April 20, 2007

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Sneak Peak: Tonight's game is a nationally-televised American Lacrosse Conference showdown. The #13 Johns Hopkins Blue Jays host the #1 Northwestern Wildcats on CSTV at Homewood Field. It is the Blue Jays second straight nationally televised game.

Against the Wilcats: The Blue Jays and the Wildcats have met five times since the 2002 season. Hopkins won the first two meetings and Northwestern has taken the last two. For the second consecutive season, the Blue Jays and the Wildcats will square off in a nationally televised contest. Fifth-year senior Sarah Walsh leads the way with four career goals against Northwestern.

300 and Climbing: Senior attacker Mary Key joined some elite company on March 14 when she became the 15th player in NCAA Division I history to reach 300 career points mark. With 354 points, she ranks sixth all-time and is the NCAA's active career points leader. Among active players, Northwestern's Kristen Kjellman is second behind Key with 304 points. Key is also the active career goals leader with 218, five ahead of Kjellman in second place.

Century Club: Senior attacker Mary Key is also climbing up the NCAA Division I career assists list. She ranks second with 136 and is the active career leader in the NCAA. Carlee Buck of Stony Brook ranks second behind Key with 122 career assists. She is only the seventh player in NCAA Division I history with atleast 200 career goals and 100 career assists.

Hot Hand: Junior Lauren Schwarzmann has had a hot hand of late. The middie has scored nine goals and tallied two assists in the last three games. Schwarzmann has totaled 26 points on the season, with 11 of those coming in the last week. Her 19 goals this season are a single-season high, surpassing the 17 she scored as a freshman in 2005. Her 27 draw controls are also a career-high.

April Reign: April has been a good month for the Blue Jays under head coach Janine Tucker. Hopkins is 76-28 (.731) in games played in April under Tucker. Hopkins is 3-1 in games played in April in 2007.

Top-Freshmen: Hopkins entered the season with one of the most highly touted recruiting classes in the nation. Inside Lacrosse ranked the Jays Class of 2010, fifth. Freshmen attackmen Brett Bathras and Sam Schrum and defender Angela Hughes were all named "Players to Watch". In addition, freshman middie Kim Dubansky was named a "Blue Chip" recruit.

The freshmen class has made an immediate impact for the Blue Jays this season. Schrum ranks tied for second on the team with 19 goals and third with 26 points and seven assists. She is also fourth in draw controls (21) and ground balls (19). In addition, Bathras, Hughes, Dubansky and Danielle Ensley have all tallied points so far this season.

Goalie Lizzie O'Ferrall has played in eight games so far this season, starting in five. She posts a 9.43 goals against average with a .436 save percentage with a 4-2 record. In Saturday's win over #5 Virginia, O'Ferrall tied her career-high with nine saves.

Record-Breaker: Senior Mary Key has left her mark all over the Johns Hopkins Women's Lacrosse Record Book, but she's not done yet. She entered the 2007 season with 14 school records to her name. She has since added four more records to her resume - all-time career goals and assists and Division I career goals and DI single-game points.

Key is on pace to break the schools' Division I single-season records for goals (60), assists (41) and points (101) - all three of which she set last season. On Saturday, she tallied three assists to tie the single-season assist record. She is averaging 3.92 goals, 3.15 assists and 7.07 points per game. That puts her on pace to finish with 62 goals, 50 assists and 113 points at the end of the regular season. That would also break the school's all-time single-season record for assists (45) and points (101).

Records Watch: Fifth-year senior Sarah Walsh and juniors Kadie Stamper and Lauren Schwarzmann are also leaving their marks on the Hopkins record book. Walsh currently ranks eighth all-time with 57 career assists and is eight shy of tying seventh-place Danielle Maschuci (`00). She is tied for seventh in Hopkins Division I history with 86 goals, third in assists and fifth in points (143).

Stamper ranks second all-time in career draw controls with 139. She is now 63 shy of tying Jamie Larrimore's record of 202. In school D-I history, Stamper ranks 10th in goals (65) and points (76), second in draw controls and eighth in caused turnovers (53).

Schwarzmann ranks 11th in goals (46) and points (74), seventh in assists (28) and 10th in draw controls (56). In addition, her 19 goals and 27 draw controls this season are both single-season highs for the middie.

Rare Company: Freshman attacker Sam Schrum joined some rare company this season. She scored a goal in each of her first eight career games, joining Hopkins All-Americans Jamie Larrimore (`02), Heidi Pearce (`04) and Mary Key (`07) as the only players in school Division I history to score a goal in each of their first five career games.

All-Time Record: Hopkins, now in its 32nd season of women's lacrosse, enters tonight's game with an overall record of 314-184-4 (.629). When it defeated American 15-7 on March 26, 2006, Hopkins became just the seventh Division I school to win 300 or more games. Hopkins was the 15th school in any division to reach the 300-win mark. The Blue Jays made the move from Division III to Division I in 1999 and is 97-49 (.664) in eight-plus D-I seasons.

Home Sweet Home: Hopkins plays its home games at historic Homewood Field, celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2007. The Blue Jays have enjoyed much success at Homewood, especially of late. Hopkins is 7-1 at home this season and is 30-7 (.810) dating back to April 25, 2003. Since moving to Division I in 1999, the Jays are 59-22 (.728) at home. In 31-plus seasons at Homewood, Hopkins posts a record of 178-77-2 (.696).

500 and Counting: Sunday's game at Vanderbilt was the 500th in the program's history. Only 16 other programs in NCAA history (Division I and III) have played 500 or more games.

Tewaaraton Trophy Nominee: Hopkins senior attacker Mary Key has been named to the 2007 Tewaaraton Preseason Watch List. A nominee the past two seasons, Key led the nation in scoring in 2005 and 2006. The list will be voted upon by coaches and narrowed as the season progresses, ultimately reaching a final list of 5 women who constitute the award's finalists.

Poll Position: Hopkins opened the season ranked #10 in the IWLCA and Inside Lacrosse Media preseason polls. After going 2-0 last week, including a 12-9 upset of #5 Virginia, the Blue Jays jumped to #13 in the IWLCA poll and #14 in the media poll.

Eight of Hopkins opponents opened the season ranked in the top-20 of the IWLCA preseason poll, including five who were ranked in the top-10. While two other Hopkins opponents, Denver and Oregon, have moved up into the top-20 this season.

Northwestern is the ninth opponent the Blue Jays have faced this season to be ranked in the top-20 in either the IWLCA or Inside Lacrosse polls.

Preseason Pickings I: The Blue Jays were picked second in the 2007 ALC Preseason Poll as voted on by the league's coaches. Hopkins just edged out Penn State. Defending ALC and NCAA Champion Northwestern was picked #1.

Preseason Pickings II: Senior Mary Key and juniors Sarah Gallion, Lauren Schwarzmann and Kadie Stamper were named to the 2007 ALC Preseason Team as decided on by the league's coaches.

Inside Lacrosse also named two Blue Jays to its preseason All-America Team. Key was named first team, while Stamper was named to the second team.

I'm Honored: Senior attacker Mary Key was named both the Nike/Inside Lacrosse and WomensLax.com Player of the Week on March 26. Freshman attacker Sam Schrum earned American Lacrosse Conference Player of the Week honors on March 12. In addition, Key has been named to the womenslacrosse.com Honor Roll three times so far this season.

Streaking: Senior Mary Key enters tonight's game with a 63-game point streak, the longest in Hopkins Division I history. It is just one shy of tying the school's all-time record of 64 held by Danielle Maschuci (1997-2000). Key's streak dates back to her first game in a Blue Jays uniform - February 29, 2004. It is also the longest active streak in NCAA Division I.

Four other Blue Jays bring point streaks into today's game. Fifth-year senior Sarah Walsh has a four-game point streak while junior Lauren Schwarzmann has a three-game point streaks. Senior Alex Nolan and sophomore Gina Maranto each bring two-game point streaks into tonight's game.

150 and Counting: The Blue Jays win over Oregon on March 18, 2006 was the 150th career win for head coach Janine Tucker. Coach Tucker is just the 12th coach all-time to reach the 150-win plateau and just the sixth active coach with 150 wins. Tucker now posts a record of 165-65 (.717). Navy head coach Cindy Timchal is the all-time wins leader with 336.

A Key to Our Success: Senior Mary Key has been instrumental in the Blue Jays success since she stepped foot on the Homewood campus. She has tallied a point in every game of her career and scored in all but two of those games. With 354 career points in 63 games, Key is averaging 5.62 points per game for her career. So far this season, Key has tallied 92 points in 13 games (7.07 ppg).

Hopkins is 43-18 (.705) when Key scores a goal. When she scores three or more goals, the Blue Jays are almost unbeatable at 34-8 (.809).

Player Notes of Interest in PDF version.