Sept. 11, 2007

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The Week in Review... Johns Hopkins remained unbeaten on the season at 5-0-0 with wins over St. Mary's (MD), Washington & Lee and DeSales. The Blue Jays also claimed the 2007 Citrano Medical Labs Kickoff Classic title with the wins over the Generals and the Bulldogs.

◊ Freshman Scott Bukoski led the Blue Jays to a 3-0 shutout win at St. Mary's last Wednesday with two goals. Sophomore transfer Matt Mierley made five saves to earn his first career collegiate shutout.

◊ On Saturday, Hopkins opened the home portion of its 2007 schedule at historic Homewood Field with the Citrano Medical Labs Kickoff Classic. The Blue Jays scored four goals in the first half to defeat the W&L Generals 4-1. Four different Blue Jays scored in the win, with junior Akash Naik netting the gamewinner.

◊ The following day, Hopkins posted its third shutout of the season to defeat the DeSales Bulldogs 2-0. Bukoski scored what would prove to be the gamewinner in the 68th minute. Freshman David Drake scored in the 83rd minute to close out the scoring. Bukoski was named to the all-tournament team, along with senior Ben McAbee and juniors Nick Gauna and Matty Carlson. Gauna was named the offensive MVP.

The Week Ahead... Johns Hopkins hits the road again this week to face the Bridgewater Eagles on Wednesday afternoon in Bridgewater, VA. This will be just the second meeting between the two teams. The Blue Jays and the Eagles met for the first time in 2003, Hopkins won that match-up 4-1 at Homewood Field.

◊ Hopkins will open its Centennial Conference title defense on Saturday in Swarthmore, PA. The Blue Jays and the Garnet are set to square off at 7:00 pm. Hopkins leads the all-time series, 25-23-5 and is unbeaten in the last five meetings. The Blue Jays won last year's meeting 2-0 at Homewood Field.

Team Notes... Johns Hopkins won its first two games at Homewood Field this weekend, extending the Blue Jays home unbeaten streak to 23 straight games. It is the third longest streak in program history. Overall, the Blue Jays are now 134-10-10 (.903) at historic Homewood Field under head coach Matt Smith.

◊ In addition, the Blue Jays are riding a 17-match unbeaten streak in regular season contests.

◊ For the second straight week, despite going undefeated, Hopkins dropped in the NSCAA poll. The Blue Jays dropped one spot to #10 in this week's poll. Hopkins also dropped one spot, from #2 to #3, in the D3Kicks.com poll.

◊ The Blue Jays win on Saturday over Washington & Lee was the 226th win over Smith's career. With that win, he became the winningest coach in Centennial Conference history. He surpassed former Muhlenberg coach Jeff Tipping (225 wins, 1986-01). Smith's 105 conference wins also ranks first all-time.

◊ Smith enters this week's action with a career record 227-41-19 (.824). He ranks second in NCAA Division III history in win percentage (among coaches with at least 10 years experience). Smith ranks sixth all-time among coaches in all divisions with 10 or more years experience.

◊ Hopkins was the unanimous pick by the Centennial Conference coaches in their preseason poll to defend its title this season. The Blue Jays received nine first place votes and a total of 81 points. Gettysburg finished second in the voting with 67 points. Hopkins six Centennial Conference titles are more than any other school can claim. However the Blue Jays have never won the Centennial Conference title in an odd-numbered year. Hopkins claimed the regular season title in 2001, but lost in the semifinals of the conference tournament to Gettysburg. The Bullets rank second behind the Blue Jays with five conference titles.

◊ Freshman Scott Bukoski leads the Blue Jays and ranks second in the Centennial Conference with five goals and 11 points. Senior Ben McAbee and junior Nick Gauna lead Hopkins and rank tied for first in the Centennial with four assists each. McAbee and Gauna are also tied for fourth in the conference in points. Freshman Neil MacLean is tied for first in the Centennial in goals against average and save percentage.

Happy Anniversary... The Johns Hopkins men's soccer team will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Homewood Field in 2007. The historic facility played host to its first game in 1907.

◊ To celebrate, the team has added a commemorative patch to its home uniforms for the 2007 season. The Johns Hopkins men's and women's lacrosse teams wore the patch commemorating the 100th anniversary of Homewood Field last spring, while the women's soccer, football and field hockey teams will also wear them this fall.