May 7, 2008

Johns Hopkins-Hofstra NCAA Men's Lacrosse Notes in PDF Format

Johns Hopkins-Hofstra Miscellaneous Notes in PDF Format

Game-by-Game Recaps in PDF Format

Setting the Scene: Johns Hopkins hosts Hofstra in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Tournament. Game time is set for 2:30 pm on Sunday, May 11 at Johns Hopkins' Homewood Field.

Looking Back: The Blue Jays (8-5) won their fifth straight game with a 9-6 win at Loyola last Saturday. Hofstra (10-5) rallied for a 10-9 overtime victory at Drexel in the CAA Championship game on Saturday evening.

These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters the game against Hofstra with an all-time record of 879-277-15 (.757). The Blue Jays own nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 44 national championships.

125th Anniversary: The 2008 season marks the 125th anniversary of the Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse program. The Blue Jays are wearing commemorative patches on their uniforms for the 125th anniversary of the program (it is NOT the 125th season) and the logo is being used in a variety of printed pieces to promote the anniversary.

Series History: This will be the 21st all-time meeting between Johns Hopkins and Hofstra and the fourth in the NCAA Tournament. A complete series history can be found elsewhere in this week's notes.

Johns Hopkins Earns 37th Straight NCAA Bid: Johns Hopkins earned its record 37th straight bid to the NCAA Tournament this season. The 37 consecutive appearances is the longest active streak of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament in any NCAA Division I Team sport. A list of the longest active streaks of qualifying for the men's lacrosse tournament can be found to the right. In addition, a list of the longest active streaks of qualifying for each Division I team sport can also be found on page two.

Blue Jays Seeded Fifth: Johns Hopkins earned a number five seed in the 2008 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament. This is the 12th consecutive year the Blue Jays have been seeded in the top five. To put this in perspective, no other team in the nation has even qualified for the NCAA Tournament for 12 straight years. In fact, JHU's streak of 12 straight top-five seeds is twice as long as any other team's streak of qualifying for the tournament at all (Maryland - 6 straight bids).

That's 602 Games Over .500: Including the win against Loyola, the Blue Jays' all-time record is now 879-277-15 (.757) ... that's 602 games over .500. To put this in perspective: JHU has played an average of just under 15 games per season under head coach Dave Pietramala. Using a 15-game season as a reference, if the Blue Jays posted a 5-10 record for 120 straight seasons, they would still be two games over .500.

Poll Position: Johns Hopkins is ranked fourth in the USILA Coaches Poll and the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. Hofstra is ranked 16th in the USILA Coaches Poll and 14th in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. To clarify, the Johns Hopkins Sports Information Office uses the USILA Coaches Poll to reflect JHU's official ranking at the time of a game.

May Day: Johns Hopkins has posted a 36-4 (.900) record in the month of April under head coach Dave Pietramala and that success has carried over into the month of May. JHU is 24-5 (.828) in the month of May under Pietramala, including a perfect 12-0 mark at Homewood Field. Overall the Blue Jays have won 20 consecutive games at Homewood Field in the month of May. JHU's last loss at home in May came on May 2, 1992, when Towson dropped the Blue Jays, 14-13, in overtime.

Prepping For May: Head coach Dave Pietramala and the Blue Jays continue to play one of the most difficult schedules in the nation, a fact that was only further solidified with the announcement of the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse bracket. Johns Hopkins played nine of its 13 regular season games against teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament and the cumulative regular season record of JHU's 13 opponents was 117-70 (.626).
The nine games against NCAA Tournament teams were the second most in the nation. Only North Carolina (10) played more games against teams that qualified for the NCAAs. A complete breakdown of the number of games each team in the tournament played against teams that qualifed for the tournament can be found to the right (see PDF).

State Rivalries: Without question the Blue Jays play one of the most difficult schedules in the nation and a big part of that schedule are the in-state rivalries the Blue Jays have. JHU has won all six of its games this season against in-state rivals (UMBC, Maryland, Navy, Towson, Mount St. Mary's, Loyola) and the Blue Jays are 38-2 (.950) against teams from Maryland under head coach Dave Pietramala.

Halftime Speech is Working: During the current five-game winning streak the Blue Jays have out-scored the opposition 21-7 in the third quarter.

Man-Down Unit Improving: One area where the Blue Jays struggled during the middle of the season was in man-down situations. The opposition converted on 9-of-15 (.600) chances in a six-game span that started against Hofstra and ended against Maryland. However, in the last four games the Blue Jays have found their way in man-down situations as Navy, Towson, Mount St. Mary's and Loyola have combined to convert on just 2-of-15 (.133) extra-man chanes. For the year the opposition is 16-of-40 (.400) with the extra man.

Extra-Man Unit Rolls On: Johns Hopkins has been opportunistic when given extra-man opportunities as the Blue Jays rank fifth in the nation in man-up offense as they've converted on 14-of-32 (.438) chances this season. The 32 chances are the fewst of any team ranked in the top 25 in the nation in this category. Senior Paul Rabil leads the team with five extra-man goals, while freshman Kyle Wharton (3) and seniors Michael Doneger (2) and Kevin Huntley (2) have also cashed in on these chanes.

One-Goal Turnarounds: The three straight losses to Hofstra (8-7), Syracuse (14-13) and Virginia (13-12) are rare one-goal losses for the Blue Jays under head coach Dave Pietramala. Johns Hopkins is now 30-9 in one-goal games since Pietramala took over in 2001. Despite the losses, the Blue Jays have won 17 of their last 22 and 21 of their last 27 one-goal games. In the five seasons prior to Pietramala arriving (1996-2000) the Blue Jays were 5-8 in one-goal games.

More One-Goal Notes: The Blue Jays have come from behind to win 14 times during their last 17 one-goal wins. In 10 of those 14 come-from-behind one-goal wins the Blue Jays came back from a deficit of two goals or more. The latest of these come-from-behind one-goal wins came against Notre Dame in the 2007 NCAA Tournament, when the Blue Jays erased a 4-1 second-quarter deficit.

In Case We Go Extra: The loss at Hofstra snapped a nine-game winning streak for the Blue Jays in overtime games. The Blue Jays had won nine straight overtime games dating back to a 10-9 win at Navy in 2004 before the loss to the Pride. Including the OT loss to Virginia, JHU is 13-5 all-time in overtime under head coach Dave Pietramala's guidance, including an impressive 6-3 on the road.

More Overtime: The three consecutive overtime games for the Blue Jays against Hofstra, Syracuse and Virginia mark the first time Johns Hopkins has ever played three straight overtime games. Twice previously the Blue Jays had played two consecutive overtime games (1982 and 1988).

Comeback Kids: The Blue Jays have come from behind to win four times this season (Albany, UMBC, Towson, Loyola) and erased a two-goal deficit in the third quarter last week at Loyola. Johns Hopkins came from behind to win eight times last season, including six times during the season-ending nine-game winning streak. JHU trailed in its first two NCAA Tournament games, but never trailed during the Final Four.

Streaking: Johns Hopkins is 73-16 in its last 89 regular season games dating back to the end of the 2001 season and is 85-20 overall since the start of the 2002 season.

Defensive Turnaround: Johns Hopkins allowed 57 goals in consecutive losses to Syracuse, Virginia, North Carolina and Duke. However, the Blue Jay defense has rebounded nicely in the last month with standout showings in wins over Maryland (10-4), Navy (12-5), Towson (16-7), Mount St. Mary's (12-1) and Loyola (9-6). This is the first time JHU has held five straight opponents to seven goals or less since turning the trick against Syracuse (8-6), Hobart (10-6), Washington College (16-4), Princeton (12-6) and Virginia (12-5) in the first five games of the 1985 season. The 23 goals the Blue Jays have allowed in the last five games are the fewest JHU has allowed in a five-game span since 1983, when JHU allowed just 23 in wins over UMBC (15-4), Washington College (12-4), Harvard (11-3), Princeton (12-6) and Virginia (12-6).

Don't Forget the Offense: While the focus of any Dave Pietramala-coached team will always be defense, the Blue Jay offense has been effective as well this season. Consider:
• As a team the Blue Jays have scored on 31.8% of their shots through 13 games (139-of-437). JHU connected on 28.8% of its shots en route to winning the national championship a year ago. The Blue Jays' highest shooting percentage in the Pietramala era came in 2003 when they connected on 31.7% (224-of-706) of their shots.
• Although not the highest scoring team in the nation, the Blue Jays may be one of the most balanced teams on the offensive end of the field. JHU has had seven or more different goal-scorers in seven different games this season with a season-high nine different players scoring against Syracuse, Navy and Mount St. Mary's. Eight different players scored against Virginia and Towson and seven hit the back of the net against Princeton and UMBC.
• Dating back to the end of last season, JHU has scored in double figures 14 times in its last 19 games and is averaging 11.1 goals per game during that time (211 goals in 19 games).
• The 16 goals the Blue Jays scored against Towson are the most for JHU since a 17-goal outburst at Syracuse last season.

Playing the Possession Game: JHU has won the ground ball war in 10 of its 13 games this season and has a 453-401 ground ball advantage on the year (+4.0 GBs per game). Hofstra (31-29), Duke (40-38) and MSM (31-30) are the only teams to win the ground ball battle against JHU this season.

Kevin and Dave Huntley Make History: When Johns Hopkins slipped past Duke, 12-11, for the national championship last spring, there were plenty of members of the Huntley family in high spirits. After all, then junior attackman Kevin Huntley scored three times in the title game and punched home what proved to be the game-winning goal with 3:25 remaining in the fourth quarter. The national championship is the second for the Blue Jays since Huntley arrived in 2005.
A little research reveals that Huntley's game-winner also lifted he and his father, Dave, into the record books. Dave Huntley was a standout midfielder for Johns Hopkins from 1976-79 and was a member of the Blue Jays' 1978 and 1979 NCAA Championship teams.
It is believed that Dave and Kevin Huntley are the first father and son to win multiple NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championships as players. There are sets of brothers who have won multiple titles and fathers who have coached their sons to championships, but Dave and Kevin Huntley are the only father and son in the history of the sport to each win more than one NCAA Division I title as players.

Kevin and Dave Huntley Make History, Again: When Kevin Huntley scored the 100th goal of his career in the win over Towson few knew that he and his dad, Dave Huntley, had joined such a select group.
Research indicates that Kevin (101 career goals through the Mount St. Mary's game) and Dave Huntley (100 goals at Johns Hopkins from 1976-79) join Bill Morrill (107 goals at Johns Hopkins from 1957-59) and Mike Morrill (102 goals at Johns Hopkins from 1985-88) as the only father-son combinations in Division I lacrosse history to score 100 or more goals during their careers.

Additional Notes Included in PDF Version