On this week’s episode of Going Offsides, we talked about Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse’s insane schedule for 2022, some of the latest coaching hires in the sport, and a look at Week 7 of PLL play.
JOhns Hopkins Schedule
Hopkins dropped a nugget in July by showing us the incredible schedule it will have this upcoming school year.
Fall 2021
“Johns Hopkins will host a six-team scrimmage day on Sunday, October 24 at Homewood Field. Along with the Blue Jays, teams scheduled to compete at Homewood that day include Harvard, High Point, Hobart, Richmond and Yale. The full schedule for the day will be available in September and the event will support the HEADstrong Foundation.”
Johns Hopkins Director of Athletic Communications Ernie Larossa
Spring 2022
In what I anticipate to be the toughest schedule in all of college lacrosse this spring, Hopkins has released the out-of-conference opponents on its schedule: Delaware, Georgetown, Jacksonville, Loyola, Navy, North Carolina, Princeton, Syracuse, Towson, and Virginia.
This is a sink or swim schedule for Hopkins that likely includes only one team outside of the top 20, and we don’t know who that will be yet. Combined with a tough Big Ten schedule, this year will really season the young Blue Jays and prepare them for postseason play.
Coaching Hires
Gettysburg: Hired long-time Penn State assistant Peter Toner, who seems like a perfect candidate for the storied DIII program.
Penn State: To replace Peter Toner, who left for Gettysburg, the Nittany Lions tabbed former Colgate head coach and current Hill School and Whipsnakes LC coach Mike Murphy. This is a huge get for Jeff Tambroni, who was able to quickly fill the open slot with one of the game’s best minds.
Denison: The Midwest DIII power made a long-term play and selected who we assume will be the coach for many years in Eric Koch. Coach Koch comes from Washington & Lee and is a proven tactician and recruiter.
PLL Matchups
We went from the Hopkins schedule to another calendar of games by taking a look at the incoming Week 7 action in the PLL. Our crew made its picks for the week, and one thing is clear: no one is very good, but some people are worse than others.