The Game
• Johns Hopkins (10-3, 5-0 B1G) returns to action for the first time since April 20 as the top-seeded Blue Jays take on fourth-seeded Michigan (8-6, 2-3 B1G) in the Big Ten Semifinals (May 2 / 6 pm / BTN).
When Last We Saw Them
• Johns Hopkins locked up the top seed in the Big Ten Tournament with a 7-5 win over then fifth-ranked Maryland at Homewood Field on April 20. The win also capped JHU's first unbeaten run through the Big Ten.
• Michigan eased its way into the Big Ten Semifinals with a 15-9 win over rival Ohio State in the Big Ten Quarterfinals on Saturday, April 27.
The Facts
• This is the 137th 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 1,026-373-15 (.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 in the top five in the nation in both major national polls as the Blue Jays are 2nd in both the USILA Coaches Poll and in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll this week.
• The NCAA recently began releasing its RPI rankings. Through games of April 27, Johns Hopkins has the #2 RPI in the nation.
• Michigan joins the Blue Jays as a consensus top 20 team this week as the Wolverines check in at 18th in the USILA Coaches Poll and 17th in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. In addition, Michigan is also #16 in the RPI.
Poll Notes of Interest
• Including this week's poll, the USILA has issued 543 polls since the debut poll in 1973, Johns Hopkins has appeared in the top 20 in 523 of those 543 polls and has been ranked in the top 10 in 444 of the 543.
• The Johns Hopkins Athletic Communications office uses the USILA Poll to reflect JHU's official national ranking at the time of a game. The poll dates to 1973 and is the longest-running, continuous men's lacrosse poll in the nation.
Series History
• Johns Hopkins and Michigan will be meeting for the 13th time this week. The Blue Jays lead the series, which dates to a 17-8 Johns Hopkins victory in 2013 during the Wolverines' inaugural season, 11-1.
• Johns Hopkins' series history against the three other teams that have advanced to the Big Ten Semifinals can be found on pages 18-21.
On This Date - May 2
• This week's game will be the 14th all-time for Johns Hopkins on May 2.
• The Blue Jays are 10-3 all-time on this date, including 2-0 in the Big Ten Tournament.
• Johns Hopkins won the inaugural Big Ten Tournament in 2015 with a 13-6 win over Ohio State and added a 12-7 win over Maryland in the 2019 Big Ten Semifinals.
Big Stuff
• Johns Hopkins claimed its first outright Big Ten title with its perfect run through the league during the regular season.
• Since the formation of the Big Ten for men's lacrosse in 2015, this year's regular season title is the third for JHU (2015 (shared), 2023 (shared), 2024 (outright)).
• JHU is the top seed in the tournament for the second time (2015).
All-Big Ten
• Johns Hopkins was well represented on the 2024 All-Big Ten Team that was announced on Wednesday, April 24.
• The Blue Jays placed a league-high three players (Garrett Degnon, Chayse Ierlan, Scott Smith) on the first team and had one player (Jacob Angelus) named to the second team.
• The four selections tied the JHU record for most in one season. This is the sixth time in nine seasons (2015-2024 (no All-Big Ten Team selected during COVID-shortened 2020 season)) that JHU has placed four players on the team.
• In addition to its All-Big Ten selections, Johns Hopkins also produced the Coach of the Year in Peter Milliman, who was a unanimous selection among his coaching peers in the league.
• Senior Johnathan Peshko was named to the Big Ten's All-Sportsmanship Team when the All-Big Ten Team was announced.
Showing Our Depth
• The Blue Jay depth has been on display this season as 19 different players have appeared in all 13 games and 24 have appeared in at least 11 of the 13.
• Close games have not resulted in fewer players appearing. In the 10 games JHU has played that have been decided by four goals or less, at least 26 players have appeared in eight of the 10.
Offensive Notes of Interest
• Since the start of the 2022 season, the Blue Jays are 24-5 when they score 12 or more goals.
• This season, in 52 full quarters (does not include overtime periods), the Blue Jays have scored two or more goals in 42 quarters and four or more in 22 quarters.
• Johns Hopkins is averaging 11.92 goals per game this season (37th in the nation) with at least 11 goals scored in 10 of 13 games thus far.
• In 13 games, the Blue Jays have gotten goals from 15 different players and 20 different players have at least one point.
• Johns Hopkins averaged 12.56 goals per game in 2023. That output was the highest scoring average for the Blue Jays since 2015, when Hopkins averaged 13.0 goals per game. The 12.56 goals per game are also the second-best mark at JHU since 2004.
• As a team, Johns Hopkins shot 32.9% in 2023, a mark that ranked 14th in the nation. The 32.9% shooting percentage was the highest for JHU since 2015 (.331).
43 Straight For Degnon
• Graduate student attackman Garrett Degnon will carry a school-record 43-game goal-scoring streak into this week's game against Michigan after he scored two goals in the game against Maryland. The streak is currently tied for longest active streak in the nation.
• During his 43-game goal-scoring run, Degnon has scored 115 goals and has 36 multi-goal games and 28 games with 3+ goals to his credit.
• Degnon's 43-game run is the longest in school history after he broke the previous record of 37 against Navy. Terry Riordan originally set the mark at 37 games from 1992-95 and Ryan Brown matched that with a 37-game run from 2013-16.
• The 43-game goal-scoring run for Degnon and the 37-game runs for Brown and Riordan are the only three goal-scoring streaks of 30+ games in Johns Hopkins history.
Strength of Schedule
• The Blue Jays' 13 regular season opponents are currently a combined 111-55 for a win percentage of 66.9%. This gives Johns Hopkins the second-highest cumulative opponent winning percentage in the nation.
• Using this week's USILA Poll as a gauge, the Blue Jays played nine games against teams ranked in the top 20 in the nation. The seven include Syracuse (3rd), Denver (4th), Virginia (5th), Maryland (8th), Penn State (9th), Georgetown (10th), Towson (15th), Michigan (18th) and North Carolina (20th). In addition, Loyola and Ohio State are also listed as receiving votes. Translation ... 11 of Johns Hopkins' 13 regular season opponents appear in this week's USILA Poll.
• Using this week's RPI ranking as a strength of schedule tool, Johns Hopkins played 10 teams in the top 20 of the RPI rankings and all 13 Blue Jay opponents are in the top 27.
Causing Trouble
• Johns Hopkins tied the program record with 14 caused turnovers in the recent 9-8 overtime win against Penn State - this came one week after notching 13 CTs in a win against Michigan.
• In 13 games thus far, the Blue Jays have 113 caused turnovers to their credit (8.69/game) with 10 coming in the 13-5 win against Towson, nine in the 11-9 win at Georgetown, 12 against Loyola and 11 at Virginia to go along with the efforts against Michigan (13) and Penn State (14). The 14 CTs against Penn State marked the 24th time in program history that the Blue Jays have been credited with 10 or more CTs in a game (CTs became an official stat in 2009).
• JHU currently ranks 23rd in the nation - and third in the Big Ten - with its 8.69 caused turnovers per game.
• The 135 CTs the Blue Jays amassed last season are a JHU single-season record, while the 7.50 CTs/game narrowly missed the school-record of 7.63 (2022). Caused turnovers were first kept as an official statistic in 2009.
Defensive Notes of Interest
• The Blue Jays have held their first 13 opponents scoreless for a period of 10 minutes or longer a total of 25 times. 16 of those 25 streaks have been 12+ minutes in length.
• In five regular season Big Ten games, JHU held the opposition scoreless for at least 10 minutes 11 different times with nine of those stretches covering at least 12 minutes.
• In the last 12 games, the opposition has gone scoreless for a stretch of 10 minutes or longer 24 times with four of those coming against Towson, three against Maryland and two each against Georgetown, Loyola, North Carolina, Rutgers, Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State.
• Dating back to the start of the 2023 season, the Blue Jays have held their 31 opponents scoreless for a period of at least 10 minutes 49 different times - 39 of those have come in the last 24 games.
• This season, in 52 full quarters (does not include overtime periods), the Blue Jays have allowed two or less goals in 33 quarters and four or more in just eight quarters.
• The five goals the Blue Jays allowed against Towson were, at the time, the fewest JHU has surrendered since Hopkins topped Ohio State, 6-5, in the 2018 Big Ten Semifinals.
• The five goals the Blue Jays held Maryland to in the regular season finale were the fewest for the Terps in a game since they suffered a 5-4 loss to Notre Dame early in the 2017 season.
• Johns Hopkins is 23-1 under head coach Peter Milliman and defensive coordinator Jamison Koesterer when holding the opposition to 10 goals or less.
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