Ernie's Insights:  Hopkins-Virginia Turns 100
 
The Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team will make the three-hour trip south this weekend to take on Virginia (Feb. 28 / 3 pm / ACC Network Extra).  In case you are unaware, this week's game between the Blue Jays and Cavaliers will be the 100^th in a series that dates to a 9-0 Johns Hopkins victory in '04. 
 
That, of course, would be 1904.
 
Among teams the Blue Jays regularly play, the rivalry is not the oldest or most played in Johns Hopkins history.  Those honors are reserved for Maryland, unless you ask Maryland, which doesn't count any games in its official history prior to 1924.
 
As I prepare to take in my 33rd Hopkins-Virginia game from picturesque Klockner Stadium on what looks like it will be a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Charlottesville, I spent some time looking back at the first 99 games in series history.  For the record, the answer to the question buzzing through your head right now, is "yes" … this is exactly what they pay me to do.
 
Let's see what the record book tells us – and what we have to dig deeper for – after 99 games.
 
What the Record Book Tells Us – Johns Hopkins leads the all-time series 63-35-1
Digging Deeper We Find – 24 of the 99 games played between the two teams have been decided by one goal, including nine of the last 12 at Homewood Field.
Translation – This has been a remarkably competitive series.
 
What the Record Book Tells Us – Johns Hopkins and Virginia have met 17 times in the NCAA Tournament.
Digging Deeper We Find – The 17 games JHU and UVA have played in the NCAA Tournament make it the most played game in Division I tournament history.
Translation – Nearly one in five Hopkins-Virginia games have come under the spotlight that is the NCAA Tournament.
 
What the Record Book Tells Us – Charles Logan scored eight (or nine) goals in a 13-1 season-opening win against Virginia on April 2, 1927.  Logan's goal total that day is listed differently in different accounts of the game.  Either way, he had a day against the Cavaliers.
Digging Deeper We Find – Logan was a senior in 1927 and the start against Virginia in that season-opening victory was, according to a game story in the Baltimore Sun, the first start of his career.   Not a bad debut in the starting lineup.
Translation – I still have work to do on our record book if we're not sure exactly how many goals Logan scored that day.
 
What the Record Book Tells Us – Legendary coach Bob Scott won 158 games and seven national championships while leading the Blue Jays from 1955-74.
Digging Deeper We Find – The first road victory of Mr. Scott's 20-year run at Homewood came on April 30, 1955 … at Virginia (23-9).
Translation – Anything noting Mr. Scott is worthy of inclusion.
 
What the Record Book Tells Us – Johns Hopkins topped Virginia, 9-8, in double overtime in the 1980 NCAA Championship game.
Digging Deeper We Find – The 1980 title was the third straight for the Blue Jays, making Johns Hopkins the first team to win three consecutive NCAA Division I men's lacrosse championships.
Digging Even Deeper We Find - Jeff Harris scored the game-winner that day off an assist from Jim Bidne.  Also open on the crease on the play was Joe Ciletti, owner of the world-famous Wine Merchant in nearby Lutherville and one of my all-time favorite former Blue Jays. 
Translation - If you haven't been to the Wine Merchant, you're missing out.
 
What the Record Book Tells You – The second-longest winning streak in Johns Hopkins history – 25 games – ended on April 5, 1980 with a 12-9 loss at Virginia.
Digging Deeper We Find – The Blue Jays avenged that loss seven weeks later with the double-overtime win in the national championship game noted above.  Late in the afternoon on May 31 of that year, I doubt anyone on the team cared that they had lost that game in early April.
Translation – The Blue Jay men's lacrosse class of 1980 was really good.
 
What the Record Book Tells Us – Johns Hopkins' improbable 9-8 overtime win against Virginia in the 2005 NCAA Semifinals (you know, the game where the Blue Jays scored with 1.4 seconds remaining in regulation just to get to overtime) was secured when short stick defensive middie Benson Erwin scored off an assist from Paul Rabil.
Digging Deeper We Find – Benson Erwin grew up, literally, in the shadow of Homewood Field and attended the nearby Friends' School before arriving at Johns Hopkins in the fall of 2001.
Digging Even Deeper We Find – Erwin (and his 2005 classmates) never lost a game at Homewood Field.  Two of the best – and tightest – games his class played at Homewood came against Virginia in 2003 (W/8-7) and 2005 (W/9-7).  Combined attendance at those two games?  Just a hair under 16,000.
Translation – The Blue Jay men's lacrosse class of 2005 was also really good.
 
What the Record Book Tells Us – The longest game in Johns Hopkins history was a 9-8 loss to Virginia in four overtimes on March 24, 2001.
Digging Deeper We Find – The Blue Jays led 7-3 that night before Virginia rallied for the win.  Sorry Blue Jay fans.  It's only one of the great rivalries in the history of the sport because both teams have competed at such a high level and have significant wins in the series.
Digging Even Deeper We Find – It was really cold at Homewood Field that night.
Translation – Not really a translation, but that loss on March 24, 2001 would be the last loss for the Blue Jays at Homewood Field until 2006.
 
What the Record Book Tells Us – Johns Hopkins topped Virginia, 15-13, in Charlottesville on March 24, 2018.
Digging Deeper We Find – The Blue Jays trailed the Cavaliers 9-2 at halftime that day.  The rally from a seven-goal deficit is the largest come-from-behind victory on record in program history.
Translation – No lead is safe in a Hopkins-Virginia game.
 
What the Record Book Tells Us – On Saturday. the Blue Jays and Cavaliers will play for the Doyle Smith Cup for the 19^th time since the Cup debuted in 2006.
Digging Deeper We Find – Doyle Smith graduated from Johns Hopkins and served as team manager and statistician for Johns Hopkins under head coach Bob Scott from 1963-1968.  He went on to a 31-year career in the sports information office at UVA and worked closely with the Cavalier men's lacrosse team.  He passed way in 2004 and the teams debuted the Cup in 2006.  Doyle's sister, Laurie Filstrup, has faithfully attended the game since 2006 and presents the Cup to the captains of the winning team.  As always, I look forward to seeing Laurie again on Saturday; for the last 20 years, she's been as much a part of the Hopkins-Virginia game as anyone.
Translation – Johns Hopkins plays in two of the very few Trophy Games in the sport of college lacrosse.  Check back in seven weeks for the other one.
 
The above barely scratches the surface of a rivalry that turns 100 on Saturday.  For the record, it will become just the ninth series in Division I lacrosse history to reach the 100-game mark.  The Cornell-Penn and Maryland-Virginia rivalries will join the 100-game club later this season and there are nine others that have been played more than 90 times.
 
There's so much more I could unpack here, some of it Blue Jay-friendly (six straight NCAA Tournament wins against the Cavaliers from 1973-1985 and back-to-back Mother's Day romps at Klockner in the NCAAs in 2014 and 2015), and some of it not (the 1972 NCAA title game and an other-worldly effort by Virginia goalie Tillman Johnson in the 2003 NCAA Final).
 
Regardless of which side you are on, there is a respect for all those who have made this one of the great rivalries in the sport's history.  From Hall of Fame coaches and players, to Tewaaraton winners and even a Johns Hopkins graduate who carved out a 30-plus year career at UVA whose name is now eternally linked to the game, the rivalry is littered with people who helped define and shape what we will all enjoy on Saturday afternoon.
 
Think about it. Take it in. Appreciate it.
 
For the 33^rd time, I know I will.
   
Ernie Larossa is in his 29th year as the Director of Athletic Communications at Johns Hopkins.  In short, he gets paid to watch Johns Hopkins athletes compete and chronicle their achievements.  In September, 2017, he decided it was time to periodically pen a column about something related to Blue Jay athletics.