News-Letter

Media Credit: Shiv Gandhi [Click to enlarge]

Last year was a disappointing one for the highly revered men's lacrosse team. They made it to the NCAA Tournament but lost in a heartbreaking game to Syracuse (13-12) in the quarterfinals.

This was their 35th consecutive appearance at the Tournament, and they hold the record for the longest streak of qualifying for any Division I championship -- in any sport, ever.

The men also ended the 2006 season with an all-time record of 858-268-15 (.759).

The 2006 season saw a total of 138 goals and 69 added assists. Luckily for the returning 2007 players, they made 125 of those goals (90.5 percent) and 55 of the assists (79.9 percent).

During the regular season they didn't hold up so well against our sworn rivals, Princeton, losing 4-6 at the March 4 home game. They also lost on their home turf against Maryland (4-11) on April 15.

All in all the Blue Jays won seven out of nine home games and two out of five away games, which could lead us to believe there was a small home advantage for the men.

Of the 22 players who played in the season-ending Syracuse game, 18 will be playing again this season.

One such player, Junior Paul Rabil was awarded First Team All-American honors, the first sophomore midfielder to earn the award at Hopkins in six years.

Brian Christopher, a sophomore midfielder, managed to score in an astounding 11 games in a row and is the first in his position and class year to do so in the past 25 years.

Head Coach Dave Pietramala brings a unique accomplishment to his team: He is the only person in the sport's history to win an NCAA Division I Championship as both a player (1987) and a head coach (2005).

If that wasn't enough, he's also the only one to have been named National Player of the Year and National Coach of the Year.

He is now ranked fifth on the all-time victories list and the all-time winning percentage list among Hopkins coaches who worked 25 or more games at Homewood.

Hopefully this year the Blue Jay men can bolster their impressive record. Currently it includes eight NCAA Championships, 29 USILA titles and six ILA titles --- a total of 43 national championships.

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