Women's Lacrosse head coach Janine Tucker is beginning her ninth season with Johns Hopkins. She took over the program in 1993 and has steered the team's smooth transition from Div. III to Div. I. She sports an impressive 101-32 (0.759) record overall, already giving her the second most wins in school history.
Last year she took the team to an 11-6 record and a No. 17 ranking in the final Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association poll. The season featured two victories over ranked opponents, including their last match against No. 15 George Mason, which they won 13-9. Tucker is "very pleased" with last season's results. Hopkins won the ECAC championship last season, their first title since moving into Div. I. They defeated Penn 18-12 to capture the trophy.
"Winning the ECAC was terrific," said Tucker."I feel like it was a good stepping stone from the last year." That year, the 2000 season, Hopkins reached the ECAC finals in their first Div. I postseason appearance. In 2000, JHU was 12-6 and finished ranked No. 16, their highest ranking for the program in its three years in Div. I. In their inaugural Div. I Season, the Blue Jays posted a 10-4 mark. In all of Tucker's eight seasons at Hopkins, the team has won 10 or more games.
When the team still competed in Div. III, the team reached the semifinals or finals for three times in five seasons. In her first year coaching the team, Hopkins recorded its best season ever with a 16-1 mark in the regular season and advancing to the NCAA Div. III semifinals. In Hopkins' five years in the Centennial Conference, the team posted an astonishing 49-1 record, won four conference titles, and finished undefeated in conference play in each of its four championship seasons.
But the switch to Div. I has certainly been the most significant event for Hopkins women's lacrosse. "It was a tremendous experience being elevated from Div. III to Div. I," said Tucker.
Being elevated into a new division carried with it an elevation in intensity, pressure for recruiting and of course, winning. "But it is just amazing to be playing at the highest level of lacrosse," said Tucker.
Tucker has some definite goals laid out for the program's future. "We want to be a top 10 team, and play in the NCAA tournament regularly," explained Tucker.
The team is also a member of a new conference this season, the American Lacrosse Conference (ALC). The objective there is clear, as Tucker says the goal is to win the conference title.
Having some outstanding players on the field has helped Tucker achieve her success with the program. She has coached 13 All-Americans and 33 All-Centennial players at Hopkins, including Div. I All-American selections Danielle Maschuci (2000) and Jamie Larrimore (2001). Also, four Blue Jays were named Centennial Conference Players of the Year: Rebecca Savage in 1994, Francine Brennan in 1996, Mary Ann McGuir in 1997 and Anita Patibandia in 1998. And this year's players should continue this trend. "I am super excited about the players we have out there," said Tucker.
Recruiting is a major part of any serious Div. I sport, as Tucker has found out in the past few years. Since changing to Div. I, the program has fielded several strong recruiting classes. Recruiting for these past few season is a new aspect of the job for Tucker.
"We do a lot of recruiting at the end of the summer to the fall," explained Tucker. "It was not nearly as intense or competitive when we were still Div. III. But the lacrosse tradition here has given us a good leg up."
Tucker herself graduated from Loyola College in 1989, having had a successful career as an All-American lacrosse player. She started off coaching as an assistant for Loyola. She coached at that prominent Div. I power for four successful seasons, until the head coaching position opened up across town here at Hopkins.
Tucker was inducted into the Loyola College Athletic Hall of Fame in March of 1998. She is involved with the promotion of women's lacrosse through constant speaking engagements and coaching clinics. She is the director of the Johns Hopkins All-Star Girls Lacrosse Camp each summer and the co-director of the Elite 300 camp. The camp's purpose is to bring together and instruct the nation's top high school girls lacrosse players.
Tucker is married to John Tucker, a former Hopkins and United States World Team lacrosse standout who is currently the boys' lacrosse coach and athletic director at nearby Loyola Blakefield. The former head coach at perennial prep power Gilman, Tucker also coached the Pittsburgh Crossfire of the National Lacrosse League. The Tuckers have two sons, Ryan and Devin.
