May 17, 2006

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2006 Game-by-Game Recaps
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2006 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Bracket
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Blue Jays-Orange for a Trip to the NCAA Semifinals: Fourth-seeded Johns Hopkins (9-4) travels to Stony Brook, New York to take on fifth-seeded Syracuse (9-4) in the NCAA Quarterfinals. The Blue Jays and Orange are meeting for the 11th time in the NCAA Tournament and the 43rd time overall.

And the Winner Gets: The winner of the Johns Hopkins-Syracuse game will meet the winner of the Virginia-Georgetown game in the NCAA Semifinals on Saturday, March 27 at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field.

These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters this week's game with an all-time record of 858-267-15 (.759). The Blue Jays own eight NCAA Championships, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 43 national championships.

A Quick Refresher: Johns Hopkins posted a 16-0 record and won its eighth NCAA title last season. Syracuse posted a 7-6 record and lost to Massachusetts, 16-15, in the first round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament.

35 in a Row: This year's tournament bid is the 35th straight for Johns Hopkins, which missed the inaugural NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Tournament in 1971, but has qualified for every one since (see page 7 sidebar for more information).

10 in a Row: The Blue Jays drew the number four seed in this year's NCAA Tournament. This is the 10th consecutive year Johns Hopkins has been seeded in the top four in the tournament. By comparison, only two other schools (Syracuse & Georgetown) have even qualified for the tournament in each of the last 10 years.

34-of-35: With the 13-3 win over Penn in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Johns Hopkins has moved into the quarterfinal round of the NCAAs for the 34th time in 35 trips to the tournament.

May Madness: Johns Hopkins improved to 18-4 all-time under head coach Dave Pietramala in games played in the month of May with the win over Penn. The Blue Jays have won seven straight, 11 of their last 12 and 15 of their last 17 games in the month of May under Pietramala.

Fresh Faces: A year ago the Blue Jays had three seniors start every game and another started all but one. In addition, six other seniors played in at least 11 games. There are just two seniors in the tentative starting lineup for this week's game and only one other senior is on the depth chart (see chart below). Among the top 17 players on the depth chart, six are freshmen, three are sophomores and five are juniors.

Youth Gone Wild: Johns Hopkins has amassed a total of 126 goals and 64 assists through 13 games. Of those totals, 115 of the 126 goals (91.3%) have been scored by non-seniors and 52 of the 64 assists (81.3%) belong to players who will return in 2007 as well. Greg Peyser (11g, 12a) is the only senior who has registered a point for the Blue Jays through 13 games.

Seniors Rank Third in All-Time Wins: The eight senior members of the Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team became just the eighth class in school history to amass 50 or more wins when JHU knocked off Towson and have improved their all-time record as a class to 52-8 with two wins since. There are just two classes that have compiled more victories than the class of 2006 (see chart to right for complete breakdown).

Pietramala Stands Alone: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala is the only person in lacrosse history who has won an NCAA Division I Championship as a player (1987) and a head coach (2005). He is also the only person who has been named the national player of the year and the national coach of the year. He fashions a 72-14 (.837) record in six seasons as the head coach at Hopkins and a 95-31 (.754) record in nine seasons overall.

More Homecoming: Johns Hopkins head coach Dave Pietramala and associate head coach Seth Tierney are also making a trip "home" for this week's game. Pietramala is a native of Hicksville, New York and attended St. Mary's High School. Tierney was raised in Wantaugh, New York and attended MacArthur High School.

Streaking: Johns Hopkins is 56-7 in its last 63 regular season games dating back to the end of the 2001 season and 64-10 overall since the start of the 2002 season.

One-Goal Turnarounds: JHU is 24-4 in one-goal games under head coach Dave Pietramala and the Blue Jays have won 11 straight and 15 of their last 16 one-goal games. In its previous 28 one-goal games (covering a span from a 14-13 win over Syracuse in 1989 through 2000), Hopkins was 15-13.

More One-Goal Notes: The Blue Jays have come from behind to win 10 times during their current 11-game winning streak in one-goal games. In seven of those 10 come-from-behind one-goal wins the Blue Jays have come back from a deficit of two goals or more.

There's a First Time for Everything: The season-ending wins over Navy (9-8), Towson (11-10) and Loyola (7-6/OT) mark the first time in school history that Johns Hopkins has won three consecutive games by one goal.

Overtime Notes: Including the victory over Loyola, the Blue Jays are 10-2 in overtime under head coach Dave Pietramala and have currently won six straight overtime games. There are three active players who have scored game-winning goals in overtime for the Blue Jays. Senior Greg Peyser notched the decisive goal in OT against Syracuse in 2005, while sophomore Kevin Huntley punched home the game-winner in the second overtime against Duke in 2005. Freshman Brian Christopher scored 1:22 into overtime against Loyola in the regular-season finale on May 6.

Extra-Man Offense Among Nation's Best: The Johns Hopkins extra-man unit is 16-of-40 (.400) on the year after holding the ball without taking a shot in its lone attempt against Penn (opportunity came in the final minute of the game). Sophomores Kevin Huntley and Michael Doneger share the team lead with four extra-man goals, while classmate Paul Rabil has three EMO goals to his credit. The Blue Jays rank eighth in the nation in extra-man offense.

Faceoffs A Key: While there is never just one reason a team wins a game, the recent success of the Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team can be traced, at least somewhat, to its success on faceoffs. The Blue Jays won 13-of-21 (.613) faceoffs against Navy, 14-of-24 (.583) against Towson and 11-of-17 (.647) against Loyola. Johns Hopkins now ranks sixth in the nation in faceoff winning percentage (.596) through games of May 14 as JHU has won 162-of-272 on the year. Johns Hopkins has finished among the top seven in the nation in faceoff winning percentage in each of the last four years.

NCAA Tourney Rematches: This week's game against Syracuse will mark the 55th time the Blue Jays face a team in the NCAA Tournament that they played during the regular season. Hopkins won the regular season game in 37 of those instances and came back to complete the sweep 24 times. There have been 13 occasions where JHU won in the regular season, but lost in the NCAA Tournament.

NCAA Tournament Games in New York: Amazingly this will be just the fourth NCAA Tournament game the Blue Jays play in the state of New York. Hopkins is 2-1 all-time in NCAA Tournament games in New York with the most recent game an 11-7 victory at Hofstra in the 1999 NCAA Quarterfinals.

JHU Sets Victories Record: The 16 wins the Blue Jays amassed in 2005 are the most in school history. Hopkins had previously won 14 games in a season three times in its history (1980, 1984, 2003).

Rare Feat: Johns Hopkins became the 11th team since the NCAA began sanctioning the men's lacrosse championship (1971) to win the national championship with an undefeated record when the Blue Jays turned the trick last season. Prior to 2005 the last was Princeton in 1997 (15-0).

More Rare: Johns Hopkins became just the third team to post a perfect 16-0 record and win the NCAA title when the Blue Jays turned the trick last season. Cornell was the first in 1976 and North Carolina matched the mark in 1991.

Player Notes of Interest Included in PDF Version