Nov. 3, 2006

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The Week in Review...
#11 Hopkins clinched its seventh regular season title and the #1 seed for the Centennial Conference title on Wednesday night with a 2-1 win over Washington College. The Blue Jays then traveled to #18 Franklin & Marshall, to face the Diplomats in the regular season finale. The game lasted 110 minutes and ended in a 0-0 draw.

Scoring for Hopkins in the win over Washington College were freshman Max Venker and sophomore Nicholas Gauna. Senior goalie Danny Coble's school & conference record shutout streak ended at 1010:37, the fourth longest in NCAA Division III history. Against the Diplomats, though he posted his 13th shutout of the season and the 21st of his career. In the 57th minute of the game, he made a crucial save on a F&M penalty kick to keep the Diplomats off the board.

The Week Ahead...
#13 Hopkins hosts the 2006 Centennial Conference Tournament this weekend as the #1 seed. In the first semifinal match on Saturday, the Blue Jays will face the winner of the Muhlenberg/Gettysburg match. That game will be played Wednesday night at Gettysburg. In the other semifinal, Franklin & Marshall will play Swarthmore. The winners will meet at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday for the championship.

In the tournament's history, Hopkins and Muhlenberg are tied with two titles each. Gettysburg is the only other school in the conference to win a tournament title. The Mules won the 2005 title, with a 2-0 in over Gettysburg. Hopkins last won the tournament title in 2004, defeating McDaniel 1-0 in the final. In addition, Muhlenberg and Hopkins are the only two schools to make all six conference tournaments.

Team Notes...
This is Hopkins' 14th consecutive winning season and 41st in the 72 year history of the program. The Blue Jays are unbeaten in their last 13 outings (12-0-1), including 11 shutouts.

The Blue Jays finished the regular season with a 8-0-1 conference mark and won their seventh regular season title. Hopkins seven regular season titles are the most in the league. Muhlenberg has four, Gettysburg has two and McDaniel has one.

Junior co-captain Ben McAbee leads the team with career highs of 24 points, nine goals and six assists. Sophomore Nicholas Gauna (18 points) ranks second followed by freshman Nick Kosik (14 points). Gauna leads the team with eight assists with McAbee in second with six assists. Kosik, Gauna and freshman Max Venker are all tied for second on the team with five goals.

Senior Danny Coble has played every minute in goal this season for Hopkins. He posts a 0.27 goals against average and a .933 save percentage. He is 16-1-1 with 13 shutouts. Coble had school and conference shutout streak of 1010:37 that ended in the Jays' 2-1 win over Washington. That streak is the fourth longest in Division III history. He is just one shutout shy of tying All-American Gary Kane's school & conference record of 14 shutouts in a single season. The NCAA single season record is 18, held by Joel Wallace of MacMurray (1991).

Hopkins ranks in the top-five in NCAA Division III this season in goals against average (0.29 • 4th), shutout percentage (0.71 • 4th), save percentage (0.930 • 2nd) and shutouts (13 • T-3rd). The Blue Jays also rank ninth in won-loss-tied percentage (0.941). Coble ranks fourth in goals against and third in save percentage.

Hopkins extended its unbeaten streak at Homewood Field to 18 straight (17-0-1, .972). The Blue Jays are now 132-10-10 (.901) at home under head coach Matt Smith.

Hopkins is unbeaten in its last 18 conference games (including tournament) (14-0-4, .888) dating back to Sept. 21, 2005. The conference record is 20 games, held by Hopkins (Oct. 30, 1999-Nov. 2, 2001). The Blue Jays are now 105-15-6 (.857) all-time in Centennial Conference action. Hopkins boasts the best win percentage and most overall wins of any school in the history of the conference. Muhlenberg ranks second with 92 wins. The Blue Jays have won 52 straight conference games at Homewood.

The Blue Jays earned the top spot in the Centennial Conference Preseason poll with 76 points and six first-place votes. Johns Hopkins has won seven regular season conference titles since the inception of the league in 1993. With six of those titles coming in even numbered years (1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006). In addition, the Jays have also won two tournament titles (2002, 2004) since the inception of the conference tournament in 2001.

The all-time winningest coach in Hopkins men's soccer history, Smith finished last season with the second-best career winning percentage in Division III history (for coaches with atleast 10 years experience). Ohio Wesleyan's Jay Martin just edged Smith with a .818 win percentage (500-97-36), while Smith had a .817 mark (203-39-17). Among coaches in any division with a minimum of 10 years experience, Smith ranks seventh all-time and third among active coaches in winning percentage.

Entering the season, Smith's record stood at 203-39-17 (.817). His record now stands at 219-40-18 (.823).