Johns Hopkins–Virginia lacrosse rivalry

The Johns Hopkins–Virginia lacrosse rivalry is an intercollegiate lacrosse rivalry between the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays and Virginia Cavaliers. The teams compete for the Doyle Smith Cup, which was first awarded in 2006. Edward Doyle Smith Jr., the only inductee to the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame to have never competed in the sport,[1] was a team manager and statistician at Johns Hopkins for five years before becoming UVA's first assistant sports information director, which he held for 31 seasons.[2] Smith is also credited with the standardization of game statistics for lacrosse at the national level, twice receiving the USILA Man of the Year Award.[3]

Johns Hopkins–Virginia lacrosse rivalry

Johns Hopkins Blue Jays Virginia Cavaliers
First meeting	1904 Johns Hopkins 9, Virginia 0
Latest meeting	March 23, 2019 Virginia 16, Johns Hopkins 11
Trophy	Doyle Smith Cup
Statistics
Meetings total	94
All-time series	Johns Hopkins leads, 61–32–1
Largest victory	Johns Hopkins, 15–0 (1931)
Longest win streak	Johns Hopkins, 10 (1904–1951, 1980–1986)
Current win streak	Virginia, 1 (2019–Present)

The rivalry features two of the most dominant programs in lacrosse history, with the Jays and Cavs winning nine and six national titles apiece since the creation of the NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship.[4] Since 1970, the series has contained 16 NCAA postseason matchups, with Hopkins leading those games 10–6.[5] An annual fixture since 1948, Johns Hopkins leads the series 61–32–1 through 2020.[4]

Series history

Pre-NCAA era (1900s to 1970s)

The teams first squared off in 1904, meeting twice during the season. At this time, lacrosse was not recognized as a varsity sport at Virginia.[6] A 22 year gap would follow before playing again during the second "official" year of lacrosse for the Cavs.[6] These six early games all resulted in large Hopkins victories, as the Jays outscored UVA by a margin of 72–4. The series would resume in 1948 and become an annual game.[7] In 1952, the Cavaliers beat Hopkins for the first time, winning a narrow 13–12 game. Virginia would claim its first national championship that season, heralding the programs arrival at the top of the sport.[8] After the win in Baltimore, the teams met the following season in Charlottesville for the inaugural match at home for the Cavs against the Jays. Virginia would again triumph, but would not notch another win until 1963. Through the 1969 season, the series was firmly under Hopkins' control, as they held a 24–3–1 advantage against their southern rival.[4]

Increasing national significance (1970s to 1990s)

The 1972 season was a crucial one in the history of the rivalry. Hopkins had taken the regular season matchup but the teams would meet again for the first time in the NCAA Division I Championship. This would be one of an NCAA-record 16 games played between the programs in the tournament. This game would take place with high stakes as the second-ever national title championship. Led by head coach Glenn Thiel, the Cavaliers knocked off favored Johns Hopkins by a 13–12 score before 7,000 spectators at Byrd Stadium.[9] Outshooting the Jays 44 to 33 over the course of the contest, Virginia led at halftime 7 to 5. After a strong third quarter by the Blue Jays, the Cavs used a five goal performance in the final 15 minutes to prevail. However, Jack Thomas had a chance to tie with 12 seconds remaining but JHU coach Bob Scott called time out with six seconds to go, costing the Jays' one-on-one opportunity.[9] A key element of the bitterness felt by the defeated Hopkins players was that UVA should not have been selected for the tournament in the first place, as they had already lost thrice in the regular season, including to the Jays.[10] The following year, the teams would again meet for a postseason rematch, this time won by Johns Hopkins in the Final Four,[11][12] by way of four goals from Rick Kowalchuk and three from Franz Wittelsberger. The regular season meeting was also significant as the first between the schools when ranked #1 and #2, incidentally, in the inaugural year of the polls.

Another important period began in 1979, as JHU and UVA played in four consecutive tournaments. The 1979 contest went to Hopkins, as they surged for a seven goal third quarter to down UVA in the Final Four. The next year they met in the national title for the second time. This contest would go the way of JHU this time. In a thrilling affair, Hopkins won from a Jeff Harris finish after two overtimes,[13] the only championship game to extend beyond a single overtime period in NCAA history. The 1981 and 1982 bouts would be similar affairs, as both Final Four games ended with four goal Hopkins victories.[14] Three years later, JHU would again end the Cavaliers' season in the Final Four, overcoming an early 5 to 0 deficit.[15] In 1988, UVA would end a six game postseason losing streak to Hopkins, upsetting them in the quarterfinals behind five Chase Monroe goals.[16] A mid-game confrontation between Monroe and teammate Quint Kessenich, a future ESPN and ABC sports analyst, was also noted.[16]

The Blue Jays generally held the advantage during this stretch of the rivalry's history, only dropping two games between UVA's 1972 title win and a 1987 regular season victory by Virginia. However, the series was a must-see fixture, with both teams ranked in the Top 10 of the polls, and often the Top 5. The first game since the introduction of the weekly polls in 1972 to not feature Top 10 teams was in 2004, in which Virginia entered the game ranked #17. Indeed, each game of the rivalry's modern history has occurred between two ranked teams, as of 2020.

Dom Starsia flips the narrative (1990s to 2010s)

Virginia takes on rival Johns Hopkins

Legendary UVA head coach Dom Starsia arrived in Charlottesville by way of Brown in 1993.[17] His first season ended the way of many recent Cavaliers teams – a loss to Hopkins in the postseason, this time in the quarterfinals.[18] The next year, Starsia would earn his first against the Jays, one of 19 that he would notch against his Baltimore foe. His 19–13 record in the rivalry marks him as the only UVA coach to end his tenure with a winning percentage against JHU.[8] In 1996, Starsia's Cavs, led by tournament Most Outstanding Player Michael Watson, downed Hopkins in the Final Four.[19] The 1999 UVA team would win its first national championship in 27 years[20] after beating the #2 Jays by a score of 16–10 in the Final Four.[21] The Cavaliers would also triumph in each of the next three games, pushing their winning steak to a then-record four. In 2003, the two would square off in their first title game matchup since 1980.[22] Playing at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, #2 Virginia would beat #1 Johns Hopkins in their own backyard by a 9–7 score. Goalie Tillman Johnson, UVA's all-time saves leader at 204, was named tournament MOP after saving 13 Hopkins shots.[23]

In addition to the annual regular season game, the programs would meet in two additional postseason games before the end of the decade. In the 2005 NCAA tournament, JHU would beat their rivals 9–8 in overtime to advance to the national title game,[24] which they would win over Duke to claim their first championship in 18 years. Four years later, the Cavaliers routed Hopkins 19 to 8 behind five Shamel Bratton goals for the worst postseason defeat in Blue Jays history.[25] Virginia advanced to their fourth Final Four in five years and secured the 300th career victory for Starsia. The first game played for the Doyle Smith Cup occurred in 2006,[3] won by a 12–6 score by #1 Virginia. Since the introduction of the trophy,[3] UVA leads the series 10 to 7. Beginning in this period, the increasing importance of recruiting rankings in collegiate lacrosse added a new dimension to the rivalry, due to the national brand presence for the historic powers.[26]

Recent years (2010 to present)

In 2011, Johns Hopkins snapped a six game skid to Virginia with a 12–11 victory. One new element of the rivalry began in 2014, when attackman Wells Stanwick, younger brother of former Cavaliers star Steele Stanwick, signed with the Blue Jays.[27] In both the 2014 and 2015 tournaments, unseeded Hopkins defeated the Cavaliers in Charlottesville in the first round.[28] The 2014 postseason contest enabled JHU head coach Dave Pietramala to tie former coach Bob Scott for the most career victories at the university.[29] In 2018, Hopkins overcame a seven goal halftime deficit to stun UVA at Klockner Stadium.[30] The most recent meeting in 2019 was the 94th of the rivalry's history. A five goal victory[31] for the Cavaliers stretched their recent advantage to 19 of the last 31 meetings.[32] The Blue Jays ended the 2010s with a 7–5 advantage, including five overtime games in eight meetings[30] with four straight in regular season games.[33] In 2020, the series was scheduled for interruption for the first time since it became an annual fixture in 1948.[7] After Johns Hopkins joined the Big Ten Conference for men's lacrosse in 2015,[34][35] it has had increasing difficulty to maintain all of its historical rivalries in conjunction with a slate of conference games; Hopkins also had to temporarily cancel its series with Navy for the 2018 and 2019 seasons for similar reasons.[36]

Rival accomplishments

The following summarizes the accomplishments of the two programs.[4][8][37]

Team	Johns Hopkins Blue Jays	Virginia Cavaliers
Pre-NCAA National Titles	35	2
NCAA National Titles	9	6
NCAA Final Four Appearances	29	23
NCAA Tournament Appearances	47	39
NCAA Tournament Record	71–38	51–33
Conference Tournament Titles	2	7
Conference Championships	1	25
Tewaarton Award Recipients	1	3
Lt. Raymond Enners Award Recipients	11	4
Consensus First Team All-Americans	184	70
All-time Program Record	993–346–15	661–372–6
All-time Winning Percentage	.739	.639

Game results

Johns Hopkins victories

Virginia victories

Tie games

No. Date Location Winner Score 1 1904 Baltimore, MD Johns Hopkins 9–0 2 1904 Baltimore, MD Johns Hopkins 12–1 3 1926 Baltimore, MD Johns Hopkins 11–1 4 1927 Baltimore, MD Johns Hopkins 13–1 5 1928 Baltimore, MD Johns Hopkins 12–1 6 1931 Baltimore, MD Johns Hopkins 15–0 7 1948 Baltimore, MD Johns Hopkins 15–5 8 1949 Baltimore, MD Johns Hopkins 17–9 9 1950 Baltimore, MD Johns Hopkins 15–6 10 1951 Baltimore, MD Johns Hopkins 14–8 11 1952 Baltimore, MD Virginia 13–12 12 1953 Charlottesville, VA Virginia 15–8 13 1954 Baltimore, MD Tie 8–8 14 1955 Charlottesville, VA Johns Hopkins 23–9 15 1956 Baltimore, MD Johns Hopkins 12–4 16 1957 Charlottesville, VA Johns Hopkins 16–6 17 1958 Baltimore, MD Johns Hopkins 16–6 18 1959 Charlottesville, VA Johns Hopkins 12–4 19 1960 Baltimore, MD Johns Hopkins 17–6 20 1961 Charlottesville, VA Johns Hopkins 13–4 21 1962 Charlottesville, VA Johns Hopkins 12–8 22 1963 Baltimore, MD Virginia 10–7 23 1964 Charlottesville, VA Johns Hopkins 15–5 24 1965 Baltimore, MD Johns Hopkins 17–6 25 1966 Charlottesville, VA Johns Hopkins 10–1 26 1967 Baltimore, MD Johns Hopkins 10–3 27 1968 Charlottesville, VA Johns Hopkins 17–9 28 1969 Baltimore, MD Johns Hopkins 15–4 29 1970 Charlottesville, VA Virginia 15–8 30 1971 Baltimore, MD Virginia 9–8^OT 31 1972 Charlottesville, VA Johns Hopkins 13–8 32 1972 College Park, MD Virginia 13–12 No. Date Location Winner Score 33 1973 Baltimore, MD #1 Johns Hopkins 14–9 34 1973 Baltimore, MD #2 Johns Hopkins 12–9 35 1974 Charlottesville, VA #3 Virginia 15–10 36 1975 Baltimore, MD #1 Johns Hopkins 10–9^2OT 37 1976 Charlottesville, VA #5 Johns Hopkins 14–9 38 1977 Baltimore, MD #3 Johns Hopkins 15–9 39 1978 Charlottesville, VA #2 Johns Hopkins 17–7 40 1979 Baltimore, MD #1 Johns Hopkins 13–8 41 1979 Baltimore, MD #1 Johns Hopkins 16–7 42 1980 Charlottesville, VA #8 Virginia 12–9 43 1980 Ithaca, NY #2 Johns Hopkins 9–8^2OT 44 1981 Baltimore, MD #1 Johns Hopkins 15–13 45 1981 Baltimore, MD #1 Johns Hopkins 10–6 46 1982 Charlottesville, VA #2 Johns Hopkins 12–11^OT 47 1982 Baltimore, MD #3 Johns Hopkins 13–9 48 1983 Baltimore, MD #1 Johns Hopkins 12–6 49 1984 Charlottesville, VA #2 Johns Hopkins 16–9 50 1985 Baltimore, MD #1 Johns Hopkins 12–5 51 1985 Baltimore, MD #1 Johns Hopkins 11–8 52 1986 Charlottesville, VA #2 Johns Hopkins 8–7 53 1987 Baltimore, MD #4 Virginia 9–7 54 1988 Charlottesville, VA #6 Johns Hopkins 11–10 55 1988 Baltimore, MD #9 Virginia 11–10^OT 56 1989 Baltimore, MD #1 Johns Hopkins 12–3 57 1990 Charlottesville, VA #6 Virginia 12–7 58 1991 Baltimore, MD #5 Johns Hopkins 16–6 59 1992 Charlottesville, VA #1 Virginia 15–9 60 1993 Baltimore, MD #6 Johns Hopkins 11–9 61 1993 Baltimore, MD #4 Johns Hopkins 14–10 62 1994 Charlottesville, VA #5 Virginia 11–8 63 1995 Baltimore, MD #2 Johns Hopkins 22–13 64 1996 Charlottesville, VA #1 Virginia 14–9 No. Date Location Winner Score 65 1996 College Park, MD #2 Virginia 16–10 66 1997 Baltimore, MD #3 Virginia 16–12 67 1998 Charlottesville, VA #6 Johns Hopkins 13–10 68 1999 Baltimore, MD #3 Johns Hopkins 16–15 69 1999 College Park, MD #3 Virginia 16–10 70 2000 Charlottesville, VA #2 Virginia 16–8 71 2001 Baltimore, MD #9 Virginia 9–8^4OT 72 2002 Charlottesville, VA #4 Virginia 12–6 73 2003 Baltimore, MD #4 Johns Hopkins 8–7 74 2003 Baltimore, MD #2 Virginia 9–7 75 2004 Charlottesville, VA #17 Virginia 9–8^OT 76 2005 Baltimore, MD #1 Johns Hopkins 9–7 77 2005 Philadelphia, PA #1 Johns Hopkins 9–8^OT 78 2006 Charlottesville, VA #1 Virginia 12–6 79 2007 Baltimore, MD #5 Virginia 7–5 80 2008 Charlottesville, VA #2 Virginia 13–12^OT 81 2009 Baltimore, MD #1 Virginia 16–15 82 2009 Annapolis, MD #5 Virginia 19–8 83 2010 Charlottesville, VA #1 Virginia 15–6 84 2011 Baltimore, MD #11 Johns Hopkins 12–11 85 2012 Charlottesville, VA #2 Johns Hopkins 11–10^OT 86 2013 Baltimore, MD #10 Johns Hopkins 15–8 87 2014 Charlottesville, VA #10 Virginia 11–10^OT 88 2014 Charlottesville, VA #8 Johns Hopkins 14–8 89 2015 Baltimore, MD #7 Virginia 16–15^OT 90 2015 Charlottesville, VA #10 Johns Hopkins 19–7 91 2016 Charlottesville, VA Virginia 13–12^OT 92 2017 Baltimore, MD #18 Johns Hopkins 18–17^OT 93 2018 Charlottesville, VA #9 Johns Hopkins 15–13 94 2019 Baltimore, MD #9 Virginia 16–11 Series: Johns Hopkins leads 61–32–1 Source:[38]

References

1. "Game Photos: Johns Hopkins Lacrosse Hoists Doyle Smith Cup After Beating Virginia, 11-10". Lacrosse Playground. March 27, 2012. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
2. COUNTS, RON. "Longtime rivals Virginia, Johns Hopkins square off in Doyle Smith Cup". The Daily Progress. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
3. "Hopkins, Virginia to Play for The Doyle Smith Cup". Johns Hopkins University Athletics. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
4. "Men's Lacrosse Record Book (PDF)" (PDF). Johns Hopkins University Athletics. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
5. "https://virginiasports.com/documents/2019/5/29/NCAATournamentHistory.pdf?id=6413" (PDF). University of Virginia Athletics. Retrieved May 3, 2020. External link in |title= (help)
6. "Men's Lacrosse Travels North to Face Johns Hopkins at Homewood". University of Virginia Athletics. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
7. Demling, Tanner (December 3, 2019). "Johns Hopkins, Virginia Won't Battle For the Doyle Smith Cup in 2020". Lacrosse Bucket. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
8. "All Time Results 2020 (PDF)" (PDF). University of Virginia Athletics. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
9. White Jr, Gordon S. (June 4, 1972). "Virginia Upsets Johns Hopkins, 13‐12, for N. C.A.A. Lacrosse Championship". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
10. Davis, Roger (November 26, 2010). "Lacrosse In The 1970s: Virginia Men's Lacrosse Defeats Heavily-Favored Johns Hopkins 13-12 To Win 1972 NCAA Lacrosse National Championship (Sports Illustrated June 12, 1972)". LAXBUZZ. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
11. "Men's Lacrosse: Seems Like Old Times". University of Virginia Athletics. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
12. "1973 Men's Lacrosse Schedule". University of Virginia Athletics. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
13. Marshall, Joe. "It was not a bad year". Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
14. "1982 Men's Lacrosse Schedule". University of Virginia Athletics. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
15. "Lacrosse In The 1980s: Johns Hopkins Men's Lacrosse Defeated Syracuse 11-4 To Win 1985 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship (Sports Illustrated June 03, 1985)". LAXBUZZ. December 24, 2010. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
16. Wallace, William N. (May 23, 1988). "Lacrosse; Virginia Surprises Hopkins by 11-10". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
17. "Cavalier Coaching Line:Opp 2020 (PDF)" (PDF). University of Virginia Athletics. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
18. "1993 Men's Lacrosse Schedule". University of Virginia Athletics. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
19. "1996 Men's Lacrosse Schedule". University of Virginia Athletics. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
20. "Virginia Wins NCAA Men's Lacrosse Title". University of Virginia Athletics. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
21. Wallace, William N. (May 24, 1999). "PLUS: LACROSSE -- N.C.A.A. TOURNAMENT; Syracuse and Virginia in Semis". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
22. Litsky, Frank (May 25, 2003). "LACROSSE; Johns Hopkins and Virginia in Final". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
23. "Hopkins Rally Falls Short, Virginia Captures NCAA Lacrosse Title, 9-7". Johns Hopkins University Athletics. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
24. "Erwin's OT Game-Winner Lifts Hopkins Past Virginia, 9-8". Johns Hopkins University Athletics. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
25. "Final: Virginia 19, Hopkins 8". washingtontimes.com. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
26. "Face-Off Classic Showdown: UVa.-Hopkins & the 2009 Recruiting Issue". insidelacrosse.com. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
27. Preston, Mike. "Hopkins-Virginia lacrosse rivalry still a Stanwick story". baltimoresun.com. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
28. Preston, Mike. "Hot streak continues for Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse in 19-7 NCAA tournament win over Virginia". baltimoresun.com. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
29. "Hopkins rolls past Virginia, into NCAA Tournament quarters". We Never Stop Talking Baltimore Sports. May 12, 2014. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
30. Zamoff | 03/23/2018, Zach. "No. 10 men's lacrosse take on No. 9 Johns Hopkins in annual rivalry clash". The Cavalier Daily. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
31. March 25, Hub staff report / Published; 2019 (March 25, 2019). "Men's lacrosse: Virginia's second-half surge sinks Johns Hopkins". The Hub. Retrieved May 3, 2020.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
32. Mulay | 03/22/2019, Vignesh. "No. 9 men's lacrosse meets No. 15 Johns Hopkins Saturday for a rivalry clash". The Cavalier Daily. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
33. "Weekend Watch: Johns Hopkins, Virginia Battle for 13th Doyle Smith Cup". uslaxmagazine.com. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
34. "Welcome the the[sic] Big Ten, Johns Hopkins!". 247Sports. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
35. Hersh, Philip. "Johns Hopkins makes Big Ten, lacrosse history". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
36. Wagner, Bill. "Loss of Hopkins-Navy lacrosse series just another sign of the times". capitalgazette.com. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
37. "https://virginiasports.com/documents/2019/5/29/AllAmericanSelections.pdf?id=6411" (PDF). University of Virginia Athletics. Retrieved May 3, 2020. External link in |title= (help)
38. "Johns Hopkins University Men's Lacrosse Record Book" (PDF). Retrieved March 10, 2019.