The Game
•  Johns Hopkins (6-5, 0-3 B1G) hits the road for the first two of straight away from home to close the regular season as the Blue Jays head to Penn State (7-3, 1-2 B1G).  Faceoff from Panzer Stadium is set for 1 pm (BTN+).

When Last We Saw Them
•  Johns Hopkins dropped its third straight as the Blue Jays fell to third-ranked Ohio State, 14-10, last Saturday at Homewood Field.
• Penn State snapped a two-game losing streak of its own as the Nittany Lions went on the road and topped Michigan, 11-8, on Sunday.

The Facts
•  This is the 138th 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 1,033-380-15 (.729).
• 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 19th in this week's USILA Coaches Poll and also checks in at number 19 in the KANE Inside Lacrosse Media Poll.
• Penn State is ranked eighth in both the USILA Coaches Poll and the KANE Inside Lacrosse  Media Poll this week.

Poll Notes of Interest
• Including this week's poll, the USILA has issued 565 polls since the debut poll in 1973.  Johns Hopkins has appeared in the top 20 in 542 of those 565 polls and has been ranked in the top 10 in 452 of the 565.

Series History
• Johns Hopkins and Penn State will be meeting for the 20th time this week.  The series dates to a 14-1 Johns Hopkins victory in 1916 and the Blue Jays are 14-5 all-time against the Nittany Lions.
• A complete look at the series history can be found on page 19.

B1G Tournament Talk
• With two games remaining in the regular season, the race for positioning in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament is heating up.  The picture will be much clearer after this weekend's games, but here is a quick look at things heading into games being played on April 12th and 13th.
•What's listed below is the best-case scenario for each team, NOT an exhaustive look at all possibilities

Johns Hopkins - Guarantee a home game in B1G Quarterfinals with two wins
Maryland - Could earn a bye with two wins, but not guaranteed
Michigan - Clinches the top seed with two wins
Ohio State - Clinches the top seed with two wins
Penn State - Could earn a bye with two wins, but not guaranteed}
Rutgers - Clinches the top seed with two wins and two Ohio State losses

Program Ties
• Penn State associate head coach John Haus is the son of former Johns Hopkins head coach John Haus.
• The elder John Haus served as an assistant coach at Homewood from 1988-1994 and returned as the Blue Jay head coach for the 1999 and 2000 seasons.  He guided the Blue Jays to a pair of trips to the NCAA Semifinals and a 20-7 record.

On This Date
• Dating back to 1940, this week's game will be the 13th game Johns Hopkins has played on April 12, the first since 2014 and the first against Penn State.• Johns Hopkins is 11-1 all-time in games played on April 12 and has won 10 consecutive games on this date dating back to 1958.

Strength of Schedule
• The Blue Jays' 14 regular season opponents combined to post a 131-80 (.629) record in 2024 with JHU's eight non-conference opponents rolling up an 86-46 (.652) record.• Using the this week's USILA Coaches Poll as a reference point, the Blue Jays will play eight games against teams ranked in the top 20 in the nation.  The eight include Ohio State (2nd), Syracuse (4th), Maryland (6th), North Carolina (7th), Penn State (8th), Georgetown (13th), Michigan (14th) and Rutgers (18th).  Four other Blue Jay opponents this season - Virginia, Denver, Towson and Navy - are among the teams receiving votes in this week's USILA Poll.  
• Translation, 12 of Johns Hopkins' 13 opponents in 2025 appear in this week's USILA Coaches Poll.

Don't Leave Early
• Fans at Johns Hopkins lacrosse games shouldn't leave early as it's likely the game will be decided in the final 10 minutes.
• Nine of Johns Hopkins' 11 games to-date have been decided by three goals or less with four, one-goal games and five, three-goal games.  Only two Johns Hopkins game this season, an 11-6 win against Georgetown and a 14-10 loss to Ohio State, have been decided by more than three goals.
• Close games are nothing new for the Blue Jays under head coach Peter Milliman.  Dating back to the start of the 2023 season (a span of 45 games), the Blue Jays have played 28 games that have been decided by three goals or less, including 14, one-goal games, five games decided by two goals and nine others that have been decided by three goals.
• Since the start of the 2024 season (27 games), 20 Blue Jay games have been decided by three goals or less with 10 decided by one goal, three decided by two goals and seven decided by three goals

Defensive Notes of Interest
• Johns Hopkins has held seven of its first 11 opponents below its season scoring average (see chart on right).  Two of the 11 opponents have been held more than two goals below their season scoring average.
• Through 11 games, Johns Hopkins is allowing an average of 10.64 goals per game and has held five of its 11 opponents to 10 goals or less.
• Dating back to last season, the Blue Jays have held 16 of their last 20 opponents to 11 goals or less and 12 of those 20 have been held to 10 or less.
• This season, Johns Hopkins has held its 11 opponents scoreless for a stretch of 10 minutes or longer 19 times with 12 of those 19 droughts lasting at least 14 minutes.
• Dating back to last season, the Blue Jay defense has held the opposition scoreless for a stretch of 10 minutes or longer 46 times in 27 games.
• In 44 quarters this season, Johns Hopkins has held the opposition to one goal nine times and to two goals 13 times as well.  Translation, in 22 of 44 quarters this season (50% of quarters played), the Blue Jays have held the opposition to two goals or less.

Offensive Notes of Interest
• Since the start of the 2022 season, the Blue Jays are 28-6 when they score 12 or more goals.
• In 44 quarters this season, the Blue Jays have scored at least two goals in 38 of 44 quarters, three or more goals in 22 of 44 and four or more goals in 10 quarters.
• Through 11 games, Johns Hopkins has gotten goals from 17 different players, assists from 13 players and points from 18 players.
• Johns Hopkins has had an extended scoring run of +3 goals in every game this season and a run of +4 goals in seven of 11 games on the year.
• Six different players have at least one hat trick this season with Hunter Chauvette (4) and Russell Melendez (3) combining for seven hat tricks this thus far.
• 10 different players have recorded at least one multi-goal game this season with Hunter Chauvette (6), Matt Collison (6), Charlie Iler (3) and Russell Melendez (3) leading the way.
• Through 11 games, eight different players have at least 10 points on the year; six of the eight have at least one year of remaining eligibility after 2025, two of the eight have two years of eligibility remaining and three of the eight have three years.
• Johns Hopkins had a player score five goals against North Carolina (Russell Melendez) and Virginia (Hunter Chauvette).  This marked the first time JHU has had different players score five or more goals in back-to-back games since Cole Williams (Maryland) and Kyle Marr (Georgetown) did it late in the 2018 season.

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