The Game
• Johns Hopkins (10-5) heads north to New York for the second consecutive week as the Blue Jays take on Notre Dame (11-2) in the NCAA Quarterfinals at Hofstra.
• Faceoff is set for 12 pm on Saturday, May 16 (ESPNU).
What's on the Line
• The winner of this week's quarterfinal game between Johns Hopkins and Notre Dame will advance to the NCAA Semifinals at the University of Virginia on Saturday, May 23.
• The Hopkins-Notre Dame winner will take on the winner of the North Carolina-Syracuse game in the semifinals.
When Last We Saw Them
• Johns Hopkins punched its ticket to the quarterfinals for the third time in four years with a 9-8 overtime win at sixth-ranked Cornell last Saturday (May 9).
• Notre Dame eased into the quarterfinals with a dominating 18-5 win over Jacksonville at home on Sunday (May 10).
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 1,043-388-15 (.726).
• 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.
Series History
• This week's game will be the eighth meeting between Johns Hopkins and Notre Dame in men's lacrosse.
• All seven previous meetings have come in the NCAA Tournament with the most recent coming in the 2023 quarterfinals.
• Johns Hopkins has won four of the seven previous meetings.
Poll Position
• Johns Hopkins checks in at number nine in the USILA Coaches Poll and the KANE Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. USA Lacrosse did not issue a poll after the conference tournaments were completed.
• The Johns Hopkins Athletic Communications Office uses the USILA Poll to denote JHU's official ranking at the time of a game.
• Notre Dame is ranked second in the USILA Poll and third in the KANE Inside Lacrosse Media Poll.
Poll Notes of Interest
• Including the most recent poll, the USILA has issued 581 polls since the debut poll in 1973. Johns Hopkins has appeared in the top 20 in 556 of those 581 polls and has been ranked in the top 10 in 456 of the 581.
On this Date
• Since 1950, this week's game against Notre Dame will be just the sixth for Johns Hopkins on May 16.
• In that time, the Blue Jays are 4-1 in games played on this date with the last three of those victories coming in the NCAA Tournament in 1979, 1984 and 1992.
Blue Jays Top Defending National Champion For Record Eighth Time
• Including last week's 9-8 overtime win at Cornell, and since the NCAA began sponsoring the national championship in 1971, Johns Hopkins has played the defending national champion 49 times, including 14 times in the NCAA Tournament.
• The Blue Jays are 24-25 all-time against the defending national champion, including 8-6 in the NCAA Tournament.
• Johns Hopkins has eliminated the defending national champion in the following year's NCAA Tournament in 1973 (Virginia), 1974 (Maryland), 1978 (Cornell), 1983 (North Carolina), 1984 (Syracuse), 1987 (North Carolina), 2003 (Syracuse) and 2026 (Cornell).
• Only Syracuse, which has eliminated the defending champion six times, has also turned this trick more than four times.
NCAA Tournament Talk
• Johns Hopkins is making its record 50th appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Blue Jays missed the initial NCAA Division I men's lacrosse tournament in 1971, then qualified for the tournament for 41 straight years before missing 2013.
• Johns Hopkins' 41-year streak of qualifying for the tournament from 1972-2012 is the longest such streak in Division I men's lacrosse history.\• Johns Hopkins is 74-40 all-time in NCAA Tournament play, including 29-15 in the quarterfinals.
• The Blue Jays have made 29 appearances in the NCAA Semifinals and 18 trips to the national championship game. JHU's 29 trips to the NCAA Semifinals rank second all-time, while the 18 appearances in the national championship game are tied for the most.
Against the #2 Seed
• Johns Hopkins is 7-5 all-time against the team seeded #2 in the NCAA Tournament.
• The Blue Jays are 1-0 against the #2 seed as an unseeded team (beat Syracuse, 16-15 in 2015) and have picked off the number two seed as the lower seeded team three times.
Defensive Notes of Interest
• The Blue Jays have held the opposition scoreless for a stretch of 10 minutes or longer 23 times in 15 games. Twelve of those 23 stretches are 15 minutes or longer and five are 20 minutes or longer.
• The Blue Jays have held the opposition scoreless for a stretch of 10+ minutes twice in the same game nine times this season.
• 12 of JHU's 15 opponents to-date have been held under their season scoring average by the Blue Jays.
• In 15 games, Johns Hopkins has held the opposition to two goals or less in 34 of the 60 quarters that have been played.
• 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, the longest scoreless stretch 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.
• In the regular season meeting, JHU held Penn State scoreless for 24:10 in the second half. During that stretch, the Blue Jays outscored the Nittany Lions 7-0 to grab an 11-9 lead in what became an 11-10 win.
Offensive Notes of Interest
• Since the start of the 2022 season, the Blue Jays are 35-6 when they score 12 or more goals.
• JHU has scored 11 or more goals in eight of 15 games this season. The Blue Jays are 8-0 in those eight games.
• Johns Hopkins currently has five players with 30 or more points this season. That is tied with Syracuse, Princeton and Duke for the most among the eight teams in the NCAA Quarterfinals.
• 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.
• In 60 quarters this season, the Blue Jays have scored at least two goals in 47 quarters, three or more goals in 32 quarters and four or more goals in 19 quarters. JHU has scored a season-best six goals in a quarter three different times.
Sticking Together
• Johns Hopkins has seven players on its 2026 roster that played at Lawrenceville (NJ) in high school. Research indicates the seven - Hunter Chauvette, Reece DiCicco, Brooks English, Tyler Eye, Quintan Kilrain, Chuck Rawson and Alexander Swinnie - make Johns Hopkins the only Division I team in the nation with seven or more players from the same high school.
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 this season.
• The trio has combined for 58 goals and 53 assists for 111 points, an average of 7.4 points per game thus far.
• Collison is tied for the team-lead in points (43), ranks second in goals (28) and is tied for second in assists (15), while Rawson has 23 goals and 15 assists for 38 points to rank third on the team in points, tied for second in assists and fourth in goals. English, who had career-best five-point efforts against Loyola (1g, 4a) and Virginia (1g, 4a), has 30 points on seven goals and a team-high 23 assists through 15 games.
DiCicco Leading the Nation
• Sophomore Reece DiCicco has emerged as one of the top short-stick defensive middies in the nation this season.
• Through 15 games, DiCicco has one assist, 54 ground balls and 23 caused turnovers to his credit. He leads the team in GBs and CTs entering this week's NCAA Tournament game against Cornell.
• DiCicco's 23 CTs also currently lead the nation among players who play with a short stick and are a school single-season record for a non-long stick player. Below are the national leaders in CTs among non-long sticks.
Rally Time
• Johns Hopkins erased a 6-3 halftime deficit to top Cornell 9-8 in overtime in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last Saturday.
• The rally from a three-goal deficit marked the fourth time this season the Blue Jays have trailed by three or more goals during a game they've eventually won this season. JHU holds wins against Virginia (trailed by as many as 7), Penn State (5), Towson (3) and Cornell (3) in games they trailed by three goals or more.
• By comparison, the other seven teams in this year's quarterfinal round have combined for nine comebacks from deficits of three goals or more this season (North Carolina-3, Duke-2, Princeton-2, Syracuse-1, Georgetown-1, Notre Dame-0, Penn State-0).
One-Goal Wonders
• Johns Hopkins played its sixth one-goal game of the season last week at Cornell, when it topped the Big Red, 9-8, in overtime.
• The six, one-goal games this season are one shy of the school single-season record of seven (2007) and mark the fifth time JHU has played six or more games decided by one goal in a season (2007 (7), 2002 (6), 2009 (6), 2024 (6), 2026 (6)).
• This six, one-goal games are the most among the eight teams competing in this week's NCAA Quarterfinals. In order, the other quarterfinal teams by one-goal games include Syracuse (5), Penn State (4), Princeton (3), Duke (3), North Carolina (3), Notre Dame (2) and Georgetown (1).
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.
• JHU recently played four straight games against Rutgers, Penn State, Ohio State and Maryland that were, to coin a baseball term, decided in walk-off fashion:
• The game against Rutgers was decided in double overtime, while junior Warry Colhoun deflected a Penn State shot high over the crossbar at the buzzer. Against Ohio State, Buckeye goalie Caleb Fyock made a point-blank save in the final 10 seconds to seal the victory for OSU, while the Blue Jay defense made a last-second stand to hold off Maryland.
• 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 63 games), the Blue Jays have played 38 games that have been decided by three goals or less, including 21, one-goal games, seven games decided by two goals and 10 others that have been decided by three goals.
• Since the start of the 2024 season (45 games), 30 Blue Jay games have been decided by three goals or less with 17 decided by one goal, five decided by two goals and eight decided by three goals.
• 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 games 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.
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