With the start of 2002 season just days away, the Hopkins men's lacrosse team is poised and set to storm the confines of Homewood Field and renew one of the game's best rivalries. Defending National Champion Princeton comes to town on March 2 to kick off the season, and the Blue Jays are ready for them.
JHU's No. 3 ranking to start the season is both an honor and a disadvantage.
Especially when coupled with the tradition of high-caliber lacrosse at Hopkins, "a lot of teams circle you out on their calendar as their big game," said junior Bobby Benson, one of the five captains on the 2002 squad. Benson will start on attack and will be backed by fellow captains Adam Doneger and Matt Hanna at midfield, P.J. DiConza at long stick midfield and Nick Murtha in the goal.
Last year's team earned a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament but was beaten by fifth-seeded Notre Dame in the quarterfinals. They finished the year with a record of 8-4.
This year's goal is very clear: "To win a national championship is obviously our first priority," said junior Doneger a sentiment echoed by both Benson and DiConza, a senior.
"Our goal every year is to compete for a national championship and win a national championship," said Benson.
The Blue Jays intend to be well-prepared for their title run by facing a long line of top-quality opponents. "We play the toughest schedule in the country," said Benson.
The season opens with the customary game against Princeton, which will be played at home this year.
"There's no better way to begin the season than to play the defending National Champions at Homewood Field," said Doneger.
Princeton is ranked No.1 to start off the season coming off of their National Championship win, and the whole team is looking forward to facing the nation's best. "Everyone knew that we were going to be the first team to have a chance to play them," said freshman Chris Watson.
The two teams squared off last year in a season-opening contest at Princeton, which the Jays lost by a score of 8-4. The 2002 Blue Jays schedule features nine teams ranked in the pre-season Top 25. In addition to top-ranked Princeton, they will face the likes of No. 2 Syracuse, No. 4 Towson, No. 5 Maryland, No. 8 Loyola, No. 10 Hofstra, No. 13 North Carolina, No. 14 Navy and No. 22 Ohio State.
"There's no point in easing into it; we like to jump right in," said DiConza. This will require Hopkins to have their guard up at all times.
"In order to be the best, you have to beat the best, so you might as well play all the top programs," said Doneger.
No one seems to be questioning the value of such strenuous tests week after week.
"I love playing the tough schedule," said Benson. The players don't want to face very many lesser opponents, since "you only get about 50 games in a college career," noted Benson.
"If we weren't playing such a hard schedule you wouldn't feel content? It makes you contend to your highest abilities," said freshman Kyle Barrie. With so many talented opponents, it is difficult for the players to pick games that stand out on the schedule.
"Close schools like Loyola and Towson, they're pretty exciting. It seems like we have a big turnout for those games," said DiConza. JHU will face Towson at home and Loyola on the road in the last two games of the regular season, on April 27 and May 4, respectively.
Two of the bigger road games for the Blue Jays will be trips to Virginia on March 23 and Ohio State on April 6. DiConza noted that the team will be flying to Ohio State, which will be their first time traveling out there.
Hopkins graduated a large number of seniors from last season, which will leave some holes.
"We graduated 16 seniors, and we brought in 16 freshmen. The majority of our freshmen are going to be starting or playing a substantial amount of time," said DiConza.
One of the most positive aspects of this year's team is "the excitement and the enthusiasm that a lot of the new players bring to our squad," said Benson.
A few of the outstanding members of the freshmen class include Watson, a defenseman; Barrie and Peter Lesueur, both attackmen, and Kyle Harrison, midfield.
The freshmen as a whole are being counted on to contribute immediately.
"They're not really playing like freshmen so we're trying not to treat them like freshmen," said DiConza.
Benson highlighted Barrie and Lesueur, who he will play alongside at attack, as "both tremendous talents. They both do a great job scoring?and feeding me the ball, that helps me out a lot."
Doneger noted that Harrison "has done a great job playing both ends of the field." He also mentioned the play of Barrie and Lesueur, who have "stepped in and played a major role in our offense."
DiConza praised the play of these three freshmen as well.
"All three are going to make a huge impact the first game, the whole season and for the next four years to come." On the other end of the field, Watson "has done a great job on defense for us so far," said Doneger.
All of the freshmen are quickly adjusting to life as a Blue Jay. "The biggest challenge is just to do it everyday and be consistent every day," said Watson.
Among the upperclassmen, the Blue Jays return last year's leader in goals, assists and points in Benson. With 28 goals, 12 assists and 42 total points, he led the team in all three categories in 2001. Benson was named to the Face-Off Yearbook Preseason All-America Third Team, which he called "a great honor." He credits his teammates as a big part of his offensive success. "I'm just the lucky guy that gets to score the goals."
Benson has scored at least one goal in 23 of his 25 games as a Blue Jay, and he has had 17 multi-goal games in his career. He was the only member of last year's squad to score in all 12 games last year and also led the Jays in goals as a freshman. Benson is also a member of the 2002 United States World Team.
Also named to the All-America Third Team was Doneger, who is switching from attack to midfield this year. Doneger finished second on the team in scoring last year with 18 goals and 12 assists. He started 10 games last year and has an active 22-game scoring streak.
DiConza received an Honorable Mention nod despite missing the final five games of the 2001 season with an injury. He had racked up 19 ground balls and one goal in the seven games before he was injured. DiConza will be counted on to take charge on the defense, which lost all three of last year's starters to graduation.
The team's other two captains are seniors Murtha and Hanna. Hanna, a midfielder, played in all 12 games last year and started eight. He recorded eight goals and one assist in the 2001 season, and was one of two recipients of the JHU Coaches Most Improved Player Award. This is just his second year playing for the Blue Jay squad; he transferred here from Loyola after his sophomore year. He will be expected to lead a group of midfielders that includes 10 freshmen and sophomores.
Murtha, a goalie, won the starting job this year after playing in just one game last season. In his 11 career games, he has posted an 11.7 goals-against average and a .537 save percentage.
"The other four captains are the heart and soul of this team," said Benson.
Sophomore Kevin Boland called his captains "great leaders. They lead in all aspects of life: off the lacrosse field [and] on the lacrosse field."
The volition of all five captains is contagious. "We drive off their emotions and we perform better," said Barrie.
The captains are there first and foremost to set a good example. "Naturally everyone just looks to those guys. [They're] willing to shoulder the burden and show us what we have to do," said Watson.
In particular, Barrie noted that his fellow attackman Benson has been especially helpful. "Bobby Benson has helped me a lot with my game strategy [and] understanding the offenses," Barrie.
Right now the team is looking to fill a hole left by the graduated Eric Wedin, "one of the best face-off men in the country," said Doneger. There is not one clear-cut replacement, however. "Now we're trying to find someone to fill that role [and] who can win face-offs for us. We have about four guys that could all possibly be the face-off guy, the job could be anybody's," said Doneger.
As the start of the season gets closer and closer, the team is anxious to get out on the field. "I can't wait to play," said Benson.
Now is the time where they get to see all of their hard work pay off. "We put a lot of time in, we're just excited about the season. We're anxious to see what we're made of and prove to ourselves we're good enough to win a championship," said Boland.
Second-year coach Dave Pietramala, a 1990 JHU graduate, and his staff have brought a lot to the team. "One strength would definitely be our coaches," said Barrie. "They keep us on our toes and prepare us to face what's coming up at the end of the week."
Even with a No. 3 pre-season ranking, some members of the team feel that there is still a lot to prove. "We're kind of underdogs. People aren't really showing us the respect that we deserve," said DiConza.
Johns Hopkins lacrosse has long been one of the top programs in the country, but "other teams aren't really respecting our tradition and our history as much as they should," said DiConza. Watson for one is well aware of what it means to be part of the Blue Jay tradition. "One of the reasons I wanted to come here was that I wanted to be able to play the best teams in the country every week. It's just more fun when everything's on the line every Saturday.
