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The newspaper of The Johns Hopkins University February 28, 2005 | Vol. 34 No. 24
 
Season Opens for Top-Ranked Blue Jays

"Our scheduling philosophy is to play the most difficult schedule in the nation," says Dave Pietramala, right, now in his fifth season as head coach.
PHOTO BY HIPS/JAY VANRENSSELAER

Hopkins will play seven of its 12 games this year at Homewood Field

By Greg Rienzi
The Gazette

The Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team enters its 118th season ranked No. 1 in a pre-season coaches' poll and confronted with arguably the nation's toughest schedule, which kicks off on Saturday at Princeton.

The Blue Jays return eight starters from last season's team, which ended the regular season ranked No. 1 and earned the top seed in the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive year. The 2004 team went 13-2 and advanced to the national semifinals before falling to eventual champion Syracuse.

Hopkins will play seven of its 12 games this year at Homewood Field, where it has won 27 straight games and is 28-1 under Coach Dave Pietramala.

Pietramala, now in his fifth season as head coach, was an All-American defensive player for the Blue Jays in the late 1980s.

Highlighting the 2005 schedule are games against each of the other three teams that advanced to the 2004 Final Four, Princeton, Navy and Syracuse, all of which are ranked in this year's pre-season top five. The Blue Jays will also play 2004 NCAA Tournament qualifiers Maryland, North Carolina, Towson and Albany.

Players in practice at Homewood Field two weeks before the season opener.
PHOTO BY HIPS/JAY VANRENSSELAER

"Our scheduling philosophy is to play the most difficult schedule in the nation," Pietramala said. "We are excited to welcome seven outstanding teams to Homewood Field, and all five of our road games are against teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Playing this type of schedule is one reason why student-athletes come to Johns Hopkins, and it prepares our team for the post-season."

Steeped in lacrosse history, the Blue Jays have enjoyed a level of success that is virtually unmatched in any sport at the collegiate level. Johns Hopkins counts 42 national championships, including seven NCAA titles, to its credit. The 171 First Team All-Americans are an all-time national record, while the current streak of 33 consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament ranks as the longest active streak of qualifying for the NCAAs in any Division I team sport. Hopkins' nine straight NCAA championship game appearances from 1977 to 1985 are more than twice as long as any other streak in lacrosse.

The JHU class of 2005 — which includes seniors and team standouts Kyle Barrie, Peter LeSueur and Kyle Harrison — has a chance to be the first class in 18 years to appear in the Final Four during each of its seasons at Homewood.

In addition to the seven regular season games scheduled for Homewood Field, the venue will host the NCAA South Quarterfinals on May 21. Game times are tentatively noon and 3 p.m.

College Sports Television, a cable network, will once again show live NCAA lacrosse games, including the Johns Hopkins-Princeton season opener. The games against Virginia, Duke, Navy, Towson and Loyola will be carried locally by ABC2 and nationally by ESPNU. The April 15 Maryland-Johns Hopkins game, known as the greatest rivalry in lacrosse, will be aired on Fox Sports.

For more about men's lacrosse and other Blue Jays sports, go to hopkinssports.collegesports.com.

 

Blue Jays 2005 Schedule

March 5 — @Princeton, 3 p.m.
March 8 — UMBC, 7 p.m.
March 12 — Hofstra, 1 p.m.
March 18 — @Syracuse, 7 p.m.
March 26 — Virginia, 1 p.m.
April 2 — @UNC, 1 p.m.
April 5 — Albany, 3 p.m.
April 8 — Duke, 8 p.m.
April 15 — @Maryland, 8 p.m.
April 23 — Navy, 1 p.m.
April 30 — @Towson, 1 p.m.
May 7 — Loyola, 3 p.m.

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