Virginia Men's Lacrosse Hosts Nation's Top-Ranked Team

Story Links

March 22, 2002

Charlottesville, Va. –

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

#4 Virginia (4-1) vs. #1 Johns Hopkins (3-0)

March 23, 2002
3:00 p.m.
Kl?ckner Stadium
Charlottesville, Va.

Ticket information: Saturday’s game is a Family Day Doubleheader with the Virginia women’s team. The Cavalier women host ACC rival North Carolina at noon, with the Virginia men’s team facing off against Johns Hopkins at 3:00 p.m. You can buy two youth and two adult tickets together for just $10! Regular admission is $5 for adults, $3 for youth 18 & under and senior citizens. Ticket booths open at 11:00 a.m.

Television:Satuday’s game is being televised in the Mid-Atlantic area on Comcast Sports Net.

Radio: You can listen to the game on the internet by clicking here for the Johns Hopkins broadcast.

The Series vs. the Blue Jays
Johns Hopkins holds a commanding 51-19-1 record in the all-time series with Virginia. The rivalry between the two schools goes all the way back to two meetings in 1904, well before lacrosse was recognized as a varsity sport at UVa. The next meeting didn’t occur until 1926, the second “official” year of the UVa varsity program. The teams have met at least once every season since 1948, the longest current series of any Virginia opponent.

John Hopkins’ 51 wins over Virginia are by far the most wins by any school over the Cavaliers. Maryland is next with 39 wins over UVa.

Virginia has also played more games against Johns Hopkins than any one else (71). Again, Maryland is second with 68 games vs. the Cavaliers.

The Blue Jays have had great success in Charlottesville, winning 17 of 26 match-ups on the Cavaliers’ home fields. However, Virginia has won five of the last six games in Charlottesville.This game features some historical patterns that could bode well for the Cavaliers.

Known as a team that likes the up-tempo pace, Virginia would certainly like to see its offense explode vs. the Blue Jays since the Cavaliers are 16-7 all-time against Johns Hopkins when scoring at least 10 goals. In fact, when UVa scores more than 13 goals they have won 11 of 14 games against Hopkins.

UVa can be successful if it is able to contain the Hopkins offense because it is 12-3-1 when allowing fewer than 10 goals.

Virginia vs. the Nation’s #1 Team
Following wins over Princeton and Syracuse, Johns Hopkins comes into this afternoon’s contest ranked #1 in the USILA coaches’ poll, while the Cavaliers are ranked fourth.

This is the second year in a row the Cavaliers have faced the #1 team. Last season they opened with a 13-7 loss to Syracuse at the Carrier Dome, but rebounded to defeat top-ranked Maryland 7-2 three weeks later at Kl?ckner Stadium.

Virginia has played a top-ranked Johns Hopkins team 12 times before, winning twice. The Cavaliers downed Hopkins 15-9 in 1992 the last time the Blue Jays sat atop the poll at game time.

Virginia is 10-17 all-time vs. the #1 team, including a 6-3 mark under Dom Starsia. The Cavaliers are 2-0 at Kl?ckner Stadium against the top-ranked team. (Wins over Maryland in the 1996 ACC Tournament and last season.)

A look at UVa’s games against the #1 team are shown below. Virginia wins are listed in bold, while NCAA playoff games are indicated.

Year     #1 Opp.     UVa rank     Site        Winner, score1973       Md.          #3        Towson        UVa, 10-91973      JHU           #2        A             JHU, 14-91974       Md.          #2        A             Md., 25-131975      JHU           #4        A             JHU, 10-9 (OT)1976       Md.          #6        A             Md., 24-15 (OT)1979      JHU           #4        A             JHU, 13-81979      JHU (NCAA)    #5        A             JHU, 16-71980      JHU           #8        H             UVa, 12-91981      JHU           #4        A             JHU, 15-131981      JHU (NCAA)    #4        A             JHU, 10-61983      JHU           #4        A             JHU, 12-61985      JHU           #4        A             JHU, 12-51985      JHU (NCAA)    #4        A             JHU, 11-81986       Md.          #7        A             UVa, 8-7 (OT)1987       Md.          #6        H             Md., 12-51989      JHU           #9T       A             JHU, 12-31991      UNC           #5        H             UNC, 11-101992      JHU           #10       H             UVa, 15-91993      UNC           #7        H             UVa, 13-12 (OT)1994     Syra. (NCAA)   #5        Md.           UVa, 15-14 (OT)1995     Syra.          #2T       A             UVa, 15-71996     Syra.          #2        H             UVa, 17-151996       Md.          #3        H             UVa, 13-91996    Prince. (NCAA)  #3        Md.     Princeton, 13-12 (OT)1997    Prince.         #3        A       Princeton, 14-13 (OT)2001     Syra.          #3        A              SU, 13-72001       Md.          #7        H             UVa, 7-2

Rankings Don’t Mean Much in This Game
One of the characteristics of the Virginia vs. Johns Hopkins series since the late 1980s is the inability to use rankings as a predictor of victory.

The higher ranked team has lost 10 of the last 15 regular season meetings dating back to 1987. From 1990-1995, the higher ranked squad lost each time.

Things have turned somewhat the last few of years as the higher ranked team has claimed victory in four of the last six regular season contests.