2018 Men’s Lacrosse Year in Review: #5 Johns Hopkins Blue Jays

With the 2018 college lacrosse season complete and fall ball just around the corner, it’s time to start looking back at how all 71 teams did during the season, as well as what to expect from each squad for 2019. These are not end of season rankings, as some people might think.

We’re almost done looking back to 2018 with plenty of team recaps thus far and continued our series yesterday with Loyola.

So with that, let’s continue the recaps!

#5 Johns Hopkins Blue Jays

Conference: Big Ten
2018 Record: 12-5 (3-2 in Big Ten play)
Postseason: Defeated Ohio State and Maryland to win Big Ten, defeated Georgetown in NCAA First Round, lost to Duke in NCAA Quarterfinal
Head coach: Dave Pietramala (18th Year)

Statistical Leaders

Goals: Kyle Marr (41)
Assists: Shack Stanwick (35)
Points: Kyle Marr (58)
Faceoffs: Hunter Moreland (200-of-351; 57%)
Ground balls: Hunter Moreland (99)
Caused turnovers: Patrick Foley and Daniel Jones (14)
Goals against average: Brock Turnbaugh (9.52 GAA)
Save percentage: Brock Turnbaugh (50.6%)

Personnel Losses

Key seniors departing: M Joel Tinney (21 Gs, 32 As, 36 GBs, 7 CTs), A Shack Stanwick (18 Gs, 35 As, 24 GBs), FOGO Hunter Moreland (57% draws, 99 GBs, 4 Gs, 2 As), M Brinton Valis (15 Gs, 1 A), G Brock Turnbaugh (9.52 GAA, 50.6% SV %, 28 GBs), SSDM Tal Bruno (5 GBs, 3 CTs), M Patrick Fraser (16 Gs, 1 A, 14 GBs), M Thomas Guida (7 Gs, 1 A, 12 GBs), SSDM Christopher Hubler (8 GBs, 5 CTs, 2 Gs, 1 A)
Senior scoring departing: 157 of 323 points (48.6%)
Senior starts lost: 65 of 170 (38.2%)

Season Summary

After back-to-back 8-7 seasons, the Blue Jays got their swagger back in 2018 en route to a Big Ten championship. But their season was stopped short of reaching Championship Weekend for the first time since 2015.

The season did get off to a rough start. After taking care of Towson at a rainy Homewood Field, Johns Hopkins got blown out in the second half by Loyola before falling in the fourth quarter to North Carolina at home. It didn’t look like the team changed, but that would change shortly after. A year after getting 18-7’d by Princeton, the Jays took care of business this time around at home with a 16-9 win. And after falling to Syracuse at home in overtime a year ago, Hopkins did the honor of 18-7’ing the Orange inside the Carrier Dome in a huge statement game.

After a win over UMBC and 6-0 fourth quarter in a victory against Delaware, the Jays started out horribly against Virginia at Klöckner and were down 9-2 at the half. But the Blue Jay offense woke up from a deep slumber with a 13-4 offensive explosion in the second half to take the Doyle Smith Cup in a two-goal win. Joel Tinney had a six-point performance, Kyle Marr finished with four goals, and Cole Williams and freshman Connor DeSimone each recorded hat-tricks. Hopkins began Big Ten play on the road against Rutgers and left Piscataway as victors after Marr scored the game-winner with 14 seconds left before defeating Ohio State.

But Johns Hopkins had a small slip-up in Happy Valley against Penn State. With Shack Stanwick injured early in the game, the Nittany Lions started out strong and held off a Blue Jay rally for a two-goal win. It was the first loss to Penn State in Johns Hopkins history. The Jays also saw themselves in another dog fight, this time with Michigan, and needed another late Marr goal to pull out a victory. Then came the rivalry game against Maryland, and it ended up being one of the more memorable meetings. Hopkins led 7-5 with 9:51 left, but the Terrapins found the net twice in that span to force three periods of overtime. There, Will Snider scored his second straight goal to lift the Terps to the win and the Big Ten regular season title.

The late goals didn’t stop in the Big Ten Tournament. Against Ohio State in a game that turned out to be highlighted by a sideline scrap, it was Alex Concannon that lifted the Blue Jays to a 6-5 win with 11 seconds left. That would result in a second meeting with the Terps. After giving up the first two goals in the second half after a 5-5 tie, Hopkins would score eight of the next nine goals en route to a 13-10 win and their second Big Ten championship. They’d take on Georgetown in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, and it appeared the Jays would repeat history with a first round exit down 8-4 to the Hoyas with a quarter left. But that’s when Kyle Marr took over, scoring all five Blue Jay goals in the quarter to send the game to overtime before Stanwick scored the game-winner with 29 seconds left. But despite a small rally in the fourth quarter, Johns Hopkins fell to Duke in the quarterfinals at Navy the following week.

With the exception of the Michigan game, Marr, Stanwick, and Williams started in every game during the 2018 season. All three starting attackmen nearly had at least 50 points, with Williams scoring 49 on the year. In place of Stanwick for his only missed game was sophomore Forry Smith. Jake Fox saw plenty of time on the man-up unit as well. The starting midfield was consistent for the most part with seniors Joel Tinney and Brinton Valis, as well as freshman Connor DeSimone. There were a ton of contributors behind those three, highlighted by Alex Concannon, Patrick Fraser, Thomas Guida, Brett Baskin, Jack Keogh, and Luke Shilling.

The defense saw the much-needed return of junior Patrick Foley after missing last season as he joined sophomores Jack Rapine and Owen Colwell on the starting unit. Sophomore Marc Pion and freshman Brandon Shure got some time as well. Junior Robert Kuhn and stud freshman Jared Reinson were the main LSMs, while Daniel Jones, Tal Bruno, Christopher Hubler, Matt Hubler, and Sam Lynch served as SSDMs. With Hunter Moreland continuing to dominate at the faceoff X, senior Brock Turnbaugh returned as the starting goalie after splitting time with Gerard Logan last year.

Looking Ahead

Despite losing some notable contributors on offense, two thirds of the starting attack return, as well as Forry Smith. They’re also getting top recruit Joey Epstein from Landon. The starting midfield only sees DeSimone return but guys like Concannon, Keogh, Shilling, and Baskin all come back. Most of these guys are attackmen but will probably have to spend some time up top at a different position.

The entire starting close defense and both LSMs are all back, which is a very good thing. Jones and Matt Hubler are also back at SSDM. The only two questions are at the faceoff X and in goal. The FOGO should be solved with Kyle Prouty, if he can improve from his 32.8% winning percentage on 64 draws, while the goalie vacancy could be harder to solve. Freshman Ryan Darby was the only other goalie on the team and played 5:08 of game time last year as a freshman. Jacob Giacalone wasn’t on the roster last year but will return for the fall, which is a very good sign for a team that needs keepers.

Here’s who the Blue Jays will be adding to their roster for next year.*

*Compiled from a multitude of websites. Schools usually officially announce their recruiting class during the fall semester.