BALTIMORE — The two most storied programs in college lacrosse meet for the 52nd time Saturday, March 15 when No. 10 Syracuse visits No. 2 Johns Hopkins for a noon faceoff at Homewood Field. The game will be telecast live on ESPNU.
The Orange and Blue Jays are the two winningest programs in Division I lacrosse history and they have met at least once every season dating back to 1983.
Johns Hopkins improved to 5-0 on the year with a 15-8 victory at UMBC last Saturday.
Syracuse moved its record to 3-2 on the year with a 14-8 victory against St. John’s. The win over the Red Storm snapped a two-game losing streak for the Orange.
The Blue Jays are one of three undefeated teams remaining in Division I lacrosse (Maryland and Cornell are the others).
Syracuse and Johns Hopkins have combined to win nearly half (20) of the 43 NCAA championships since men’s lacrosse became an NCAA-sponsored sport in 1971. The Orange has an NCAA-record 11 titles. Johns Hopkins has nine.
Overall, the Blue Jays have appeared in a record 18 NCAA title games and is 9-9 in those contests.
Syracuse is second with 17 championship game appearances. The Orange is 11-6 in its championship games.
The Orange and Blue Jays are the two winningest programs in Division I lacrosse. They boast a combined record of 1,787-629-31 (.737). Johns Hopkins is the only program that currently has more than 900 all-time victories and enters Saturday’s game with 938 wins since it began playing the sport in 1883. Syracuse is second on that list with 849 all-time wins dating back to 1916. The Orange and Blue Jays are the only two Division I programs with more than 800 wins.
Johns Hopkins is 938-303-15 (.753) all-time. The Blue Jays own nine NCAA titles, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles for a total of 44 national championships.
… Be the program’s 850th victory, second all-time behind Hopkins (938).
… Improve SU’s record to 89-22 since the start of the 2008 season.
… Be John Desko’s 191st career coaching win.
… Boost the team’s non-conference record to 4-0 this season.
… Make Syracuse 7-1 against the Blue Jays since the start of 2008.
… Increase Desko’s record to 11-9 all-time in head-to-head coaching meetings with Dave Pietramala.
… Mark the first time since 2007 that SU won a true road game against a team ranked second or higher.
Closing on Mr. Scott: Dave Pietramala picked up his 152nd victory as the head coach at Johns Hopkins with last week’s 15-8 victory at UMBC and he continues to close in on the record for most career coaching victories at Homewood. Only Bob Scott, who won 158 games as the head coach at JHU from 1955-74, has won or coached (214) more games than Pietramala at Johns Hopkins.
Career Win Number 175: In addition to notching his 152nd victory as the head coach at Johns Hopkins with last week’s win against UMBC, Dave Pietramala also reached a milestone as the win against the Retrievers was the 175th of his coaching career. In addition to his 152-50 (.752) mark as the head coach at JHU, Pietramala also posted a 23-17 record in three seasons as the head coach at Cornell and now boasts an overall record of 175-67 (.723). Pietramala’s 175 wins rank 10th among active Division I coaches.
Attackman Wells Stanwick (nine goals, 18 assists) leads the offense. He ranks second in the NCAA in assists per game (3.6) and fourth in points per contest (5.4). Fellow attackman Ryan Brown has a team-best 15 goals (3.0 per game), while Rob Guida (seven goals, three assists) and Holden Cattoni (six goals, four assists) are threats in the midfield.
Faceoff specialist Drew Kennedy tops the NCAA list for most groundballs per game (9.8). Kennedy is fourth nationally with a .649 faceoff winning percentage (72-111).
Defensively, goalie Eric Schneider is fourth in the country in save percentage (.622). He has 61 saves against 37 goals allowed. LSM Michael Pelligrino has 12 ground balls and five caused turnovers.
The Blue Jays own a 27-23-1 advantage in the all-time series. Hopkins dominated the rivalry’s early years, winning 12 of the first 15 meetings. The Orange has been victorious in six of the last seven matchups, including a 13-8 win last year at the Carrier Dome.
Hopkins is SU’s most familiar postseason foe with the Orange holding an 8-4 advantage in NCAA contests between the two teams. Five of those meetings have come with the championship on the line (1983, 1984, 1985, 1989, 2008). SU is 3-2 against the Blue Jays in title tilts, defeating Hopkins to win NCAA championships in 1983, 1989 and 2008.
Syracuse returns to ACC action with the rematch of last year’s NCAA championship game versus Duke. The Orange and Blue Devils square off at Koskinen Stadium in Durham Sunday, March 23 at 12:30 p.m. on ESPNU. Hopkins will next play on Saturday, March 22 at Virginia in a 4:30 p.m. contest.