UVA and Johns Hopkins Meet in the Quest for the Doyle Smith Cup

March 23, 2017

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia men’s lacrosse team returns to “Charm City” for the second time in 2017 on Saturday when the Cavaliers (5-3) face Johns Hopkins (4-3) for a non-conference tilt in the battle for the Doyle Smith Cup. Faceoff at historic Homewood Field is set for 1 p.m. UVA is ranked No. 15 in this week’s USILA coaches and Inside Lacrosse/Maverick media polls. The Blue Jays are No. 18 in the coaches poll and No. 17 in the media poll.

Live stats will be available at VirginiaSports.com. The game will be webcast live on ESPN3. John Brickley will call the play-by-play and Ryan Boyle will provide analysis. There will be a tape delay of the game on ESPNU on Sunday at 11 a.m.

Saturday marks the 71st straight season the Cavaliers and the Blue Jays have clashed in an all-time series that began in 1904. Johns Hopkins holds the all-time advantage with a 59-31-1 mark, however Virginia has won nine of the last 14 meetings, including a streak of six in a row before dropping five of the last eight matchups. Virginia’s 91 all-time games against the Blue Jays equals the most games the Cavaliers have played against any opponent in their history.

Michael Kraus leads UVA with 39 points, courtesy of his 21 goals and 18 assists. Zed Williams leads UVA with 20 assists and is No. 2 with 36 points. Mike D’Amario leads UVA with 22 goals and is third on the team with 29 points. Dox Aitken rounds out the top scorers for UVA with 20 goals and 26 points. Aitken’s 20 goals are a UVA record for a freshman midfielder. Kraus and Aitken rank No. 13 and No. 14, respectively, all-time at UVA among freshman goal scorers. With 36 ground balls, Williams is the only player in the nation with at least 30 points and 30 ground balls. Goalie Griffin Thompson made his first career start against Notre Dame and is saving 36.4 percent of shots between the pipes and posting a 13.65 goals against average.

JHU head coach Dave Pietramala is in his 17th season with the Blue Jays and is coming off an 8-7 record in 2016 and a first round NCAA Tournament loss to current UVA head coach Lars Tiffany and his Brown team that reached Championship Weekend. Hopkins is led by Shack Stanwick’s 20 points, courtesy of 10 goals and 10 assists. Wilkins Dismuke leads the Blue Jays with 12 goals. Dismuke, John Crawley and Kyle Marr are tied for No. 2 with 14 points. Hopkins goalie Gerald Logan is saving 49.1 percent of shots he is seeing in goal and posting a 9.64 goals against average.

The game is the 12th annual battle for the Doyle Smith Cup, a spoil since 2006 that goes to the regular season winner in the series. Virginia and Johns Hopkins joined together to honor E. Doyle Smith, Jr., for his lifetime of contributions to the lacrosse programs at both schools and on the national level with the annual regular season winner laying claim to the cup. Smith served as team manager and statistician for Johns Hopkins under coach Bob Scott from 1963-68.

Smith enrolled at UVA to pursue a doctorate in the fall of 1968, and became the University’s first full-time assistant sports information director, a position he held for 31 years until his retirement in 1999, serving as the lacrosse team’s publicist for four head coaches: Buddy Beardmore, Glenn Thiel, Jim Adams and Dom Starsia. In 2000, he was elected to the US Lacrosse Hall of Fame and is the only individual inducted who never played the game at some level.

Virginia plays next at Richmond on Saturday, April 1. Faceoff with the No. 14 Spiders is set for 1 p.m.