The Game
• The seventh-ranked Johns Hopkins (9-4, 2-1 B1G) men's lacrosse team closes the home portion of the its 2023 regular season schedule as the Blue Jays welcome 17th-ranked Ohio State (5-6, 1-2 B1G) to Homewood Field for Homecoming.
When Last We Saw Them
• Johns Hopkins had its five-game winning streak snapped as the Blue Jays fell to then eighth-ranked Penn State, 12-11, in double overtime last Saturday night (April 8) on the road.
• Ohio State also went to overtime last weekend as the Buckeyes fell to Maryland, 12-11, at home on Friday, April 7.
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 1,013-368-15 (.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 seventh in this week's USILA Coaches Poll and seventh in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll as well.
• Ohio State is ranked 17th in this week's USILA Coaches Poll and 18th in 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.
500+ Top 20 Rankings
• After being listed as receiving votes in the USILA Preseason Poll, the Blue Jays made the jump to ninth after starting the season at 2-0.
• 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 527th issued; JHU's number seven ranking this week means the Blue Jays have appeared in 508 of the 527 polls. In addition, this week's number seven ranking marks the 431st time that Johns Hopkins has been ranked in the top 10 in the nation.
The Schedule - Just Sayin'
• To date, Johns Hopkins has played eight of its 13 games against teams ranked in the top 20 in the nation at the time of the game.
• In all, 12 of JHU's 15 opponents on the 2023 schedule are ranked in the top 20 this week. Among those 12 are five of the top 10 and seven of the top 15 in this week's national rankings.
Series History
• This week's game will be the 17th all-time meeting between Johns Hopkins and Ohio State. The Blue Jays lead the series 9-7, although the Buckeyes have won the last four meetings.
• A complete look at the series history between Johns Hopkins and Ohio State can be found on page 19.
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 ranks second in all-time appearances in the Big Ten title game (4) and second in Big Ten Tournament titles (2).
• The eight games JHU has won in the Big Ten Tournament are the second most in league history.
• Including games played before the Big Ten was formed in 2015, Johns Hopkins is 142-71-1 (.666) all-time against teams currently competing in the Big Ten.
Big Ten Tournament Talk
• Johns Hopkins will host the Big Ten Tournament Semifinals (May 4 / 1 pm & 3:30 pm) and Championship game (May 6 / 5:30 pm) at Homewood Field. The top two teams in the final Big Ten regular season standings will earn a bye into the tournament semifinals, while the teams that finish third through sixth will play quarterfinals games on April 29 (number three and four seeds to host ... games times TBA).
• Entering this week's game against Ohio State, Johns Hopkins can clinch no worse than a share of the B1G regular season title with a win and losses by Penn State (@ Michigan) and Maryland (@ Rutgers), but the Blue Jays cannot clinch a bye in the conference tournament this weekend.
• Like Johns Hopkins, Maryland and Penn State can clinch no worse than a share of the regular season title with a win coupled by losses from the other two teams that are currently 2-1 in league play, but neither the Terps or Nittany Lions can clinch a bye. The possibility of a three or four way tie at 3-2 exists in this scenario and results of next week's games would determine the final standings.
Balanced Scoring
• Johns Hopkins features one of the most balanced scoring sheets in the nation this season.
. The Blue Jays count 21 different players with at least one goal, 20 players with at least one assist and 24 players with at least one point.
• Taking the production up a notch, 10 players currently have at least six goals and 10 have at least seven points.
• Leading the way for the Jays thus far are Jacob Angelus (11g, 31a), Russell Melendez (23g, 9a), Garrett Degnon (28g, 2a), Brendan Grimes (16g, 11a), Matt Collison (17g, 6a), Johnathan Peshko (12g, 4a), Dylan Bauer (8g, 5a), Ryan Evans (8g 3a) and Ian Krampf (6g, 2a), who all have at least eight points thus far.
25 Straight For Degnon
• Graduate student attackman Garrett Degnon continues to lead the team in goals (28) as the Blue Jays get set to welcome Ohio State to Homewood Field. Since missing the game against Utah on February 25, he has scored 21 goals in eight games with at least two goals in seven of those outings.
• His two goals at Penn State pushed his goal-scoring streak to 25 games dating back to February 19, 2022, when he scored once in an 11-10 win over Loyola. The streak is currently the third longest active streak in the nation.
• During his 25-game goal-scoring run, Degnon has scored 63 goals and has 19 multi-goal games and 10 games with 3+ goals to his credit.
• Degnon's 25-game run is also the longest by a Johns Hopkins player since a school-record-tying 37-game run by Ryan Brown that ran from 2013-16.
Offensive Notes of Interest
• Since the start of the 2022 season, the Blue Jays are 15-3 when they score 11 or more goals.
• In 52 quarters this season, the Blue Jays have scored two or more goals in 40 quarters and four or more in 24 quarters.
Defensive Notes of Interest
• The Johns Hopkins defense has held 12 of 13 opponents under its season scoring average this season. The Blue Jays have held five teams at least three goals under their current scoring average.
• In addition, the Blue Jays have held their 13 opponents scoreless for a period of at least 10 minutes 19 different times thus far this season - 10 of those have come in the last six games.
• Johns Hopkins was 4-0 in 2021, 5-0 in 2022 and, with the recent wins over Syracuse (11-9), Navy (12-9) and Delaware (12-10), is now 14-0 under head coach Peter Milliman and defensive coordinator Jamison Koesterer when holding the opposition to 10 goals or less.
Closing Strong
• Over the last six games, the Blue Jays have demonstrated some strong play down the stretch in each game.
• During the last six games, the Blue Jays are 5-1 and have outscored their six opponents by a combined score of 21-5 in the final 10 minutes of the fourth quarter.
• During the recent five-game streak, the Blue Jays held a 21-7 overall scoring advantage in the fourth period.
• In the 11-9 win at Syracuse, the Blue Jays scored the final three goals of the game and held the Orange scoreless for the final 11:19.
• At Navy, Hopkins trailed 9-8 with just over eight minutes remaining before outscoring the Midshipmen 4-1 in the final 8:16.
• Down 9-5 midway through the third quarter, the Blue Jays scored seven straight goals and outscored Delaware 7-1 in the final 23:03 to fuel a 12-10 victory.
• Down 9-8 with less than five minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Blue Jays outscored Michigan 7-1 in a 15-minute span to grab a 15-10 lead.
• In the 16-12 win against Rutgers, the Blue Jays trailed 10-8 with nine minutes remaining in the third quarter before closing with an 8-2 run.
• The 12-11 double overtime loss at Penn State, JHU trailed 10-7 with 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter before outscoring the Nittany Lions 4-1 in those final 10 minutes.
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