The Game
• Johns Hopkins (6-7, 0-5 B1G) opens play in the Big Ten Tournament on Saturday, April 26 as the sixth-seeded Blue Jays hit the road to take on third-seeded Penn State (9-3, 3-2 B1G). Â
• Faceoff is set for 12 pm on Saturday, April 26 (BTN+).
When Last We Saw Them
• Johns Hopkins fell at third-ranked Maryland, 11-8, last Friday night (April 18) in the 128th renewal of college lacrosse's greatest rivalry.
• Penn State locked up the number three seed in the Big Ten Tournament with a 12-4 victory over Rutgers last Friday night at home.
2025 Big Ten Tournament Schedule
April 26, 2025 - Quarterfinals (Games on BTN+)
12 pm | #6 Johns Hopkins at #3 Penn State
1 pm | #5 Rutgers at #4 Michigan
May 1, 2025 - Semifinals
(at Michigan - Games on BTN)
5 pm | Rutgers/Michigan winner vs. #1 Ohio StateÂ
7:30 pm | JHU/PSU winner vs. #2 Maryland
May 3, 2025 - Championship Game
(at Michigan - Game on BTN)
8 pm | Semifinal Winners
Poll Position
• Johns Hopkins is listed as receiving votes in this week's USILA Coaches Poll and the KANE Inside Lacrosse Media Poll.
• Penn State is ranked seventh 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 567 polls since the debut poll in 1973. Johns Hopkins has appeared in the top 20 in 542 of those 567 polls and has been ranked in the top 10 in 452 of the 567.
Series History
• Johns Hopkins and Penn State will be meeting for the 21st time this week. The series dates to a 14-1 Johns Hopkins victory in 1916 and the Blue Jays are 14-6 all-time against the Nittany Lions.
• This week's game will mark the fifth meeting between the two teams in the Big Ten Tournament. Johns Hopkins won three of the previous four (2015, 2021, 2022), while Penn State grabbed an 18-17 win in the 2019 title game.
• A complete look at the series history can be found on page 20.
B1G Tournament Notes of Interest
• Johns Hopkins 8-7 all-time in the Big Ten Tournament with tournament titles in 2015 and 2018.
• The Blue Jays are seeded sixth in the tournament for the second time (2021). Johns Hopkins made a run to the title game as the number six seed in 2021 as the Blue Jays topped third-seeded Penn State (15-7) and second-seeded Rutgers (12-10) before falling to top-seeded Maryland (12-10) in the title game.
• The 2021 Johns Hopkins team is the only number six seeded to win a game in the B1G tournament and the only number six seed to advance to the title game.
• Johns Hopkins is 4-1 all-time against the number three seed in the Big Ten Tournament.
On This Date
• Dating back to 1924, this week's game will be the 13th game on record that Johns Hopkins has played on April 26, the first since 2003 and the first against Maryland.
• Johns Hopkins is 12-0 all-time in games played on April 26.
New-Look Jays
• 29 JHU players have appeared in at least five games thus far this season - 16 of the 29 had never appeared in a game for Johns Hopkins prior to February 1 of this year.
• 24 players made an appearance in last week's game at Maryland ... 14 of the 24 were playing in their first Hopkins-Maryland game.
• Johns Hopkins had 26 players appear in the season-opening 13-10 win at Denver.
• Remarkably, of the 26 players who appeared in the game, 13 were making their Blue Jay debut, including nine who had never appeared in a college game before that day.
• Of the 13 players who wore the Hopkins Blue and Black for the first time that day, four were graduate transfers, four were freshmen, four were sophomores and one was a junior.
First Time This Century
• Johns Hopkins tweaked its starting offense last week at Maryland with junior Matt Collison shifting to attack from midfield and sophomore Hunter Chauvette moving to the first midfield from attack.
• With Chauvette's move, Johns Hopkins' starting midfield consisted of junior Brooks English, sophomore Chuck Rawson and Chauvette, who all played in high school at Lawrenceville, (NJ).
• This is the first time this century that three players from the same high school have started together on the Blue Jays' first midfield.
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 played eight regular-season games against teams ranked in the top 20 in the nation. The eight include Maryland (2nd), Ohio State (4th), Penn State (7th), North Carolina (8th), Syracuse (10th), Michigan (13th), Georgetown (14th), Towson (16th). Three other Blue Jay opponents this season - Virginia, Rutgers, Denver - are among the teams receiving votes in this week's USILA Poll. Â
• Translation, 11 of Johns Hopkins' 13 opponents in 2025 appear in this week's USILA Coaches Poll.
RPI Strength
• Johns Hopkins ranked 16th in the NCAA's RPI ranking through games of April 19.
• Using the RPI as a metric, 11 of Johns Hopkins' 13 games to-date have been played against teams ranked in the top 30 in the RPI (in truth, those 11 are all in the top 26).
• Johns Hopkins' 11 games against teams in the top 30 of the RPI are the most in the nation. In fact, only seven other teams have even played 10 games against RPI top-30 teams. One of JHU's other two games came against Navy, which is ranked 31st in the latest RPI rankings.
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.
• 10 of Johns Hopkins' 13 games to-date have been decided by three goals or less with four, one-goal games and five, three-goal games. Only three Johns Hopkins game this season - an 11-6 win against Georgetown, a 14-10 loss to Ohio State and a 10-4 loss at Penn 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 47 games), the Blue Jays have played 29 games that have been decided by three goals or less, including 14, one-goal games, five games decided by two goals and 10 others that have been decided by three goals.
• Since the start of the 2024 season (29 games), 21 Blue Jay games have been decided by three goals or less with 10 decided by one goal, three decided by two goals and eight decided by three goals
Defensive Notes of Interest
• Johns Hopkins has held nine of its first 13 opponents below its season scoring average (see chart on right). Four of the 13 opponents have been held more than two goals below their season scoring average.
• Through 13 games, Johns Hopkins is allowing an average of 10.62 goals per game and has held six of its 13 opponents to 10 goals or less.
• Dating back to last season, the Blue Jays have held 18 of their last 22 opponents to 11 goals or less and 13 of those 22 have been held to 10 or less.
• This season, Johns Hopkins has held its 13 opponents scoreless for a stretch of 10 minutes or longer 22 times with 14 of those 22 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 49 times in 29 games.
• In 52 quarters this season, Johns Hopkins has held the opposition to one goal 11 times and to two goals 17 times as well. Translation, in 28 of 52 quarters this season (53.8% 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 52 quarters this season, the Blue Jays have scored at least two goals in 42 of 52 quarters, three or more goals in 23 of 52 and four or more goals in 10 quarters.
• Through 13 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 12 of 13 games this season and a run of +4 goals in seven of 13 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), Chuck Rawson (3) and Russell Melendez (3) leading the way.
• Through 13 games, eight different players have at least 12 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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