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April 26, 2006

Sneak Peak: #9 Johns Hopkins returns to Homewood Field after three consecutive road games. The Blue Jays are looking to rebound after just their second loss of the season when they face the George Mason Patriots tonight. The Patriots enter tonight's game on a four-game losing skid.

Tewaaraton Trophy Nominees: Hopkins junior attacker Mary Key has been named a nominee to the Tewaaraton Trophy. The Tewaaraton Award Foundation narrowed its watch list down to a list of 21 Division I Women's Lacrosse Players. The Tewaaraton Trophy is given annually to the top male and female player in the nation. The Blue Jays travel across the state line to face Delaware on Wednesday, April 19. Game time is set for 7:00 pm.

Key leads the Blue Jays in goals, assists and points. She also leads the nation in points per game and ranks second in assists and 11th in goals per game. In 12 games, she has tallied 73 points on 40 goals and 33 assists. On March 26, she became just the fourth player in Hopkins' Division I history and eighth overall to reach 200 career points. She now stands second in school Division I history with 234 points, just 19 behind the career leader Jamie Larrimore.

Games Following a Loss: The Blue Jays suffered just their second loss of the 2006 season on Sunday, falling 17-5 to #2 Northwestern. Hopkins is looking to rebound against the George Mason Patriots tonight. In games following a loss, Hopkins is 25-9 since 1999. Last season, the Blue Jays went 4-1 in games following a loss.

Of those 25 wins, five have been one-goal games, while in eight games, Hopkins has outscored its opponent by 11 or more goals. The average margin of victory for the Blue Jays in wins following a loss is 7.96.

Against the Patriots: The Blue Jays and the Patriots have met seven times in a series that dates to the 1999 season. Hopkins holds the edge in the series 4-3 and has won the last two meetings. In four of the seven meetings, the margin of victory has been two or fewer goals.

Junior attacker Mary Key leads all current Jays with eight career points (6g, 2a) against George Mason. Senior attacker Meagan Voight has four points on four goals and junior attacker Sarah Walsh has tallied three points on one goal and two assists. Senior goalie Lauren Riddick has played in two games against the Patriots and is undefeated with an 8.50 goals against average.

Blue Jays In the National Ranks: The women's lacrosse national rankings are dotted with Blue Jays. Junior attacker Mary Key leads the nation in points per game (6.08), ranks second in assists (2.75) and 11th in goals (3.33) per game. Senior goalie Lauren Riddick ranks eighth in goals against average (8.21) and sophomore midfielder Kadie Stamper ranks seventh in draw controls (3.67).

The team is also ranked in several categories. Hopkins ranks fifth in winning percentage (.833), 13th in scoring defense (8.50), 12th in scoring margin (4.33), 12th in scoring offense (12.83), 21st in draw controls (13.00) and 50th in ground balls (21.92).

On the Tube: The Blue Jays played their third nationally televised game on Sunday when they faced the Northwestern Wildcats. It was their first game on CSTV this season. Hopkins' game on April 9 against #7 Maryland and the March 4 home-opener against Princeton were both televised by ESPNU.

Hopkins is 1-2 in televised games this season. The Blue Jays upset then #3 Princeton 8-7 but fell to #7 Maryland 14-11. On Sunday, the Jays lost to the defending NCAA Champion Wildcats 17-5.

All-Time Record: Hopkins enters today's game with an overall record of 304-177-4 (.631) 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 87-42 (.674) in eight Division I seasons.

300 and Counting: On March 26, Johns Hopkins earned its 300th win all-time and now post a record of 304-177-4 (.631). Hopkins is just the 15th school in any division and seventh in Division I to reach the 300 win mark. Division III Ursinus (479 wins) and Division I Maryland (460 wins) are the leaders in their respective divisions.

Against the ALC: Hopkins is a member of the American Lacrosse Conference, now in just its fifth season. The Blue Jays are 3-1 in league play this season and 18-10 (.643) since the league's inception. Currently the Jays stand in a tie for second place in the league with Penn State. Next up for Hopkins is the Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturdya, April 29 at 1:00 pm. 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.

A Little Reminder: The Northwestern Wildcats used their patent scoring runs to jump on the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays and pull away with a 17-5 win in American Lacrosse Conference action on Sunday. With the loss, the Jays surrendered first place in the ALC to the Wildcats.

Junior Sarah Walsh and sophomore Annie Wagner led Hopkins with two goals apiece. Senior Meagan Voight also tallied for the Blue Jays. Junior Mary Key dished out two assists and junior Alex Nolan had one. Senior Lauren Riddick finished with six saves in net for the the Jays. Kristen Kjellman led Northwestern with a game-high four goals and five points. Lindsey Munday dished out four assists and scored one goal for the Cats.

Undefeated: Johns Hopkins undefeated season came to an end on April 9 in a 14-11 loss to #7 Maryland. Entering the game, the Blue Jays were one of just two unbeatens left in the nation. The other was St. Bonaventure which suffered its first loss on April 18 and now stands at 13-1.

Undefeated Start: The Blue Jays have started the season undefeated (two or more wins) 10 times in 31 seasons. Hopkins started the 2006 season 8-0. Of those 10 times, the Jays have started the season at 8-0 just five times, including this season.

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 155-59-0 (.724). Maryland Head Coach Cindy Timchal is the all-time wins leader with 335.

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 two of those games. With 234 career points in just 46 games, Key is averaging 5.08 points per game for her career.

Hopkins is 33-11 when Key scores a goal. When she scores three or more goals, the Blue Jays are almost unbeatable at 26-2.

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 over Princeton, the Jays had never beaten a team ranked 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.

Poll Position: Hopkins dropped in the polls for the third consecutive week. The Blue Jays had been ranked as high as #2 in the polls heading into their meeting with then #7 Maryland. It is the highest ever national ranking for the Blue Jays in their Division I history. Hopkins is ranked #8 this week in the Bounce Entertainment/Inside Lacrosse Poll and #9 in both the IWLCA and Lacrosse Magazine Polls.

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 faced four ranked opponent far this season, Princeton, Penn, Vanderbilt and Maryland. 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. Hopkins suffered its first loss of the season and first to a ranked opponent on Sunday, 14-11 against Maryland. Northwestern is the fifth ranked opponent that Hopkins has faced this season. The Wildcats, currently ranked #2, are also the highest ranked team the Jays have faced in 2006.

Player of the Week Honors: Junior midfielder Steph Janice was named the American Lacrosse Conference Player of the Week on April 4 for her four goal effort against Vanderbilt. She was also named to the womenslacrosse.com and insidelacrosse.com Honor Rolls.

On March 6, junior Mary Key was named the American Lacrosse Conferenc, as well as the womenslacrosse.com and insidelacrosse.com Player of the Week. She scored three goals and tied a career-high with three assists in Hopkins' 8-7 upset of #3 Princeton. Key was named ALC Player of the Week the following week on March 13 after scoring 10 goals and adding six assists in Hopkins' wins over ALC opponents Ohio and Ohio State.

Record-Breaker: Junior Mary Key has already etched her name in the Johns Hopkins Women's Lacrosse Record Book. On Sunday, she broke one of her own records. She tallied two assists on Sunday to bring her total this season to 33, a new single season record. Key held the previous record of 32, established last season. She also tied Jamie Larrimore's record streak of 46 consecutive games with a point. With her first point of the game tonight, she will add that record to her list.

With just over two seasons under her belt, she ranks third in career goals (147), second in career assists (87) and career points (234) and fourth in career draw controls (81). She is just 19 points shy of tying Larrimore's career record of 253 points. So far this season, she is averaging 6.08 points per game. At this rate, she is on pace to finish the regular season with 97 points, breaking the single season mark for points (87). 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 the single-season goals mark.

Record-Breaker II: Senior Lauren Riddick has also made her mark on the Hopkins record book. With four regular season games left in her career, she ranks second in career saves (326) and minutes played (2662:47), third in save percentage (.462) and second in wins (31). She holds the career goals against average (8.56) record and the highest winning percentage (.705). Riddick is just one win away from tying Jen McDonald's record of 32.

Streaking: Junior Mary Key enters today's game with a 46-game point streak, tied for the longest in Hopkins Division I history. Key also has a record 16-game assist streak going. On Sunday, her 28-game goal streak came to an end when she was held without a goal at Northwestern. It ranks as the third longest in Blue Jays' Division I history.

Four other Blue Jays carry scoring streaks into today's game. Sophomore Annie Wagner has an 11-game point and goal streak. Junior Sarah Walsh has a four game point and goal streak. Senior Meagan Voight has a three game point and goal streak. And junior Alex Nolan has a three game point streak.

Streaking II: Senior Lauren Riddick started 39 consecutive games in net for the Blue Jays. A streak that ended on March 26 when she missed the game against American due to injury. It is the second longest games started streak by a Hopkins goalie in Division I history. Riddick is now 31-13 (.705) as a starter, the best winning percentage in Hopkins' 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.

Home Sweet Home: The Blue Jays have enjoyed much success at Homewood Field, especially of late. Hopkins is 21-5 (.808) at home since April 25, 2003. Since moving to Division I in 1999, the Jays are 50-20 (.714) at home.

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.