
• Meyer is JHU's leader in ground balls (34) and is second in caused turnovers (23). She is seventh in the Big Ten in ground balls per game (2.12) and fourth in caused turnovers per game (1.38).
  • Fifth-year senior Shelby Harrison became Johns Hopkins all-time leader in draw controls at Rutgers (March 26). 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 15th among all active players in the nation, and second among players in the Big Ten, with her 290 draws.
• Harrison has led the team in draws in each of her five seasons and notched the 200th draw of her career on February 28, 2021 versus Northwestern - in just her 47th career game. She averages 3.86 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 163 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 37 daws (3.08 per game). She entered the season with nine career draw controls. In Saturday's win over Ohio State, Farnella had a game-high seven draws.
  • Johns Hopkins used a 6-1 run over the second and third quarters to take control in a 17-14 win over Ohio State on Saturday afternoon in Big Ten action.
• Ohio State jumped out to a 4-0 in the game's opening 11 minutes with goals from four different Buckeyes. Madison McPherson got Hopkins on the board at the 3:09-mark to spark a six-goal Blue Jay run that saw them grabb a 6-4 lead with 10:28 to play in the second.
• Chloe Jordan ended the run and a scoreless drought of 9:32 with a shot off the dodge to pull Ohio State back within one. Abbey Hurlbrink answered with a free position goal and Hopkins led 7-5 at 5:58 in the second. The Buckeyes responded with three goals in less than two minutes to go back up 8-7 with 3:26 to go in the half. Hopkins wasn't done however. A Jeanne Kachris interception on the defensive end led to a transition goal with Hurlbrink finding Jordan Carr open down low for the tying score.
• The third quarter started the same as the second ended. Annika Meyer intercepted a Buckeye pass inside the eight-meter and ended with a Georgie Gorelick goal in transition just 25 seconds into the half. Nicole Ferrara answered for Ohio State to knot the score at nine.
• Hopkins answered with a four-goal run to go up 13-9 after three. Maeve Barker ignited the run followed by a pair of goals from Shelby Harrison and another Gorelick strike.
• Ohio State opened the fourth with three straight goals to pull within one with 10:29 to play. JHU ended the run when McPherson found Carr on the crease and she scored to make it 14-12. Just 63 seconds later, Harrison cashed in on a free position shot and the lead was three.
• The Buckeyes weren't going away as Ferrara scored a transition goal to make it a 15-13 game with 3:36 to play. Fifty seconds later, the Blue Jays answered with a transition goal of their own, that ended with a Barker hitch-and-score on the crease. Ali Beekhuizen got one back for Ohio State with a free position goal at 2:03 to again cut the lead to two. Gorelick sealed the win when she grabbed a loose ball near the restraining line and raced to the cage for the late score with 17.9 seconds left.
• Gorelick led all scorers with a career-high five goals and six points. Harrison (3g, 1a) and Carr (3g) also had hat tricks as seven different Blue Jays scored in the win.
• Carr also had a game and career-high five ground balls to go with a pair of caused turnovers. McPherson had a career-high three assists and added a goal, three ground balls and two draws.
• Meyer had three caused turnovers, while Kachris had two to lead the defense. Mia Farnella had a career-high seven draws, two caused turnovers and a ground ball.
  • Fifth-year Shelby Harrison leads the Blue Jays with a career-high 16 free position goals. She leads the Big Ten and ranks 15th in the nation in free position goals (1.00/game).
• Harrison ranks second all-time in school history with 43 free position goals. Her 16 FPG this season are the second most in school single-season history and are four shy of Dene DiMartino's single season record (20 / 2016).
• Junior Madison McPherson is second on the team with a career-high seven free position goals. 
  • 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 tallied just one point in her first two seasons (17 games). This season, she ranks second on the team in goals (27) and third in points (33) and assists (6). She also ranks third on the team in shooting percentage (.474) and is second in free position goals (7).
• McPherson handed out a career-high three assists in Saturday's win over Ohio State. 
  • Fifth-years Keegan Barger, Shelby Harrison and Jeanne Kachris have played in 75 games in their career - two shy of Maggie Schneidereith's school record (77 / 2017-21).
• In addition, Barger and Kachris have started all 75 games of their career. Schneidereith also holds the record for career starts (77).
• Fifth-year Kathleen Garvey has made 38 consecutive starts in the cage, tied for third most in school Division I history. With her next start, she will tie Lauren Riddick for second on that list. Jen McDonald (2000-03) holds the record with 51 consecutive starts in goal.
  • Hopkins and Penn State meet for the 25th time in a series that began in 2002, with the inception of the American Lacrosse Conference.
• The Nittany Lions lead the series, 16-8, while the Blue Jays have won the last three meetings. Hopkins is 6-4 against Penn State in University Park, including the last two games.
  Eight Blue Jays carry active goal, assist and/or point streaks into Thursday's game at Penn State. In fact, three Blue Jays have a point-scoring streak in double digits. Here's a look at those streaks:
 
Maeve Barker (Jr. • A):
• Has at least one point in 13 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
 
Jordan Carr (So. • M):
• Has at least one point in 5 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 3 straight games
 
Georgie Gorelick (So. • M):
• Has at least one point in 3 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 3 straight games
• Has at least one assist in 2 straight games
 
Shelby Harrison (Gr. • M):
• Has at least one point in 14 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 14 straight games
 
Abbey Hurlbrink (So. • M):
• Has at least one point in 4 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 4 straight games
 
Madison McPherson (Jr. • M):
• Has at least one point in 14 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 8 straight games
 
Claire Mills (Sr. • A):
• Has at least one point in 2 straight games
• Has at least one goal in 2 straight games
• Has at least one assist in 2 straight games
  • 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 the win over the UMBC Retrievers (March 29). Fifth-year defender Jeanne Kachris scored her first career goal. Sophomores Jordan Carr, Cameron Levine and Marielle McAteer each notched their first career assist.
• Sophomore Liza Regan tallied her first career assist and freshman Ashley Mackin scored her first career goal in the win over Coastal Carolina (April 10).
• Kachris handed out her first career assist at Northwestern on April 16.
  • Senior Georgia Esmond leads the Blue Jays and ranks fifth in the Big Ten  with 22 assists. She has at least one assist in 10 of Hopkins' 16 games this season and has had five 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 31 helpers to her credit. 
  • 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 second in the Big Ten and 16th in the nation with 9.56 caused turnovers per game. Hopkins is also third in the league in ground balls per game (17.94).
• 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 81 career caused turnovers. She is second in the Big Ten in caused turnovers (1.69/game). She is also 14th in JHU history with 122 career ground balls. Kachris is tied for 19th among all active Division I players in ground balls.
• Fifth-year senior Keegan Barger ranks eighth in JHU history, and is 14th among all active players in Division I, with 76 caused turnovers. She also holds the school single-game record with seven takeaways in a game.
• Senior Annika Meyer ranks fourth in the league in caused turnovers (1.38) and seventh in ground balls (2.12). She is tied for ninth in program history with 67 career takeaways and is 17th with 112 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 March 29, the Blue Jays held the UMBC Retrievers scoreless for a span of 17:26 in the second and third quarters.
• On April 6, Hopkins held Towson scoreless for 18:30, a drought that spanned the first to third quarters. 
  • 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 143-72 (.665) within the friendly confines of Homewood Field and the Jays are 52-26 (.667) at home since the start of the 2014 season.
• Hopkins played 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 462-298-4 (.607) and a 244-162 (.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).
  • If Hopkins earns a spot in the Big Ten Tournament, it would take on top-seeded Maryland in the semifinals at Rutgers on Friday, May 6.