If I was a Johns Hopkins lacrosse fan, I would be shaking in my boots right about now. The team had extremely high aspirations this year, as Coach Milliman has been building the squad in his image for the past few years. There are no excuses, as the coaching regime has officially flipped over and this newly established Blue Jays team has found its identity. Culture takes time to build, and that culture is now in place. The pieces are there to make a run, but the Blue Jays keep coming up short. Many fans were hopeful that this year would be similar to last year but with more postseason recognition. However, as of today, I don’t think any reasonable Hopkins fan has much to be excited about.
The Blue Jays started the season with an impressive 13-10 win over Denver to make up for their regular season home opener loss against the Pioneers last year. At the beginning of the year, this win looked good on paper as Denver was coming off a championship weekend appearance. However, as the season has progressed, Denver has looked less and less dominant, and it is now clear that this is a different Denver team than last year.
Hopkins then established a win on the road against Towson in an 11-10 affair. The sad part about this is that Towson currently sits with a 1-5 record—yikes. The Blue Jays followed up this close win with a solid home victory against the Georgetown Hoyas, taking them down 11-6. Certainly a nice win, but this doesn’t carry as much weight as Georgetown wins would in years past.
The next week, Johns Hopkins went down the road to face off against Loyola and managed to squeak out a 9-8 win. The only issue with this is that Loyola has shown they are not even a winning squad this year, featuring an 0-6 record.
All of these wins happened before the midway point of February, meaning we did not have a clear understanding of where these teams would fall. With another month under our belts, it’s clear that these four wins to start the year for Johns Hopkins are not as impressive as one would think or hope.
That carries us over to a home matchup against highly touted North Carolina. The Tar Heels currently look like ACC favorites, so this game carried a lot of weight for the Blue Jays. This was a highly competitive game from start to finish, and statistically, it certainly could have gone either way. Sadly for the Blue Jays, they did not come out on top in this one. At this point, there were no true worries, as it showed they could be hyper-competitive with high-level ACC teams.
Hopkins stayed at home for their next matchup, this time against Virginia, and managed to squeak out a 13-12 win. This is probably the worst Virginia team in terms of execution that we have seen in quite some time, but a win over an ACC opponent is still a win.
Sadly for Hopkins, this one would certainly evaporate following a tough three-goal loss against Syracuse in the Dome. This took Syracuse off the fraud watch list for many people and exchanged Johns Hopkins in their place.
So as it stands right now, what has the Johns Hopkins lacrosse program shown us? They can squeak out close wins against lesser opponents and play in nail-biting games against teams with a pulse? Certainly not the narrative any team would want to have at the midway point of the season. I’m sure coaches and players alike are not thrilled, and it’s interesting to consider how that locker room dynamic is going for the Blue Jays.
A 5-2 record is still solid, don’t get me wrong. But the road does not get easier from here. There’s a realistic chance that Hopkins loses their game tomorrow against Navy, and then conference play is in the air. As it stands right now, I have more confidence in Ohio State, Penn State, and Maryland than I do in Johns Hopkins. Even Michigan has shown flashes that they can compete with anyone.
The moral of the story is that I think Johns Hopkins lacrosse fans should be worried about where the season could potentially be headed. They have all the opportunities to right the wrongs and really get into a good groove. However, at the midway point of the season, if this Hopkins squad doesn’t adjust what they are doing down the stretch, they will not get the results they are looking for—plain and simple.
