No. 18 Virginia Continues Road Swing at No. 7 Johns Hopkins in Clash for Doyle Smith Cup

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Looking to reclaim possession of the E. Doyle Smith Cup, No. 18 Virginia (2-2) travels to No. 7 Johns Hopkins (4-1) Saturday (March 1) for the Cavaliers’ second game of their three-game road swing. Opening faceoff from Homewood Field is set for noon and Mark Dixon (play-by-play) and Quint Kessenich (analyst) will have the call on ESPNU.

LAST TIME THEY MET

• In last year’s NCAA Tournament quarterfinal at Towson, Connor Shellenberger’s double-overtime goal [11-10] secured Virginia’s spot at Championship Weekend for the fourth time in the previous five opportunities.
• The Cavaliers held Hopkins scoreless for nearly the final 23 minutes, a span in which UVA claimed the game’s last four goals.
• Just minutes from his hometown, attackman McCabe Millon (3g, 3a) led the Hoos offensively with six points. Defensively, the Cavaliers were led by LSM Ben Wayer, who collected a career-high 10 ground balls. Wayer also dished out one assist and added two caused turnovers.
• Between the fourth quarter and both overtime periods, Hopkins committed nine turnovers, including three failed clears in the fourth.
• Goaltender Kyle Morris (8 saves) checked into the game midway through the first period and earned his first career win. Morris came up with a pair of clutch saves in the first sudden-death period to keep the Hoos afloat.

SERIES HISTORY

• Dating back to 1904, Saturday’s contest marks the 99th all-time meeting between the Virginia and Hopkins.
• The Blue Jays lead the all-time series over UVA, 62-35-1.
• The two teams met at least once every season from 1948-2019.
• Virginia has not faced any other opponent more than Hopkins in program history.
• The two teams have gone head-to-head a whopping 16 times in the NCAA Tournament, including in last year’s quarterfinals (Towson, Md). UVA is 6-10 in such meetings.
• Four of the last 10 overall matchups have gone to overtime. UVA is 3-1 in such contests.
• Notable wins over Hopkins in the NCAA Tournament include the: 1972 championship game (13-12, College Park, Md.), 1988 semifinals when the unseeded UVA toppled the two-seed Blue Jays in overtime (11-10, Baltimore, Md.), 1996 semifinals (16-10, College Park, Md.), 1999 semifinals (16-11, College Park, Md.), 2003 national championship (9-7, Baltimore, Md.) 2009 semifinals (19-8, Annapolis, Md.) and the 2024 quarterfinals [11-10 (2OT), Towson, Md.]. Bold – national championship run.

DOYLE SMITH CUP (est. 2006)

• Upon the Doyle Smith Cup’s inaugural matchup in 2006, Virginia and Johns Hopkins joined together to honor Edward “Doyle” Smith Jr., for his lifetime of contributions to the lacrosse programs at both schools and on the national level with the annual winner laying claim to the cup.
• Smith served as team manager and statistician for Johns Hopkins under coach Bob Scott from 1963-68.
• He enrolled at UVA to pursue a doctorate degree 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.
• He is credited with writing the original manuscript that later became the framework for the current NCAA men’s lacrosse statisticians’ manual.
• As the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) information director from 1973-95, Smith compiled the weekly rankings and statistics for the organization.
• In 2000, he was elected to the US Lacrosse Hall of Fame and is believed to be the only inductee who never played or coached the game at any level.
• Smith passed away in June 2004, not long after the national championship game.
• With its 16-14 win at Klöckner Stadium last year, Hopkins laid claim the cup for the first time since 2018 as UVA had won the three previous regular-season meetings (2019, 2022, 2023).
• UVA won the first five Smith Cup matchups and has never relinquished its lead in the Smith Cup series standings. UVA leads the all-time series, 11-6.
• Following the conclusion of Saturday’s game, there will be a brief presentation of the cup to the winning team.

LAST TIME OUT

• Attackman Ryan Colsey (6g, 3a) had a career night and led Virginia in its 17-8 bounce-back victory over High Point at Klöckner Stadium Tuesday evening (Feb 18).
• Including Colsey, nine Cavaliers found the back of the net. Truitt Sunderland added three goals and two assists. For the third consecutive game, McCabe Millon dished out three assists in addition to one goal, while Thomas Mencke scored a pair of goals.
• For the third straight game, the Hoos finished above .500 at the faceoff X.
• Kyle Morris (2-1) earned the win in-goal in his third start of the season. Matthew Nunes started the second half.

SCOUTING THE BLUE JAYS

• Johns Hopkins won its first four games of the season and peaked at No. 4 in last week’s USILA coaches poll before falling to North Carolina, 12-11, at Homewood Field last week.
• The Tar Heels scored the game’s first three goals in the first minute of play. Another three-goal run by the Tar Heels in the fourth quarter put them ahead to stay.
• Hopkins’ man-up unit leads the nation, scoring a clip of 80 percent (4-for-5) on the season, while UVA’s man-down has held its opponents scoreless on all but one of its 16 chances (.062).
• In addition to its man-up group, JHU leads the Big Ten in shot percentage (.337), good for ninth among all Division-I teams.
• Attackman Russell Melendez leads the Blue Jays in both goals (2.80) and points (4.40) per game. In last year’s NCAA quarterfinals, Melendez scored four goals on five shots along with three turnovers. In the regular-season meeting between UVA and Hopkins, he had only one goal on five shots.

ON THE HORIZON

• The Cavaliers conclude their three-game road stint on Saturday (March 8), when they travel to Houston, Texas for a neutral-site meeting with Towson (0-4).
• Opening faceoff at The Kinkaid School is set for 1:30 p.m. EST on the Corrigan Sports Network.