The Game
•  The 17th-ranked Johns Hopkins (2-2) men's lacrosse team welcomes Utah (1-2) to Homewood Field for the first-ever meeting between the two programs.  The Hopkins-Utah game will start at 12 pm and will be followed by the Johns Hopkins-Penn women's lacrosse game at 4 pm. Both games will air live on ESPN+.

When Last We Saw Them
•  Johns Hopkins slipped to 2-2 on the year with a 13-8 loss at then 12th-ranked Loyola last Saturday.
• Utah fell to 1-2 on the year as the Utes dropped a tight 14-13 overtime decision to Vermont last Saturday at home.

The Facts
•  This is the 136th 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 1,006-366-15 (.731).
• Johns Hopkins is the only men's lacrosse program in the nation with 1,000 or more all-time victories.  The Blue Jays picked up the program's 1,000th victory with an 11-10 win over Loyola on February 19, 2022.
•  JHU owns 44 national championships with nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA crowns to its credit.

Poll Position
•  Johns Hopkins is ranked 17th in this week's USILA Coaches Poll and 16th in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll.
• Utah is not ranked in either the USILA Coaches Poll or the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll.
• The Johns Hopkins Athletic Communications Office uses the USILA Poll when referencing JHU's official ranking at the time of a game.

The Schedule - Just Sayin'
•  Johns Hopkins' first four opponents (Jacksonville, Georgetown, North Carolina and Loyola) are all ranked in the top 15 in this week's USILA Poll.
• In all, 11 of JHU's 15 opponents on the 2023 schedule are ranked in the top 20 this week.

500th Top 20 Ranking
• After being listed as receiving votes in the USILA Preseason Poll, the Blue Jays made the jump to ninth in last week's poll.
• The number nine ranking marked the 500th time in school history that JHU has appeared in the top 20 of the USILA Poll.
• The USILA Poll debuted in 1973 and this week's poll is the 520th issued; JHU's #17 ranking this week means the Blue Jays have appeared in 501 of the 520 polls.

Series History
•  Johns Hopkins and Utah will be meeting for the first time as the Utes' program made its debut as a Division I program in 2019.
• The teams did both compete against Denver earlier this season.  The Blue Jays scrimmaged the Pioneers at Homewood Field on January 28, while the Utes open their season a week later in Denver and fell 12-4.

Against the ASUN
• Johns Hopkins has played just two games all-time against a team currently in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
• The Blue Jays opened the 2022 season with an 11-8 win against Jacksonville and opened the 2023 win with a 12-7 win against the Dolphins.
• The win against Jacksonville in 2022 did come while the Dolphins were still playing in the Southern Conference.

In February
•  This week's game against Utah will be the 56th all-time for Johns Hopkins in the month of February.]
•  JHU is 35-20 (.636) all-time in games played in the month of February.
•  Johns Hopkins played its first game in the month of February in 1998, didn't play again in February until 2004 and has now played at least one game in the opening month of the season every year since 2006.

Marcille From 55
•  Senior goalie Tim Marcille etched his name in the Blue Jay record book in the recent game against North Carolina as he scored a second-quarter goal from 55 yards out with the Tar Heels in a 10-man ride and the net vacant.
• Marcille is believed to be the first Johns Hopkins goalie to score a goal since March 18, 1986, when Stuart Jones scored a third-quarter goal in a 16-10 win against Washington College.
• Marcille now has two points on the year as he had an assist in a 12-7 win over Jacksonville in the season opener.

Marcille With 15+ Saves in Three Straight
•  Senior goalie Tim Marcille recorded his third consecutive game with 15+ saves in the 11-7 loss to 19th-ranked North Carolina as he posted 15 stops against the Tar Heels.
• The 15-save effort followed a 15-save performance in the season-opener against Jacksonville and a 16-save effort against third-ranked Georgetown.
• Marcille is the first Johns Hopkins goalie with three straight games of 15+ saves since Brian Carcaterra had 18 (Towson), 17 (Loyola) and 16 (Duke) in the final three games of the 1997 season.  Marcille's streak of 15+ saves came to an end at Loyola, when he posted 13 stops in goal.

• Through games of February 21, Marcille currently ranks 13th in the nation in save percentage (.578) and 26th in goals against average (10.99).

Balanced Scoring
•  Johns Hopkins got goals from nine different players and points from 11 different players in the 12-7 season-opening win at Jacksonville and then had six different goal-scorers and nine players notch at least one point in the win over Georgetown.
• The Blue Jays' balanced scoring sheet already includes eight players with two or more goals and seven with five or more points.
• Leading the way for the Jays in the early season are Jacob Angelus (2g, 8a), Garrett Degnon (7g), Brendan Grimes (5g, 2a), Russell Melendez (5g, 1a), Dylan Bauer (4g, 2a), Johnathan Peshko (4g, 1a) and Matt Collison (5g).

Five Have Scored First Career Goals
•  Juniors Cameron Chauvette and Patrick Deans and sophomore Stuart Phillips all scored the first goals of their career in the win against Jacksonville, while freshman Matt Collison added his first career goal in the win over Georgetown.  Not to be outdone, senior goalie Tim Marcille added his first career strike against North Carolina.
• Chauvette, Deans and Phillips all scored during a game-ending 7-2 run that turned a 5-5 tie into the 12-7 victory at Jacksonville.  Deans and Chauvette scored the first two of those seven goals and Phillips added the seventh goal of the run.
• Collison's first career goal came with 10:50 remaining in the fourth quarter of the win against Georgetown and ignited a five-goal run that turned an 11-8 deficit into a 13-11 lead.
• Marcille's goal, the first for a JHU goal in 37 years, came in the second quarter against UNC as he found the open net from 55 yards out.

Pole Goals
•  Johns Hopkins got a pair of goals from its long sticks in the win at Jacksonville as graduate student Alex Mazzone and junior Patrick Deans both scored in transition.
• Mazzone's goal, which gave JHU an early 2-1 lead, was his first as a Blue Jay and the ninth of his career, while Deans' goal was the first of his career.
• JHU added a third pole-goal in the game at Loyola as Hunter Jaronski traded in his short stick in the fourth quarter and scored in transition with a pole.
• Last season, the Blue Jays got 14 goals and eight assists for 22 points from non-offensive players and already have four goals and two assists through four games this season.

Strength of Schedule
• The Blue Jays' 15 regular season opponents combined to post a 160-82 (.661) record in 2022 with JHU's 10 non-conference opponents rolling up a 107-53 (.669) record.  In addition, seven of the 15 qualified for the NCAA Tournament with two of those teams advancing to championship weekend.

Offensive Notes of Interest
• Since the start of the 2022 season, the Blue Jays are 8-1 when they score 11 or more goals.
• In 16 quarters this season, the Blue Jays have scored two or more goals in nine quarters and four or more in six quarters.

Defensive Notes of Interest
•  JHU allowed just 12 extra-man goals (on 35 chances) in 2022.  The 12 EMO goals allowed are the fewest by a Blue Jay team since 2016, when Hopkins allowed just 11 (of 33 chances).
• Johns Hopkins was 5-0 last season and is 10-0 under head coach Peter Milliman and defensive coordinator Jamison Koesterer when holding the opposition to 10 goals or less.  This includes the season-opening 12-7 win at Jacksonville.

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