The Game
• The fifth-ranked and sixth-seeded Johns Hopkins (12-5) men's lacrosse team makes the short trip to Annapolis to take on third-ranked and third-seeded Notre Dame (11-2) in the NCAA Quarterfinals. The game will air live on ESPNU on Sunday, May 21 (2:30 pm).
• The winner of the quarterfinal game between Johns Hopkins and Notre Dame will take on the winner of the quarterfinal game between second-seeded Virginia and seventh-seeded Georgetown in the NCAA Semifinals on Saturday, May 27 (Lincoln Financial Field / Philadelphia, PA).
When Last We Saw Them
• Johns Hopkins cruised past Bryant, 22-8, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, May 14 at Homewood Field.
• Notre Dame emphatically punched its ticket to the quarterfinals as the Irish jumped to an 8-0 lead and never looked back in a 20-7 win over Utah in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, May 13 in South Bend.
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 1,016-369-15 (.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.
Game Number 1,400
• Last week's game against Bryant was the 1,400th in program history.
Poll Position
• Johns Hopkins is ranked fifth in the most recent USILA Coaches Poll and sixth in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll (note that the USILA did not issue a new poll after conference championship week).
• Notre Dame is ranked third in the most recent USILA Coaches Poll and the Irish also check in at number three 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.
The Schedule - Just Sayin'
• Johns Hopkins played eight regular season games against teams that qualified for the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
• The Blue Jays posted a 5-3 record in their eight games against teams in the tournament.
• Hopkins holds wins against Delaware, Georgetown, Maryland, Michigan and Utah, while the Jays dropped games against Maryland, Penn State and Virginia.
Series History
• This week's game will be the seventh meeting between Johns Hopkins and Notre Dame in men's lacrosse.
• All six previous meetings have come in the NCAA Tournament with the most recent coming in the first round in 2019.
• Johns Hopkins has won four of the six previous meetings
Program Ties - Part I
• Johns Hopkins offensive coordinator John Crawley got his coaching career started at Notre Dame in 2018. He worked with the Irish offense and faceoff unit and helped ND to the ACC Tournament title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.
NCAA History
• Johns Hopkins is making its record 48th appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
• The Blue Jays are 72-38 all-time in the NCAAs with the 72 wins standing first all-time.
• Johns Hopkins' complete NCAA Tournament history can be found in the tournament record book at the back of this week's game notes.
Balanced Scoring
• Johns Hopkins features one of the most balanced scoring sheets in the nation this season.
. The Blue Jays count 25 different players with at least one goal, 22 players with at least one assist and 26 players with at least one point.
• Taking the production up a notch, 12 players currently have at least six goals and 12 have at least nine points.
• Leading the way for the Jays thus far are Jacob Angelus (17g, 42a), Russell Melendez (35, 16a), Garrett Degnon (39g, 5a), Brendan Grimes (20g, 14a), Matt Collison (24g, 9a), Johnathan Peshko (14g, 5a), Dylan Bauer (9g, 7a), who all have at least 15 points thus far.
Looking Ahead
• Nine of Johns Hopkins' top 10 scorers (players with 10+ points) have at least one year of eligibility remaining.
Round One in the Record Books
• Among the many noteworthy statistics from the 22-8 win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Bryant are the following:
• The 22 goals JHU scored are tied for the most ever by a Hopkins team in the NCAA Tournament and are the most in any game since 2005.
• JHU's 16 assists are its most in a game since 1997.
• The nine goals Hopkins scored in the second quarter match its NCAA Tournament record for goals in a quarter (2003 Semifinals vs. Syracuse ... 4th quarter of a 19-8 victory).]
• The 38 points (22g, 16a) for the Jays against Bryant are its most in an NCAA game since posting 39 against Maryland in 1977 (22g, 17a).
• JHU held the Bulldogs scoreless in the second quarter. That marked the 51st time JHU has held a team scoreless for a quarter in an NCAA Tournament games.
29 Straight For Degnon
• Graduate student attackman Garrett Degnon continues to lead the team in goals (39) as the Blue Jays enter the NCAA Quarterfinals Since missing the game against Utah on February 25, he has scored 32 goals in 12 games with at least two goals in 11 of those outings.
• His two goals against Bryant in the first round of the NCAA Tournament pushed his goal-scoring streak to 29 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 29-game goal-scoring run, Degnon has scored 74 goals and has 23 multi-goal games and 12 games with 3+ goals to his credit.
• Degnon's 29-game run is also the longest by a Johns Hopkins player since a JHU-record-tying 37-game run by Ryan Brown from 2013-16.
Collison Enjoying Strong Freshman Campaign
• Freshman Matt Collison has quickly established himself as one of the top young players in the nation. Through 17 games, Collison is third on the team in goals (24), fourth in assists (9) and fifth in points (33).
• With a three-goal (and one assist) effort against Ohio State (April 15), Collison became just the fifth Johns Hopkins freshman midfielder since 1980 to score 20+ goals in a season. Joel Tinney (28/2015), Del Dressel (27/1983), Michael Kimmel (23/2007) and Paul Rabil (23/2005) are the only other Blue Jay freshman middies to score 20+ goals in a season during that time. • Collison earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors four times this season. Among Johns Hopkins players, only Joey Epstein (5 selections in 2019) and Shack Stanwick (4 in 2015) have earned the honor as many times as Collison has.
• Earlier this season, Collison had a five-game run of multi-goal games to his credit - he is the first Blue Jay freshman middie to score two or more goals in five straight games in at least 20 years. Prior to Collison's run of five straight games with 2+ goals, Paul Rabil was the last JHU freshman middie to even have a four-game run of two or more goals (2005).
Offensive Notes of Interest
'• Since the start of the 2022 season, the Blue Jays are 18-3 when they score 11 or more goals.
• In 68 quarters this season, the Blue Jays have scored two or more goals in 53 quarters and four or more in 31 quarters.
Extra-Extra
• The Johns Hopkins extra-man unit has converted on 15-of-43 (.349) attempts this season, but that hardly tells the story.
• After going 0-for-7 in the first four games of the season, the Blue Jays have converted on 15-of-36 (.412) chances in the last 13 games.
Non-Offensive Scoring
• Through 17 games, Johns Hopkins has gotten 33 points (20g, 13a) from non-offensive players, an average of 1.94 points per game.
• In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Blue Jays got four goals and two assists from non-offensive personnel to match a season-high for points by this group. Matt Narewski (1g, 1a), Jakson Raposo (1g, 1a), Alex Mazzone (1g) and Patrick Deans (1g) all contributed to the 22-goal outburst against the Bulldogs.
• In addition to the six-point effort against Bryant, non-offensive personnel accounted for six points against Virginia and five against Rutgers.
Defensive Notes of Interest
• The Johns Hopkins defense has held 14 of 17 opponents under its season scoring average this season. The Blue Jays have held seven teams at least three goals under their current scoring average.
• In addition, the Blue Jays have held their 17 opponents scoreless for a period of at least 10 minutes 24 different times thus far this season - 15 of those have come in the last nine games.
• Johns Hopkins is 16-0 under head coach Peter Milliman and defensive coordinator Jamison Koesterer when holding the opposition to 10 goals or less.
Causing Trouble
• Johns Hopkins has twice caused 11 turnovers in a game this season and twice caused 10 as well. Including the 10 against Bryant in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Blue Jays now have 131 CTs on the year for an average of 7.71 per game.
• The 131 CTs the Blue Jays have amassed this season are a JHU single-season record, while the 7.71 CTs/game are just above the school-record pace of 7.63 (2022). Caused turnovers were first kept as an official statistic in 2009.
• Leading the way in the CT category this season is junior Scott Smith, who counts 23 CTs to his credit in 17 games. Alex Mazzone (18), Beaudan Szuluk (16), Brett Martin (15), and Carson Brown (14) all have at least 14 CTs on the year as well.
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