March 1, 2005

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The Game: Johns Hopkins opens its 118th season of competition as the Blue Jays travel to Princeton on Saturday, March 5. Hopkins posted a 13-2 record last season and advanced to the national semifinals before losing to eventual national champion Syracuse. Princeton posted an 11-4 record, grabbed a share of the Ivy League Championship and advanced to the national semifinals before falling to Navy.

These are the Facts: Johns Hopkins enters the 2005 season with an all-time record of 833-263-15 (.757) in 117 seasons of play. The Blue Jays own seven NCAA Championships, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 42 national championships.

For Openers: Johns Hopkins has won its last three season-openers and sports an all-time record of 81-33-3 (.705) in season-openers. The Blue Jays are 3-1 under head coach Dave Pietramala in season-openers.

Family Ties: Johns Hopkins freshman Michael Doneger is the younger brother of Princeton senior Jason Doneger. In addition, Johns Hopkins Associate Head Coach Seth Tierney is the nephew of Princeton Head Coach Bill Tierney.

More Ties: Princeton coach Bill Tierney was an assistant coach at Johns Hopkins from 1985-87. While at Homewood he coached current Johns Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala for two years (1986 & 1987) before leaving for Princeton.

Brother Act: The Blue Jays have one set of brothers on this year’s team, while five other players have older brothers who previously played at Hopkins. Junior midfielder Greg Peyser is the older brother of freshman midfielder Stephen Peyser, while senior attackman Peter LeSueur (Paul), junior midfielder Joe Benson (Bobby), junior goalie Scott Smith (Todd), junior defenseman Andrew DiConza (P.J.) and freshman attackman Michael Doneger (Adam) all followed older brothers to Johns Hopkins.

Chip Off the Old Block: Freshman attackman Kevin Huntley doesn’t have an older brother who played at Hopkins, but he is following in the footsteps of his dad, Dave Huntley, who was a standout midfielder for the Blue Jays from 1976-79. Dave Huntley earned All-America honors three times during his career and was the national midfielder of the year as a senior. Dave Huntley is JHU’s career goal-scoring leader among midfielders with 100.

Home Sweet Home: Johns Hopkins enters the 2005 season riding the crest of a 27-game home winning streak. No current member of the Blue Jay lacrosse team has ever lost a game at Homewood Field and the 27-game run is just four shy of the school record of 31 straight home wins. Below is a list of JHU’s all-time longest home winning streaks.

April 24, 1982 May 19, 1985 31

April 29, 1978 March 20, 1982 30

May 20, 1972 May 10, 1975 21

Pulling Rank: Johns Hopkins ended the 2004 regular season ranked number one for the third consecutive season. The Blue Jays were ranked number one for nine weeks last season (out of 11), including the last five. Since the beginning of the 2002 season, Johns Hopkins has spent 21 of 31 weeks ranked number one. From 1996-2001 the Blue Jays were ranked number one for a total of one week.

The Johns Hopkins Sports Information Office use the GEICO STX/USILA Poll as the official poll when listing a team’s ranking.

Anytime, Anywhere: This week’s game against Princeton will be the 36th in JHU’s last 38 away from Homewood Field against a team ranked in the top 20.

Regular-Season Roll: Johns Hopkins is 36-3 (.923) in its last 39 regular season games. This is the best 39-game regular season run for Johns Hopkins since JHU won 36-of-39 regular season games covering a span from 1982-86.

More Rolls: Dating back to the 2002 season, Johns Hopkins is 36-5 (.878) in its last 41 games (including the NCAA playoffs). Hopkins’ five losses during that time have come by a total of 12 goals.

One-Goal Turnarounds: JHU is 16-4 in one-goal games under head coach Dave Pietramala (since the start of the 2001 season) and the Blue Jays won 4-of-5 one-goal games last season. From the final game of the 1994 season through the 2000 season Johns Hopkins was 11-9 in one-goal games.

Overtime Notes: The Blue Jays are 5-2 in overtime under head coach Dave Pietramala.

Tough: Johns Hopkins will once again play the most difficult schedule in the nation. For the second consecutive year the Blue Jays top the Face-Off Yearbook/Under Armour Strength of Schedule Rankings. The Blue Jays’ S.O.S rating of 165 edged second-place Virginia, which had a rating of 161.

Ten of Hopkins’ opponents during the 2005 season are ranked in the Inside Lacrosse/Face-Off Yearbook Preseason top 25 and the other two (Albany and UMBC) are the first two teams listed as receiving votes. JHU will play six of the top eight teams in the poll and eight of the top 13.

In what might be the most difficult road schedule in the nation, the Blue Jays will play second-ranked Syracuse, third-ranked Princeton, fifth-ranked Maryland, seventh-ranked North Carolina and 11th-ranked Towson away from Homewood Field, while fourth-ranked Navy and eighth-ranked Virginia highlight the home slate.