The Game
• Johns Hopkins (7-8) makes the 45-minute trip south to College Park as the Blue Jays take on top-ranked Maryland in the Big Ten Semifinals.  Faceoff is set for 5:30 pm on Thursday, May 5 (BTN).

Last Time Out
•  Johns Hopkins knocked off Penn State, 16-8, in the Big Ten Quarterfinals at Homewood Field last Saturday.
• Top-seeded Maryland had a bye in the quarterfinal round of the Big Ten Tournament.  The Terps have not played since knocking off Johns Hopkins, 22-7, on April 23.

The Facts
•  This is the 135th season of Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse.  JHU first fielded a team in 1883.
•  Johns Hopkins enters this week's game with an all-time record of 1,004-363-15 (.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 1,004-363-15 all-time and sit 76 wins ahead of Syracuse on the all-time victories list among Division I men's lacrosse programs.

The B1G Tournament
• All six Big Ten teams qualified for the league tournament starting with the quarterfinals on Saturday, April 30.
• Johns Hopkins earned the number four seed and topped fifth-seeded Penn State in one quarterfinal (16-8), while Ohio State is the number three seed and beat sixth-seeded Michigan (16-10) in the other quarterfinal.
• The semifinal schedule is as follows:

Thursday, May 5 - Semifinals @ Maryland
5:30 pm - #4 Johns Hopkins vs. #1 Maryland (BTN)
8 pm - #3 Ohio State vs. #2 Rutgers (BTN

Saturday, May 7 - Championship Game at Maryland
8 pm - Semifinal Winners (BTN)

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 (4) and rank second in Big Ten Tournament titles (2).  The eight games JHU has won in the Big Ten Tournament are the most in league history.
• Including games played before the Big Ten was formed in 2015, Johns Hopkins is 140-69-1 (.669) all-time against teams currently competing in the Big Ten.

On This Date
•  Dating back to 1955, this week's game against Maryland will be the 12th for Johns Hopkins on May 3.  The Blue Jays are 10-1 on this date in that time and have currently won eight of their last nine games on this date.
• In their last game played on this date in 2018, the Blue Jays knocked off Ohio State, 6-5, in the Big Ten Semifinals at Michigan.  The Blue Jays got a rebound goal from Alex Concannon with 11 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to grab the one-goal win and advance to the title game, where they would top Maryland, 13-10.

Series History
• This week's game will be the 124th all-time meeting between Johns Hopkins and Maryland.  The Blue Jays lead the all-time series 74-48-1.
• Maryland won all three meetings in 2021 as the Big Ten played a league-only schedule.  Included were a 14-13 win at Homewood Field in the regular-season finale and a 12-10 win in the Big Ten Championship game.  UM ran its winning streak in the series to four games with a victory at Homewood Field on April 23.
• A complete series history can be found on pages 15 & 16 of the PDF version of this week's notes..

Poll Position
•  Johns Hopkins is not ranked in either the USILA Coaches Poll or the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll this week.
•  Maryland is the consensus top team in the nation as the Terps are ranked number one in both the USILA Coaches Poll and the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll 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 Blue Jays' 2022 opponents have played have compiled a record of 130-74  ... that .637 opponent winning percentage ranks third in the nation.
• Using this week's USILA National Rankings as a guide, Johns Hopkins has played the teams currently ranked first (Maryland), second (Georgetown), third (Rutgers), fourth (Virginia), 11th (Jacksonville), 12th (Ohio State) and 20th (North Carolina).
• Johns Hopkins is the only team in the nation that has played the top four teams in the nation in this week's national rankings.  Only three other schools - Loyola, Notre Dame and Princeton - have played even three of the top four.

Lending a Hand
• Through 15 games, Johns Hopkins has collected an assist on 99-of-164 (.604) goals this season.  The Blue Jays are one of just 28 teams in the nation assisting on 60% or more of their goals and rank 28th nationally with an assist on 60.4% of their goals on the year.

More Lending
• The first 11 goals Johns Hopkins scored in its recent win over Penn State and 12 of its 13 on that night were assisted (.923).  Taking it back to the game against Ohio State (April 9), 29 of the last 46 goals JHU has scored have been assisted (63.0%).

Balance on Offense
• A quick look at the stat sheet reveals the Blue Jays feature a balanced scoring unit through the first 15 games of the season.
• Johns Hopkins has eight players with nine or more points, eight players with at least six goals and four players with 13 or more assists.
• In all, 19 different players have scored at least one goal and 23 players have at least one point to their credit through 15 games.

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 6-0 when holding the opposition to less than 10 goals.
• Through 15 games, the Blue Jay defense has held the opposition scoreless for a stretch of 10 minutes or longer 15 times with 10 of those stretches coming in the last nine games.

Blue Jays Have Faced Highest Scoring Three Teams in the Nation
•  Through games of May 1, the Johns Hopkins defense has faced the top three scoring offenses in the nation and the five of the top eight (Maryland-Jacksonville-Virginia-Georgetown-Rutgers).
• Johns Hopkins is the only team in the nation that has played the top three scoring offenses (Maryland-Jacksonville-Virginia) in the nation.

Causing Trouble-Part I
•  JHU was credited with a season-high 12 caused turnovers in the recent 13-10 win over Penn State.  In all, Johns Hopkins has collected eight or more caused turnovers eight times in 15 games this season. 
• The 7.73 caused turnovers per game this season is on pace to break the previous single-season record of 6.92 caused turnovers per game (2021).  Prior to 2021, JHU had averaged more than 6.5 caused turnovers per game just once (6.73 / 2013) since CTs became an official stat in 2009.
• Johns Hopkins' 116 caused turnovers this season are a program single-season record and mark the fourth time JHU has topped 100 CTs in a season.  The previous record for most caused turnovers in a season game in 2015, when JHU compiled 104 CTs in 18 games.

Causing Trouble-Part II
• In the last three games, JHU has accumulated 28 caused turnovers (9.33/game).
•  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 16-of-41 (.390) extra-man chances through 15 games and is tied for 28th in the nation in extra-man offense.
• 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 14 of JHU's 16 EMO goals 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 10 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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