You have to be good to be the runner-up, but you lose
claim to being dubbed the best. Just ask the members of the
Carolina Panthers, who came up a field goal short in this
year's Super Bowl.
No strangers to the "good" label, the Johns Hopkins
men's lacrosse team has been edging its way closer to an
NCAA Division I title since coach Dave Pietramala took
control of the program in 2001. He guided the Blue Jays to
the NCAA quarterfinals in his first season, the NCAA
semifinals in his second and the championship game last
year, eventually losing by two goals to Virginia. Will 2004
be the year the men's team gets to and wins that elusive
final game?
The quest begins at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 28, when
the Blue Jays play the University of Pennsylvania Quakers
at Homewood Field. Hopkins heads into the contest ranked
No. 2 in the Faceoff 2004 Preseason Coaches' Poll, right
behind the defending champion Cavaliers.
The Blue Jays return six starters from last year's
team, including All-Americans junior Kyle Barrie, junior
Kyle Harrison and senior Kevin Boland. Six of the top eight
scorers from last season are back, as are senior Corey
Harned and defense anchors Tom Garvey and Chris Watson,
both juniors.
As always, Johns Hopkins' journey to the top will not
be an easy one. The team's schedule has been voted the
strongest in the nation by Inside Lacrosse/Faceoff
Yearbook. The Blue Jays will play three teams from last
season's Final Four, all four ACC schools and Princeton and
Towson, both of which advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals in
2003.
This year's home matches are against Penn, Albany,
Princeton, Syracuse, North Carolina, Maryland and Towson.
The Johns Hopkins-Maryland game will be the 100th meeting
of these two fierce rivals.
For a complete schedule, go to
hopkinssports.ocsn.com/sports/m-lacros/sched/
jhop-m-lacros-sched.html.