|
|
 |
Roster | Schedule/Results | News | Archives |
|
|||
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
     |
  
Johns Hopkins Tops Face-Off Yearbook Preseason Poll
Dec. 13, 2007
BALTIMORE, MD - The Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team earned the number one spot in the 2008 Face-Off Yearbook Preseason Poll it was recently announced. The Blue Jays return nine of their top 10 scorers and their entire starting close defense from last year's team, which rallied to win its final nine games and the program's ninth NCAA Championship after a 4-4 start.
This is the third time in the last four years that Hopkins has earned the number one ranking in Face-Off Yearbook's Preseason Poll (2005, 2006) and the fifth straight year the Blue Jays have been ranked in the top two (2nd in 2004 and 2007). Duke, which fell to Hopkins in the 2007 national championship game, is ranked second in the poll, while Virginia, Georgetown and North Carolina round out the top five.
The Blue Jays will be led in 2008 by the senior midfield tandem of Paul Rabil and Stephen Peyser. Rabil was a finalist for the 2007 Tewaaraton Trophy, won the McLaughlin Award as the nation's top midfielder and earned First Team USILA All-America honors for the second straight season a year ago. He totaled 27 goals and 26 assists and enters his final season at Hopkins with a chance to become the Blue Jays' career leader in goals, assists and points among midfielders.
Peyser increased his offensive production a year ago as he totaled 16 goals and 10 assists while also leading the team in ground balls (80). He is also one of the top faceoff specialists in the nation as he won 106-of-189 (.561) a year ago, including 69-of-112 (.616) during JHU's nine-game season-ending winning streak.
Defensively the Blue Jays will be led by junior Michael Evans, senior Matt Bocklet and graduate student Eric Zerrlaut, who teamed to anchor a Hopkins defense that held 13 of 17 opponents to less than 10 goals last season. Hopkins allowed an average of just 7.5 goals per game in its four victories in the 2007 NCAA Tournament. The Blue Jays held the four team they beat in the NCAA Tournament (Notre Dame, Georgetown, Delaware, Duke) at least 1.5 goals below their season scoring average.
The poll also reinforces Johns Hopkins' position at the top of the national strength of schedule rankings. The Blue Jays play six of the top nine teams in the preseason poll and 12 of JHU's 13 opponents in 2008 are ranked in the top 19 in the poll. The 13 opponents on Hopkins' 2008 schedule combined to post a 127-75 (.629) record in 2007.
2008 Faceoff Yearbook Preseason Poll
Rank - School (2007 Record)
- 30 - |
 |
|
|
||||||
|
|
