The Game
• Johns Hopkins hits the road for the first time in 2026 as the Blue Jays make the trip south to North Carolina to take on the Tar Heels.
• Faceoff for the 54th renewal of the series is set for 5 pm on Friday, February 20 (ACC Network).
When Last We Saw Them
• Johns Hopkins picked up its third consecutive victory as the Blue Jays topped Loyola, 13-7, last Saturday at Homewood Field.]
• North Carolina bumped its record to 3-0 on the young season as the Tar Heels raced past Iona, 23-7, on Sunday afternoon.
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 1,036-383-15 (.728).
• 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 checks in at number 13 in the KANE Inside Lacrosse Media Poll, number 14 in the USILA Coaches Poll and number 14 in the USA Lacrosse Poll this week.
• North Carolina is third in the KANE Inside Lacrosse Media Poll, 5th in the USILA Coaches Poll and 7th in the USA Lacrosse Poll this week
Quick Starts
• Johns Hopkins is 3-0 for the second consecutive season under head coach Peter Milliman.
It Was Nice to be Home
• Johns Hopkins played its third home game of the 2026 season last week against Loyola. In 14 games last season, the Blue Jays played just five times at Homewood Field.
Brotherly Love
• Johns Hopkins senior midfielder Brooks English will play against one of his brothers this week at UNC.
• North Carolina graduate student SSDM Ty English is the older brother of Brooks and this will be the second time the two have met.
• Last season, Ty and the Tar Heels topped the Blue Jays, 13-12, at Homewood Field. Ty played in Hopkins' 13-9 win in Chapel Hill in 2024, but Brooks missed that game with an injury.
Against the ACC
• This week's game against North Carolina will be the 243rd all-time for Johns Hopkins against a team currently in the ACC and the first of three straight the Jays will play against ACC teams.
• Johns Hopkins is 138-102-2 (.574) all-time against current ACC members.
• Johns Hopkins has played 55 all-time NCAA Tournament games against current ACC teams. The Blue Jays are 28-27 all-time in the NCAAs against the five teams currently competing in the ACC.
Defensive Notes of Interest
• The two goals the Blue Jays allowed against Robert Morris in the season opener were the fewest JHU has allowed in a game since 2014, when the Blue Jays topped Mount St. Mary's, 14-2, on April 14, 2014.
• JHU held Robert Morris scoreless for a stretch of 38:11 is the longest by a Blue Jay opponent since Mount St. Mary's went 44:56 without scoring in that same game on April 14, 2014.
• The Blue Jays held Towson scoreless for the final 15:25 in a 13-11 win and then held Loyola scoreless for a stretch of 26:08 bridging the second and fourth quarters.
• JHU has allowed just two fourth-quarter goals in three games and held Robert Morris and Towson scoreless in the final period.
• The 20 goals JHU has allowed through three games are the fewest surrendered by the Blue Jays in the first three games of a season since 2013, when they also allowed just 20 in the first three games.
Offensive Notes of Interest
• Since the start of the 2022 season, the Blue Jays are 31-6 when they score 12 or more goals.
• The 17 goals the Blue Jays scored against Robert Morris are the most in a season opener since 1990, when JHU scored 20 in a 20-8 win against Princeton.
• The 43 goals the Blue Jays have scored through three games are the most through the first three games of a season for Johns Hopkins since 2017, when JHU scored 15 in back-to-back wins against Navy and UMBC and then 14 in an overtime win against Loyola for 44 through three games.
• In 12 quarters this season, the Blue Jays have scored at least two goals in 11 quarters, three or more goals in nine quarters and four or more goals in seven quarters.
First Midfield Producing
• The Blue Jays' first midfield unit of Matt Collison, Chuck Rawson and Brooks English has been among the most productive first lines in the nation in the early season.
• Through three games, the trio has combined for 16 goals and 19 assists for 35 points, average of 11.67 points per game.
• Collison and Rawson top the team's scoring chart as Collison has nine goals and five assists for 14 points, while Rawson is just behind with six goals and seven assists for 13 points. English, who is coming off a career-best five-point effort against Loyola (1g, 4a), had eight points on one goal and seven assists through three games.
Strange But True
• The Blue Jays got pole goals from Tyler Eye and Parker Sorenson while faceoff specialist Joe Hobot also scored in the 13-11 win against Towson.
• Prior to this, the last time the Blue Jays got two pole goals and a goal from their faceoff specialist in the same game was on February 4, 2025 .... also against Towson.
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 51 games), the Blue Jays have played 31 games that have been decided by three goals or less, including 15, one-goal games, six games decided by two goals and 10 others that have been decided by three goals.
• Since the start of the 2024 season (33 games), 23 Blue Jay games have been decided by three goals or less with 11 decided by one goal, four decided by two goals and eight decided by three goals
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