COLLEGE PARK, Md. - It's Hopkins Week! For Maryland men's lacrosse fans there's nothing more that needs to be said. In this week's umterps Notebook we will breakdown this Saturday's 105th edition of "Lacrosse's Greatest Rivalry", as well as some women's lacrosse notes and more.
It's Hopkins Week!
If you're a Maryland men's lacrosse fan there's really nothing like Hopkins Week! There's a little something extra in the air and it didn't take long following the team's 10-8 win over Ohio State on Sunday night for the Terps' Twitter account to let Terrapin Nation know what week it is:
One of the things that gives the Hopkins game a little extra juice (not that it needs it) for Terp fans in even years is the game being played at Homewood Field.
The Hopkins website lists Homewood's seating capacity at 8,500, but anyone who's been there will tell you it feels like there isn't that much room and tickets for the Maryland-Hopkins game at Homewood are always tough to come by. (It should be noted that the last time Maryland played Hopkins at Homewood Field in 2014 the announced attendance was 9,553.)
The game will sellout if it hasn't already by the time the Notebook is published. If there are any tickets left you can buy them by clicking here. If you can't make it out to Homewood or just don't want to fight the crowd and the harrowing parking situation you can watch the game live on ESPNU, WatchESPN and the ESPN app.
Since 2006, Maryland is 2-2 at Homewood Field and also boasts three wins in neutral site games (including one in 2010, which would have been played at Hopkins, but was part of the two-year deal to take part in the Day of Rivals event at M&T Bank Stadium).
While there's so much history with this rivalry that dates back to 1924, it's this year's game that matters right now so lets look at some of the keys to the game:
Strength vs. Strength
Johns Hopkins appears to be an attack-dominated offense with Ryan Brown (33), Shack Stanwick (18) and Wilkins Dismuke (21) scoring 72 of the Blue Jays' 157 goals in 2016. That's 45.9% of JHU's scoring coming from its starting attack.
Hopkins is averaging 13.1 goals per game this season, which ranks eighth in the nation. Maryland's defense is allowing just 7.8 goals per game this season, which is eighth best in the nation.
The Blue Jays have been held under 10 goals just twice this season (both losses) and have scored 44 goals in their past three games. The Terps have allowed opponents to score 10 or more goals just twice in 13 games, both of which turned out to be Maryland victories.
The Flip Side
Maryland's defense vs. the Blue Jay offense may be the headline matchup Saturday, but the game could be decided on the other end of the field.
The Terps' offense is generating 10.5 goals per game (26th in the nation), while Hopkins' defense is allowing 11.0 goals per game (51st in the nation).
Maryland is known as a well-balanced offense with a solid attack unit and two capable, nearly interchangeable midfields.
However, the Terps are actually more of an attack-unit dominated offense than Hopkins is. The starting attack of Matt Rambo, Colin Heacock and Dylan Maltz have combined for 89 of Maryland's 137 goals. That's 65 percent of the Terps' goals this season.
Saves Aren't Everything
The stat that corresponds, which doesn't seem to correlate to which team is better defensively, is saves per game.
One would think that the team with a better saves per game average is better defensively. Not so fast.
Maryland is averaging just 8.8 saves per game. That ranks 62nd out of 69 teams in NCAA Division I men's lacrosse.
Hopkins isn't light-years ahead at 40th in the country, but are getting 10.2 saves per game.
Maryland has done a better job than Hopkins in limiting scoring opportunities and shots in general. The Terrapins are allowing opponents just 16.8 shots on goal per game and 30.7 shots per game in total this season. Hopkins is allowing 21.2 shots on goal per game and 37.8 shots per game in total.
That disparity accounts for the difference in saves per game.
The other disparity is in the experience of the two starting goalies. Maryland senior Kyle Bernlohr has started one Maryland-Hopkins game and been a part of three others. Bernlohr also has a plethora of big-game experience. This Saturday will mark the 20th game he has started against a team ranked in the Top 20 in the past two seasons.
Hopkins sophomore Brock Turnbaugh has started all 12 games this season after seeing only limited minutes in one appearance as a freshman. The game vs. Maryland will be his seventh game facing a Top 20 team.
One area that could also impact the disparity in shots and saves is the clearing game for the two teams. Failed clears lead to more offensive chances for opponents, which translates to more shots and save opportunities.
Hopkins has struggled at times with clears and is ranked among the lower third of DI teams at 84.0 percent. Maryland is among the best in the nation in clearing the ball at 89.2 percent. That five percent difference might not seem like much, but one or two extra failed clears and possessions could affect the result of the game.
Special Teams Will Be B1G
Both Maryland and Johns Hopkins rank among the top 10 in the nation in man-up offense at 8th and 4th, respectively.
The difference is in the man-down defense.
Maryland is fourth in the nation, shutting down opponents' man-up chances at a 77 percent clip. Hopkins is 44th in the country, stopping just 63 percent of opponents' EMO chances.
Neither team fouls much (Maryland averages 2.2 penalties per game, while Hopkins is at 2.3 penalties per game), so the ability to convert on an opportunity could be the difference in the outcome of the game.
The interesting thing about Hopkins' man-up proficiency is that the Blue Jays are converting on 51.2 percent of their chances without direct production from leading goal-scorer and top sniper Ryan Brown. Brown has just two extra-man goals this season and both of those came in the season-opening win at Navy.
Final Note
The team ranked higher has lost the last four Maryland-Hopkins regular games. Here's hoping that trend ends on Saturday as Maryland is third in the latest media poll, while Hopkins is eighth.
Rolling Along
The Maryland women's lacrosse team just keeps rolling along while rolling over opponents.
The latest victim was Michigan this past Saturday in Ann Arbor. The top-ranked undefeated Terps throttled the Wolverines 18-8 behind hat tricks from junior Zoe Stukenberg and sophomore Megan Whittle.
Fact was, it wasn't even as close as a 10-point game. The Terps were actually up 18-5 early in the second half and hit the cruise control button.
The win clinched at least a share of the Big Ten regular season championship and Maryland (4-0 B1G) can claim the title outright this Thursday when it heads to Happy Valley to take on Penn State (3-1 B1G).
The winner of that game will be the top seed in next week's Big Ten tournament, which gets underway beginning on Thursday, May 5 at Northwestern.
Team Scoring Update
2000: 16.0 goals per game
2016: 15.6 goals per game
2000: 7.1 goals allowed per game
2016: 6.4 goals allowed per game
2000: 8.9 goals scoring margin
2016: 9.2 goals scoring margin
Cummings Joins The 300 Club
Congratulations to women's lacrosse senior Taylor Cummings on becoming just the fifth Terp in history to hit the 300-point mark for her career.
The two-time Tewarraton Award winner hit the 300-point mark with her first of two goals vs. Michigan last weekend.
She is just 19 points away from passing Kelly Amonte (319 points) for the top scoring midfielder in Maryland history.
Cummings is also close to claiming the top spot on the midfielder goals list. She currently has 212 career goals and needs just eight more to top Kelly Coppedge, who totaled 219 goals from 2001-04.
Quick Hitters:
• Congratulations to Coach Jason Rodenhaver and the Terrapin men's golf team on their third-place finish at the Big Ten Championships last weekend. The finish is the program's best since placing third at the 1978 ACC championships.
Senior David Kocher tied for sixth in a talented and deep field, making it two straight top-10 finishes for him at the Big Ten tourney and a second consecutive first team All-Big Ten nod.
• Maryland baseball picked up a much-needed series win over Purdue this past weekend at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium. After dropping the series opener on Friday, the Terps shutout the Boilermakers, 6-0, behind an 8-inning, 10-strikeout performance from All-American Mike Shawaryn, on Saturday before putting up another seven runs in a 7-1 win on Sunday.
The Terps (21-18, 7-5 B1G) play at Penn State (24-17, 9-6 B1G) for a three-game series this weekend. The Friday and Sunday games will have radio coverage on the Maryland Baseball Network, while the Saturday game will be televised live on the Big Ten Network.
Maryland is coming off of a wild 19-12 win at James Madison on Tuesday night. The 31 combined runs are the most in a Terrapin game since 2013 when the Terps defeated Towson 16-15.
• Good luck to head coach Daria Panova and the Maryland women's tennis team as they head to East Lansing, Mich., this weekend to compete in the Big Ten tournament.
The Terps are the No. 5 seed and will open play on Friday at 10 a.m. against fourth-seeded Illinois.
• The Maryland track and field teams were impressive this past weekend at the Larry Ellis Invitational and Morgan State Legacy Meet.
The Terps will compete this weekend at the Penn Relays, the oldest and largest track and field competition held in the United States. Terp legend Renaldo Nehemiah posted one of (if not THE) greatest performances in Penn Relay history in 1979 when he anchored three amazing victories in the shuttle hurdles, 4x200 and 4x400 relays.
• This weekend is Maryland Day on campus and Terrapin athletic teams will be taking part in the festivities at McKeldin Mall on the Main Stage.
The Maryland football, men's and women's basketball, and volleyball teams as they take part in special autograph sessions throughout Maryland Day. Below is a schedule of when each team will signing autographs. Fans are encouraged to bring items to be signed by their favorite Terps and autograph cards will also be provided. Limit one item per person.
Football: 10:30 am - 12:30 pm
Men's and Women's Basketball: 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm
Volleyball: 2:30 pm - 3:00 pm
Wrapping Up
That's it for this edition of the umterps Notebook. Don't forget to follow Maryland athletics on all of the social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Patrick Fischer is the Director of Digital Media and Website Management for the University of Maryland Department of Intercollegiate AthleticsThe views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Maryland athletics department or its athletics programs.
