The Game
• Johns Hopkins opens the 2026 season as the Blue Jays welcome Robert Morris to Homewood Field for the first-ever meeting between the two teams.
• Faceoff is set for 12:02 pm with a live national television audience on ESPNU.
When Last We Saw Them
• Johns Hopkins posted a 6-8 record and fell to eventual Final Four participant Penn State, 13-12, in the Big Ten Quarterfinals to close out the 2025 season.
• Robert Morris posted an 11-6 record, won the NEC title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, where the Colonials fell to Air Force, 14-9, in the opening round.
The Facts
• This is the 139th 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 1,033-383-15 (.727).
• 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 collected several preseason national rankings as the Jays check in at number 15 in the KANE Inside Lacrosse Media Poll and number 17 in the USILA and USA Lacrosse Polls.
• Robert Morris is listed as receiving votes in the USILA Preseason Poll.
Poll Notes of Interest
• Including this week's poll, the USILA has issued 568 polls since the debut poll in 1973. Johns Hopkins has appeared in the top 20 in 543 of those 568 polls and has been ranked in the top 10 in 452 of the 568.
For Openers
• The Blue Jays are 20-5 in their last 25 season openers.
• Johns Hopkins has won 15 of its last 18 season openers and is 3-2 in openers under head coach Peter Milliman.
• Johns Hopkins has scored at least 10 goals in its season opener in 16 of the last 18 years and at least 12 goals in 10 of the last 14.
Against the NEC
• This week's game against Robert Morris will be the first game in Johns Hopkins history against a team in the NEC.
That's Early
• This week's game against Robert Morris on February 2 will be the second earliest, by game date, in Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse history.
• The earliest game in program history came in 2025, when the Blue Jays played at Denver on February 1.
• This week's game against Robert Morris was originally scheduled for January 31, but moved to February 2 due to extreme temperatures forecast in the Baltimore area on January 31.
It's Been a While
• Prior to moving this week's game against Robert Morris back two days, the last time a Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse game date was moved due to weather was almost 10 years ago to the week.
• The Johns Hopkins-UMBC game, originally scheduled for February 13, 2016, was moved to March 30, 2016 when bitterly cold temperatures and windy conditions forced the movement to the later date.
Roster Breakdown
• The Blue Jays' 53-man roster includes 41 players who have at least one year of eligibility remaining after 2026. The roster consists of two graduate students, 10 seniors, 16 juniors, 12 sophomores and 13 freshmen.
Returning Production
• Johns Hopkins returns players who accounted for 71.6% of the team's goals (101-of-141), 77.9% of the team's assists (67-of-86) and 74% of the team's points (168-of-227) from 2025.
Strength of Schedule
• Johns Hopkins' 13 regular season opponents compiled a 128-82 (.610) record in 2025 with its eight non-conference opponents rolling up a 74-54 (.578) record.
• Using the Preseason USILA Coaches Poll as a guide, the Blue Jays will play 10 games against teams ranked in the top 20 in the nation. The 10 include Maryland (1st), Syracuse (2nd), Georgetown (5th), Penn State (7th), North Carolina (8th), Ohio State (10th), Virginia (14th), Towson (15th), Rutgers (18th) and Michigan (20th).
More Strength
• The Blue Jays will play eight games, including three straight to open the season, against teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2025.
• Of the eight games against 2025 NCAA Tournament teams on tap, three are against teams that advanced to the Final Four (Syracuse, Penn State, Maryland), and another (Georgetown) is against a team that advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals.
Closer Than You Think
• While the Blue Jays struggled to a 6-8 record last season, the difference between winning and losing was much closer than it may look. With a youth-filled team (seven of top nine scorers are back this season), the Blue Jays dropped six games by three goals or less and were in position to win a number of those. Consider ...
North Carolina (L/12-13) - Game tied at 11-11 with 11 minutes to play
Syracuse (L/10-13) - Game tied at 10-10 with seven minutes to play
Michigan (L/8-11) - Game tied at 8-8 with eight minutes to play
Maryland (L/8-11) - Game tied at 8-8 with 10:30 to play
Penn State (L/12-13) - Had possession down one goal with less than two minutes to play
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.
• 11 of Johns Hopkins' 14 games last season were decided by three goals or less with five, one-goal games and six, three-goal games. Only three Johns Hopkins game last season - an 11-6 win against Georgetown, a 14-10 loss to Ohio State and a 10-4 loss at Penn State - were 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 48 games), the Blue Jays have played 30 games that have been decided by three goals or less, including 15, 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 (30 games), 22 Blue Jay games have been decided by three goals or less with 11 decided by one goal, three decided by two goals and eight decided by three goals
Offensive Notes of Interest
• Since the start of the 2022 season, the Blue Jays are 28-6 when they score 12 or more goals.
• Last season, in 56 quarters played, the Blue Jays scored at least two goals in 45 of the 56 quarters, three or more goals in 25 of the 56 and four or more goals in 12 quarters.
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