April 6, 2006

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Sneak Peak: #2 Johns Hopkins returns to action against the visiting #7 Maryland Terrapins. The Blue Jays will put their undefeated record to the test against a team they have never beaten. Maryland enters Sunday's game after a tough 11-10 overtime loss to #3 Georgetown on Wednesday.

300 and Counting: On March 26, Johns Hopkins earned its 300th win all-time and now post a record of 302-175-4 (.632). Hopkins is just the 15th school in any division and seventh in Division I to reach the 300 win mark. Division III Ursinus (474 wins) and Division I Maryland (458 wins) are the leaders in their respective divisions. William & Mary is close behind the Jays with 299 wins.

Against Maryland: Johns Hopkins and Maryland have met seven times in a series that has been dominated by the Terrapins. The Blue Jays are winless in seven meetings with the Terrapins. Once a lop-sided series, it has been decidely closer in in recent years. In 2004, Hopkins lost by three and in 2005, the Jays lost by just two goals. For the first time in the series, #2 Hopkins is the higher ranked team. Maryland enters today's meeting ranked #7. This is also just the second time in the series that both teams have been ranked in the top-10.

Juniors Mary Key and Sarah Walsh lead all current Blue Jays in scoring against Maryland. Key has three goals and five assists and Walsh has five goals and one assist in two meetings. Senior goalie Lauren Riddick posts a 13.60 goals against average and a .443 save percentage in three appearances against Maryland.

Against the ALC: Hopkins is a member of the American Lacrosse Conference, now in just its fifth season. The Blue Jays are 3-0 in league play this season and 18-9 (.667) since the league's inception. Currently the Jays stand in first place in the league after wins over Ohio, Ohio State and Vanderbilt. Next up for Hopkins Northwestern on April 23 in Evanston, IL. The Huskies are currently tied for second in the league at 1-0. In 2007, the ALC will hold its first ever conference tournament. It is scheduled for May 3-6 at Homewood Field on the campus of Johns Hopkins.

Undefeated: Johns Hopkins is 8-0 on the season, one of just three unbeaten teams left in the nation. Defending NCAA Champion Northwestern is 10-0 on the season and is 31-0 dating back to the start of 2005. St. Bonaventure (7-0) is also unbeaten so far this season.

Undefeated II: The Blue Jays have started the season undefated (two or more wins) 10 times in 31 seasons. Currently Hopkins is 8-0 on the season. Of those 10 times, the Jays have started the season at 8-0 just five times, including this season.

A Little Reminder: Junior midfielder Steph Janice scored a career-high four goals to lead the #3 Johns Hopkins women's lacrosse team to an 11-8 win over Vanderbilt Sunday afternoon. The Blue Jays remain unbeaten at 8-0 overall and 3-0 in American Lacrosse Conference action. The Commodores fall to 4-6 on the season and 0-2 in ALC play.

Hopkins came out firing, taking an early 1-0 lead off a goal by senior attacker Meagan Voight at 1:34. That goal sparked the Vanderbilt offense as they answered with four straight in just over nine minutes to take a 4-1 lead. Jennifer Tapscott started the run with her first of the afternoon, followed by two goals from Margie Curran and then another tally from Tapscott. Hopkins then called a timeout and after play resumed, went on a four goal run of its own.

Sophomore attacker Annie Wagner started the rally with an assist from sophomore Sarah Gallion. Janice then scored the first of her four on a free position shot to cut the lead to just one goal. Just over two minutes later, Janice tied the game for the Blue Jays. Junior attacker Mary Key wrapped around the Commodores' net and fed the ball to Janice who buried it in the net.

With just 3:26 to play in the half, stop on defense led to the go-ahead goal for Hopkins. Sophomore Katie Dumais created a turnover off of Vanderbilt's Kendall Thrift. Dumais scooped up the ball and ran the length of the field, tossing the ball to Key. Key took the ball to the goal and beat Vanderbilt goalie Brooke Shinaberry for her 30th of the season. The Blue Jays took a 5-4 lead and never trailed again. Tapscott scored her third of the day just 34 seconds later to tie the game at 5-5. But Hopkins answered. After Shinaberry made back-to-back saves, her defense couldn't control the loose ball. Janice scooped up the ball and fired a low shot that found the back of the net as the half expired.

Vanderbilt came out firing in the second half, knotting the score at 6-6 just 50 seconds in, off an unassisted goal by Thrift. Janice gave Hopkins back the lead at 7-6 with 20:18 to play on her fourth of the day. Once again, the Commodores came right back. Senior goalie Lauren Riddick stopped a Tapscott shot and controlled the ball. As she stepped out to clear the ball to a teammate, Kate Hickman checked Riddick's stick, knocking the ball back into the Hopkins' goal and tying the game at 7-7. This time it was the Hopkins' offense that was ignited. The Blue Jays rattled off four straight to take an 11-7 lead with just 3:48 to play. Voight, Wagner and sophomores Kirby Houck and Lauren Schwarzmann all scored for the Jays during the run.

On the ensuing draw Vanderbilt controlled the ball and raced out to a two-on-one advantage. Hickman took a pass from Thrift and fired a shot on the Hopkins' goal, but Riddick was there to make the save and preserve the lead. Cara Giordano did give a spark to the Commodores, scoring with 1:30 to play. But the Hopkins defense stood strong for the remaining 90 seconds for the win.

Riddick finished with 11 saves, just one off her career high, in her first game since March 18. Hopkins held the edge in shots (26-23), ground balls (28-18) and draw controls (11-9). The game was tightly called by the officials with a total of 55 fouls, including four yellow cards for the two teams.

All-Time Record: Hopkins enters today's game with an overall record of 302-175-4 (.632) in 31 seasons. Only 15 women's lacrosse programs, including seven Division I, have won 300 or more games. The Blue Jays made the move to the Division I level in 1999. Hopkins is 85-40 (.680) in eight Division I seasons.

150 and Counting: The Blue Jays win over Oregon on March 18 was the 150th career win for Head Coach Janine Tucker. Coach Tucker is just the 12th coach all-time to reach the 150 win plateau and just the sixth active coach with 150 wins. She is the second coach this season to reach this milestone as Dartmouth Head Coach Amy Patton earned her 150th win on March 4, 2006. Tucker now posts a record of 153-56-0 (.732). Maryland Head Coach Cindy Timchal is the all-time wins leader with 333.

Player of the Week Honors: Junior midfielder Steph Janice was named the American Lacrosse Conference Player of the Week on Tuesday. She was also named to the womenslacrosse.com and insidelacrosse.com Honor Rolls.

Janice stepped into the offensive role on Sunday against an upset-minded Vanderbilt team. She scored a career-high four goals, including two during a 4-0 Hopkins' rally that gave the Blue Jays back the lead at 5-4. Her second goal of the game tied the game at 4-4. Her third came with just one second remaining in the half and gave Hopkins a 6-5 lead heading into the lockerroom. After Vanderbilt tied the game coming out of the half, Janice scored her fourth of the day to give Hopkins the lead yet again.

Record-Breaker: Junior Mary Key has already etched her name in the Johns Hopkins Women's Lacrosse Record Book. With just over two seasons under her belt, she ranks third in career goals (137), second in career assists (77), third in career points (214) and sixth in career draw controls (72). So far this season, she is averaging 6.63 points per game. At this rate, she is on pace to finish the regular season with 106 points. As a sophomore she broke the single-season marks for points and assists with 87 and 32 respectively. She fell just four goals shy of tying that single-season record.

Record-Breaker II: Senior Lauren Riddick has also made her mark on the Hopkins record book. With a half season left to play, she ranks second in career saves (304) and minutes played (2468:16), third in save percentage (.468) and second in wins (29). She holds the career goals against average (8.38) record and the highest winning percentage (.725).

Streaking: Junior Mary Key enters today's game with a 42-game point streak, the second longest in Hopkins Division I history. She is just four games shy of tying Jamie Larrimore' s (`02) record of 46 games. Key also has a 25-game goal streak, third longest in Hopkins history, 13 games shy of Larrimore's (`02) record of 38. Key does hold the longest assist streak in the school's Division I history. She has tallied an assist in 12 consecutive games, a streak that is active.

Three other Blue Jays carry scoring streaks into today's game. Senior Meagan Voight and sophomore Annie Wagner each have seven-game point streaks. And sophomore Lauren Schwarzmann is on a two-game point streak.

Streaking II: Senior Lauren Riddick started 39 consecutive games in net for the Blue Jays and is 29-11 (.725) as a starter. That streak ended on March 26 when she missed the game against American due to injury. It is the second longest games started streak and the highest winning percentage by a Hopkins goalie in Division I history. Jen McDonald (`03) started 51 consecutive games in goal and posted a 32-19 (.627) record. Sara Love (`00) went 22-10 (.688) as a Division I starting goalie.

A Key to Our Success: Junior Mary Key has been instrumental in the Blue Jays success since she stepped foot on the Homewood campus. She has tallied a point in every game of her career and scored in all but one of those games. With 214 career points in just 42 games, Key is averaging 5.10 points per game for her careeer.

Hopkins is 31-10 when Key scores a goal. When she scores three or more goals, the Blue Jays are almost unbeatable at 25-1.

Home Sweet Home: The Blue Jays have enjoyed much success at Homewood Field, especially of late. Hopkins is 21-4 (.840) at home since April 25, 2003. Since moving to Division I in 1999, the Jays are 50-19 (.725) at home.

Poll Position: After being stable at #3 for three consecutve weeks, Johns Hopkins took another step up in the polls. With wins over #18 Penn and #17 Vanderbilt, a loss by #2 Duke, the Blue Jays moved to #2 this week. Only undefeated #1 Northwestern (10-0) sits ahead of the Jays. This is the highest ever national ranking for the Blue Jays in their Division I history.

Eight of Hopkins opponents this season were ranked in the atleast one of the national preseason polls (Northwestern, Princeton, Maryland, Georgetown, Penn State, Towson, Vanderbilt, Penn). The Jays have three ranked opponent far this season, Princeton, Penn and Vanderbilt . Hopkins defeated the #3 Tigers 8-7 on March 4. The Blue Jays defeated #18 Penn 12-9 on March 29 and #17 Vanderbilt 11-8 on April 2.

Upsets: Hopkins win over #3 Princeton on March 4 went down as the biggest win in the Blue Jays Division I history. Prior that win, the Jays had never beaten a team in the top-five. The highest team ever beaten by the Jays was a #6 team - twice. Last season, the Blue Jays upset #6 Georgetown 14-10 on the road on the eve of the NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship Selection Show. In 2004, Hopkins upset #6 Notre Dame 13-12 in South Bend, IN.

On the Tube: Three of Johns Hopkins' games will be televised this season. March 4, Hopkins' home-opener against Princeton, and the Jays' April 9 home game against Maryland will be carried by ESPNU.

When Hopkins travels to Evanston, IL to face defending NCAA Champion Northwestern on April 23, CSTV will be carrying the game.

Tewaaraton Trophy Watch List: The Tewaaraton Trophy is recognized as the pre-eminent lacrosse award honoring the top female and male varsity collegiate lacrosse player in the United States.

The Women's Selection Committee has named their preseason "watch list". The players on this list were nominated by coaches across all three divisions. Among them are junior Mary Key, who was named to the list for the second consecutive season.

Preseason Pickings I: The Blue Jays were picked third with 26 points in the 2006 ALC Preseason Poll as voted on by the league's coaches. Hopkins was just edged out of second by Penn State with 27 points. Defending ALC and NCAA Champion Northwestern was picked #1.

Preseason Pickings II: Junior Mary Key and sophomore Lauren Schwarzmann were named to the 2006 ALC Preseason Team as decided on by the league's coaches.

Inside Lacrosse also named to Blue Jays to its preseason All-America Team. Key was named First Team, while sophomore Kadie Stamper was named to the Second Team.

Family Affair: The Hopkins Lacrosse Program has become a family affair in recent years. Three sets of sisters have played for Head Coach Janine Tucker over the last four seasons. It started with Meghan Burnett `02 and her sister Molly `06. Next to join the program were the Crisafulli sisters. Anne graduated in 2005, while her sister Meghan is a junior this season. Ashley Schwarzmann came to the Blue Jays in 2003, followed by her sister Lauren in 2005.

In addition, Kristen Miller `05 followed in her brother Pat's (`02) footsteps choosing to play college lacrosse for Hopkins. Marlena Wittelsberger `04 followed her father's path. Franz Wittelsberger `76 was a four-time All-American for Hopkins and stills rank third all-time in career goals with 151. Junior Alex Nolan followed in both her father and her mother's footsteps. Her father Bill `74 was a two-time All-American for the Blue Jays and a member of the 1974 national championship team. Her mother Shellee played for the Hopkins women's lacrosse team.