Johns Hopkins 2025

[PotomacRiver]

That GB/clear from Kilrain at 3:55 is just a fantastic play. He really reminds me of a bigger, more athletic Matt Bocklet.

[jhu06]

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... 2024/64185
IL's Fall takeaways
-They love the Georgetown d-a strong early test for PM's new offense
-Wayer at Virginia-faceoff unit/transition d better have its act together with him
-Tilliman "Tinkering" with a veteran terp attack
-They speculate on what a PM run offense might look like compared to a crawley led offense "(PM) returning to his princeton/cornell roots"
-PSU trying to replace malone
-Speculation on mid majors making cindarella runs next spring because of the high number of departures at bigger name schools.

[HopFan16]

Don't want to overanalyze fall ball but Kilrain looks like he might be our best all-round player. Defense had some communication issues but that's not unexpected this time of year, we'll be solid on that side of the ball as long as we get decent goalie play.

-Between Ayers, English and Bauer we should have a good matchup on a shortstick to initiate the offense. Play starting at 0:40, English has a nice matchup and does his right-to-right split. Collison was fairly open as the LSM hedged towards English. If they run that play as a pick-and-pop with Collison it creates some interesting decisions for the defense. At 2:57, English again runs by a SSDM and this time finds the throwback pass for a goal. One thing to watch as the real season comes is whether teams start hedge sliding to English because he seems to be looking to pass first.

When's the last time we had two All-Americans at close defense in the same season? Probably not since Durkin and Lightner in 2013? We've got a chance this year with Smith and Kilrain.

Opposing teams are not going to have much of a choice other than to pick on the 3rd close defenseman. Whoever wins that spot will be an important player. Szuluk had a very good, underappreciated year last year so it's big shoes to fill. Right now it looks like Weishaar is in the lead but they seem open to the idea of moving Deans there thanks to the emergence of Eye at LSM.

English is a significant piece of the offense that was sorely missed last year. It doesn't always show up in the stat sheet but whenever he initiates, it seems to generate a good scoring opportunity for someone a few seconds later.

[PotomacRiver]

When's the last time we had two All-Americans at close defense in the same season? Probably not since Durkin and Lightner in 2013? We've got a chance this year with Smith and Kilrain.

Opposing teams are not going to have much of a choice other than to pick on the 3rd close defenseman. Whoever wins that spot will be an important player. Szuluk had a very good, underappreciated year last year so it's big shoes to fill. Right now it looks like Weishaar is in the lead but they seem open to the idea of moving Deans there thanks to the emergence of Eye at LSM.

English is a significant piece of the offense that was sorely missed last year. It doesn't always show up in the stat sheet but whenever he initiates, it seems to generate a good scoring opportunity for someone a few seconds later.

2013 is probably correct. Also a fun tandem because they are fairly interchangeable but with slightly different strengths and weaknesses. Those two give us a high floor.

[primitiveskills]

Don't want to overanalyze fall ball but Kilrain looks like he might be our best all-round player. Defense had some communication issues but that's not unexpected this time of year, we'll be solid on that side of the ball as long as we get decent goalie play.

-Between Ayers, English and Bauer we should have a good matchup on a shortstick to initiate the offense. Play starting at 0:40, English has a nice matchup and does his right-to-right split. Collison was fairly open as the LSM hedged towards English. If they run that play as a pick-and-pop with Collison it creates some interesting decisions for the defense. At 2:57, English again runs by a SSDM and this time finds the throwback pass for a goal. One thing to watch as the real season comes is whether teams start hedge sliding to English because he seems to be looking to pass first.

When's the last time we had two All-Americans at close defense in the same season? Probably not since Durkin and Lightner in 2013? We've got a chance this year with Smith and Kilrain.

Opposing teams are not going to have much of a choice other than to pick on the 3rd close defenseman. Whoever wins that spot will be an important player. Szuluk had a very good, underappreciated year last year so it's big shoes to fill. Right now it looks like Weishaar is in the lead but they seem open to the idea of moving Deans there thanks to the emergence of Eye at LSM.

English is a significant piece of the offense that was sorely missed last year. It doesn't always show up in the stat sheet but whenever he initiates, it seems to generate a good scoring opportunity for someone a few seconds later.

I think we're in a pretty fortunate position overall in terms of returning poles and agree that we haven't had as talented and athletic a tandem as Smith and Kilrain in a long time. Curious to see what the overall D looks like this year vs last in terms of how they play. Last year was really aggressive and they clearly sought out opportunities to double dodgers, but a lot of that was because they used B Martin as a double-team weapon in defending picks and two-man games. There aren't a lot of SSDMs you can use that way, though. I think SSDM should be fine with the addition of the Yale guys but not sure you can play exactly the same way.

[jhu06]

Don't want to overanalyze fall ball but Kilrain looks like he might be our best all-round player. Defense had some communication issues but that's not unexpected this time of year, we'll be solid on that side of the ball as long as we get decent goalie play.

-Between Ayers, English and Bauer we should have a good matchup on a shortstick to initiate the offense. Play starting at 0:40, English has a nice matchup and does his right-to-right split. Collison was fairly open as the LSM hedged towards English. If they run that play as a pick-and-pop with Collison it creates some interesting decisions for the defense. At 2:57, English again runs by a SSDM and this time finds the throwback pass for a goal. One thing to watch as the real season comes is whether teams start hedge sliding to English because he seems to be looking to pass first.

When's the last time we had two All-Americans at close defense in the same season? Probably not since Durkin and Lightner in 2013? We've got a chance this year with Smith and Kilrain.

Opposing teams are not going to have much of a choice other than to pick on the 3rd close defenseman. Whoever wins that spot will be an important player. Szuluk had a very good, underappreciated year last year so it's big shoes to fill. Right now it looks like Weishaar is in the lead but they seem open to the idea of moving Deans there thanks to the emergence of Eye at LSM.

English is a significant piece of the offense that was sorely missed last year. It doesn't always show up in the stat sheet but whenever he initiates, it seems to generate a good scoring opportunity for someone a few seconds later.

English gets the defense moving in a hurry and creates opportunities for others.

I have no idea what they have at ssdm but last year they were putting smith and some of the alpha poles on the wings (I don't remember petro ever putting foley or durkin or watson or garvey on the wings on faceoffs) on faceoffs to help win more gbs, I would imagine some of their deployment this year would be based on how they view the ssdms, particularly the depth there.

[OCanada]

Don't want to overanalyze fall ball but Kilrain looks like he might be our best all-round player. Defense had some communication issues but that's not unexpected this time of year, we'll be solid on that side of the ball as long as we get decent goalie play.

-Between Ayers, English and Bauer we should have a good matchup on a shortstick to initiate the offense. Play starting at 0:40, English has a nice matchup and does his right-to-right split. Collison was fairly open as the LSM hedged towards English. If they run that play as a pick-and-pop with Collison it creates some interesting decisions for the defense. At 2:57, English again runs by a SSDM and this time finds the throwback pass for a goal. One thing to watch as the real season comes is whether teams start hedge sliding to English because he seems to be looking to pass first.

When's the last time we had two All-Americans at close defense in the same season? Probably not since Durkin and Lightner in 2013? We've got a chance this year with Smith and Kilrain.

Opposing teams are not going to have much of a choice other than to pick on the 3rd close defenseman. Whoever wins that spot will be an important player. Szuluk had a very good, underappreciated year last year so it's big shoes to fill. Right now it looks like Weishaar is in the lead but they seem open to the idea of moving Deans there thanks to the emergence of Eye at LSM.

English is a significant piece of the offense that was sorely missed last year. It doesn't always show up in the stat sheet but whenever he initiates, it seems to generate a good scoring opportunity for someone a few seconds later.

English gets the defense moving in a hurry and creates opportunities for others.

I have no idea what they have at ssdm but last year they were putting smith and some of the alpha poles on the wings (I don't remember petro ever putting foley or durkin or watson or garvey on the wings on faceoffs) on faceoffs to help win more gbs, I would imagine some of their deployment this year would be based on how they view the ssdms, particularly the depth there.

He did not need to move Watson or Garvey on FOs from what i can remember.

[51percentcorn]

I have no idea what they have at ssdm but last year they were putting smith and some of the alpha poles on the wings (I don't remember petro ever putting foley or durkin or watson or garvey on the wings on faceoffs) on faceoffs to help win more gbs, I would imagine some of their deployment this year would be based on how they view the ssdms, particularly the depth there.

This point makes little sense - I am sorry. First off - you don't necessarily put someone on the face-off wings because they are a great close "alpha" defensemen. You put them on the wings because getting the ball off the ground is a strength and they can effectively deal with a middie if they are required to play defense. Neither Tom Garvey nor Chris Watson for example were reknowned for their ability to get the ball off the ground - I am sure they were extremely capable but as the stats show both of them were credited with 27 ground balls each in the national championship year. Scott Smith had a higher total than both of them put together last year - yes in part because he was on the wings at times but also because it was recognized as a strength. Durkin's highest ground ball total was 35. Second point - particularly applicable again to Garvey and Watson was with Harry, the Peysers, Braun running around they didn't need to do anything special to win possessions - they won them 60% of the time anyway. And Durkin I believe played with Dolente who set the single season face-off record or something like that.

Decisions on which pole to put on the face-offs has little to do with your confidence in your SSDMs. What speaks to your SSDMs a little bit is Hawley's and McDermott's role in the past 2 years but that again reinforces the thought that they were better off the ground AND it engaged another player on a high 50's number roster (while also resting your SSDMs from the rigors of fighting for face-offs).

SO here is what you could very well see on face-offs this season. It starts with who is the third close defensman and who is the #1 LSM. If the UMBC transfer is the #3 close on a consistent basis - Deans and Smith will likely take a high percentage. If Eye is a ground ball revelation as some believe and can actually play effective defense in the system he will be incorporated and given a larger role on the wings. If Deans is the 3rd close D - he and Smith may still be out on the wings alot but then you would always have a wing pole looking to switch off if you have to play defense - depends on what Koesterer thinks about that and whether they can live with the pole on the wings whomever it is.

[HopFan16]

Foley played on the faceoff wings a lot.

Eye has "started" as the pole on the first faceoff for each scrimmage this fall. Pretty clear the direction things are headed there. He's got a certain mentality and playing style that you can't really teach which should make him an asset in the middle of the field. Getting him up to speed in settled defensive possessions might take more time but who knows. Again — Lawrenceville. My money is always on kids from that program making an impact sooner rather than later.

Not sure there is going to be someone in the "Hawley/McDermott" role this year but there is still time to identify someone.

[OCanada]

I have no idea what they have at ssdm but last year they were putting smith and some of the alpha poles on the wings (I don't remember petro ever putting foley or durkin or watson or garvey on the wings on faceoffs) on faceoffs to help win more gbs, I would imagine some of their deployment this year would be based on how they view the ssdms, particularly the depth there.

This point makes little sense - I am sorry. First off - you don't necessarily put someone on the face-off wings because they are a great close "alpha" defensemen. You put them on the wings because getting the ball off the ground is a strength and they can effectively deal with a middie if they are required to play defense. Neither Tom Garvey nor Chris Watson for example were reknowned for their ability to get the ball off the ground - I am sure they were extremely capable but as the stats show both of them were credited with 27 ground balls each in the national championship year. Scott Smith had a higher total than both of them put together last year - yes in part because he was on the wings at times but also because it was recognized as a strength. Durkin's highest ground ball total was 35. Second point - particularly applicable again to Garvey and Watson was with Harry, the Peysers, Braun running around they didn't need to do anything special to win possessions - they won them 60% of the time anyway. And Durkin I believe played with Dolente who set the single season face-off record or something like that.

Decisions on which pole to put on the face-offs has little to do with your confidence in your SSDMs. What speaks to your SSDMs a little bit is Hawley's and McDermott's role in the past 2 years but that again reinforces the thought that they were better off the ground AND it engaged another player on a high 50's number roster (while also resting your SSDMs from the rigors of fighting for face-offs).

SO here is what you could very well see on face-offs this season. It starts with who is the third close defensman and who is the #1 LSM. If the UMBC transfer is the #3 close on a consistent basis - Deans and Smith will likely take a high percentage. If Eye is a ground ball revelation as some believe and can actually play effective defense in the system he will be incorporated and given a larger role on the wings. If Deans is the 3rd close D - he and Smith may still be out on the wings alot but then you would always have a wing pole looking to switch off if you have to play defense - depends on what Koesterer thinks about that and whether they can live with the pole on the wings whomever it is.

Yes. Chris ran the defense and in my view was under appreciated. I still have one of Garvey’s jerseys. As an aside Tierney did not recruit the Peysers bcs of their dad. Dave didn’t care about that issue.

[51percentcorn]

So what have we learned in terms of the "holes" that need to be filled in from last year or improved upon?
In reality not terribly much - I think the following seems to be a reasonable "summary"

Positive
- Chauvette - especially if increased dodging ability from teammates is realized. He does look the part - but again you never really know until the real shooting starts - I give you Kyle Wharton who had 34 goals his sophomore year with a 35% shot percentage and everyone was absolutely convinced a 40 if not a 50 handle was on the horizon - played every game his junior year and had 24 goals (number of shots taken dropped by 21). Yes it looks like HC has maybe put one or two more arrows in the ol quiver but his main job is to drop the laft handed hammer and for that he needs Melendez/English/Collison/Ayers etc to do the dirty work.
- English - All you can say is he looks ready and if he stays healthy Hopkins will be the better for it - way better
- Collison - ANybody you can pencil in at 35 points from the mid-field is nothing to sneeze at - whether he produces an extra special campaign?

Unknowns but you can paint a reasonable positive picture:
- Face-offs - A trio of Callahan/McKee/Hobot looks better on paper than just Callahan and Dunn - especially when you consider Dunn was at 41% last year. The long sticks on face-offs will or could be exactly the same and possibly augmented by Eye in a positive direction. I don't believe anyone would say the shorts sticks on the face-off wing last year knocked it out of the park. They fought like HE double toothpicks but I think an overall face-off percentage in '24 of 48% says something.
- Goalie - I'm having a hard time believing Staudt is not the guy. He averaged 173 saves over the past two years - playing for what has to be two of Toomey's weakest teams in his recent tenure at least (14-15 record). Save percentage over those 2 years at around 54%. Played the following schedule last year Georgetown/Maryland/Hopkins/Rutgers/Towson/Duke and then 4 teams in the Patriot that weren't slouches BU/Lehigh/Navy/Army. Chayse average 12.5 saves last year for Hop - Staudt averaged 13 for Loyola playing in front of a worse defense and an offense with only a 40% face-off win rate and an 11 gpg average. I'm thinking he might be better playing behnd Smith/Kilrain/Deans etc. Staudt did not play in the Bucknell Holy Cross games where he might have been able to pad the stat sheet against Holy Cross. If Webb goes first - to quote fla...the coaches are going to have to wear that one if it goes South.
3rd close defensman - Don't know for sure who it is yet - have a very good defensive mind as DC that will likely make the best or a very reasonable decision - decent apparent options

Unknowns:
- Melendez - He's out there - didn't appear to bedazzle the crowd like I seem to remember before last season - Hopkins NEEDS this pretty badly - he certainly looks like he hasn't skipped any leg days in the weightlifting regimen - calves look like duckpin bowling balls strapped to to legs
- SSDMs - Yale transfers probably help alot - Good size and apparent athleticism in the many bodies to fill that role - of course virtual zero experience in the system
- Ayers - another -won't know until you know - could flourish could be replaced - but given Bauer's experience and ability to produce mid 20s points from the mid-field it would appear to me that the best option by far is for James to flourish
- 2nd mid-field - Yes I appreciate and respect '16's point that the second mid-field's role can be overstated - but you become a much more dangerous team if the second 3 guys you roll out there 30ish percent of the time can do something and the defense can't simply say - Where's Chauvette??? Between Ayers/Grimes/Chauvette and some late goals by McDermott you produced what - 30ish goals from the 2nd's? Now there's an almost certain chance none of them will play that role (obviously for Grimes and McDermott). So you need somebody to step up and it's a big question as to whom
- New Contributors - Appears that Crogan and Eric Chick have caught some admiring eyes - I sincerely hope it works out great. Same for Tyler Eye. But they were only scrimmages and one thing with Chick - he played attack - and he's right handed and not an x attackmen so unless the wheels come off the Melendez bus - he's probably not playing - especially when you may very well have 2 line mates that did not play those positions last year. One hopes he's OK with the succession plan as to that end we could still have 3 years of potential eligibility.

Still the biggest questionmark to my mind: Roster Issues and Chemistry
With the concurrent events of the pandemic and regime change - Hopkins got a double whammy when most programs got one. The regime change created an entire class that would be close to lost if not for the portal/Ivy League rules and some medical redshirts that create a pretty darn good graduate student class. If Staudt plays one can easily project that 8 of the 9 graduate students will play significant/crucial roles in 2025. The place where Hopkins is not unique is that the last great year of the pandemic holdover created a senior graduare student laden roster. Therefore, with the 11 incoming freshmen there will be 24 players that have never played a singe solitary second of DI lacrosse - 41% of the roster. That's a lot and a big challendge for PM and the staff.

[Sagittarius A*]

- Goalie - I'm having a hard time believing Staudt is not the guy. He averaged 173 saves over the past two years - playing for what has to be two of Toomey's weakest teams in his recent tenure at least (14-15 record). Save percentage over those 2 years at around 54%. Played the following schedule last year Georgetown/Maryland/Hopkins/Rutgers/Towson/Duke and then 4 teams in the Patriot that weren't slouches BU/Lehigh/Navy/Army. Chayse average 12.5 saves last year for Hop - Staudt averaged 13 for Loyola playing in front of a worse defense and an offense with only a 40% face-off win rate and an 11 gpg average. I'm thinking he might be better playing behnd Smith/Kilrain/Deans etc. Staudt did not play in the Bucknell Holy Cross games where he might have been able to pad the stat sheet against Holy Cross. If Webb goes first - to quote fla...the coaches are going to have to wear that one if it goes South.

Staudt is actually very strong out of the goal.
That's something we haven't had in a while. No disrespect to Chayse.

[jhu06]

So what have we learned in terms of the "holes" that need to be filled in from last year or improved upon?
In reality not terribly much - I think the following seems to be a reasonable "summary"

Positive
- Chauvette - especially if increased dodging ability from teammates is realized. He does look the part - but again you never really know until the real shooting starts - I give you Kyle Wharton who had 34 goals his sophomore year with a 35% shot percentage and everyone was absolutely convinced a 40 if not a 50 handle was on the horizon - played every game his junior year and had 24 goals (number of shots taken dropped by 21). Yes it looks like HC has maybe put one or two more arrows in the ol quiver but his main job is to drop the laft handed hammer and for that he needs Melendez/English/Collison/Ayers etc to do the dirty work.
- English - All you can say is he looks ready and if he stays healthy Hopkins will be the better for it - way better
- Collison - ANybody you can pencil in at 35 points from the mid-field is nothing to sneeze at - whether he produces an extra special campaign?

Unknowns but you can paint a reasonable positive picture:
- Face-offs - A trio of Callahan/McKee/Hobot looks better on paper than just Callahan and Dunn - especially when you consider Dunn was at 41% last year. The long sticks on face-offs will or could be exactly the same and possibly augmented by Eye in a positive direction. I don't believe anyone would say the shorts sticks on the face-off wing last year knocked it out of the park. They fought like HE double toothpicks but I think an overall face-off percentage in '24 of 48% says something.
- Goalie - I'm having a hard time believing Staudt is not the guy. He averaged 173 saves over the past two years - playing for what has to be two of Toomey's weakest teams in his recent tenure at least (14-15 record). Save percentage over those 2 years at around 54%. Played the following schedule last year Georgetown/Maryland/Hopkins/Rutgers/Towson/Duke and then 4 teams in the Patriot that weren't slouches BU/Lehigh/Navy/Army. Chayse average 12.5 saves last year for Hop - Staudt averaged 13 for Loyola playing in front of a worse defense and an offense with only a 40% face-off win rate and an 11 gpg average. I'm thinking he might be better playing behnd Smith/Kilrain/Deans etc. Staudt did not play in the Bucknell Holy Cross games where he might have been able to pad the stat sheet against Holy Cross. If Webb goes first - to quote fla...the coaches are going to have to wear that one if it goes South.
3rd close defensman - Don't know for sure who it is yet - have a very good defensive mind as DC that will likely make the best or a very reasonable decision - decent apparent options

Unknowns:
- Melendez - He's out there - didn't appear to bedazzle the crowd like I seem to remember before last season - Hopkins NEEDS this pretty badly - he certainly looks like he hasn't skipped any leg days in the weightlifting regimen - calves look like duckpin bowling balls strapped to to legs
- SSDMs - Yale transfers probably help alot - Good size and apparent athleticism in the many bodies to fill that role - of course virtual zero experience in the system
- Ayers - another -won't know until you know - could flourish could be replaced - but given Bauer's experience and ability to produce mid 20s points from the mid-field it would appear to me that the best option by far is for James to flourish
- 2nd mid-field - Yes I appreciate and respect '16's point that the second mid-field's role can be overstated - but you become a much more dangerous team if the second 3 guys you roll out there 30ish percent of the time can do something and the defense can't simply say - Where's Chauvette??? Between Ayers/Grimes/Chauvette and some late goals by McDermott you produced what - 30ish goals from the 2nd's? Now there's an almost certain chance none of them will play that role (obviously for Grimes and McDermott). So you need somebody to step up and it's a big question as to whom
- New Contributors - Appears that Crogan and Eric Chick have caught some admiring eyes - I sincerely hope it works out great. Same for Tyler Eye. But they were only scrimmages and one thing with Chick - he played attack - and he's right handed and not an x attackmen so unless the wheels come off the Melendez bus - he's probably not playing - especially when you may very well have 2 line mates that did not play those positions last year. One hopes he's OK with the succession plan as to that end we could still have 3 years of potential eligibility.

Still the biggest questionmark to my mind: Roster Issues and Chemistry
With the concurrent events of the pandemic and regime change - Hopkins got a double whammy when most programs got one. The regime change created an entire class that would be close to lost if not for the portal/Ivy League rules and some medical redshirts that create a pretty darn good graduate student class. If Staudt plays one can easily project that 8 of the 9 graduate students will play significant/crucial roles in 2025. The place where Hopkins is not unique is that the last great year of the pandemic holdover created a senior graduare student laden roster. Therefore, with the 11 incoming freshmen there will be 24 players that have never played a singe solitary second of DI lacrosse - 41% of the roster. That's a lot and a big challendge for PM and the staff.

This was excellent

I would add Unknowns-PM running the offense, the change from a roster with Petro recruits to PM recruits,

[51percentcorn]

I would add Unknowns-PM running the offense, the change from a roster with Petro recruits to PM recruits,

Sorry '06 - don't necessarily agree. With respect to PM now running the offense - I really don;t think he was uninvolved over the last 4 years. I doubt Crawley was 1000% in charge of the offense while PM meandered over to One World for a coffee and gluten free muffin. Legitimate question as to what role Kelly is playing in the titular role of OC and the intangibles of Crawey's absence - i.e. portrayed as a player's coach whose relative youth may have helped in responding to players. Lots of similar concepts and probably terminology and hopefully the offense is tailored to the players' strengths rather just implementing some offense because that's what was done at Cornell or someplace.

I simply don't really understand this obsession with PM vs Petro - it implies there was a significant difference in the type of player each wants/recruits when I don't buy it. Doesn't mean I am right but I don't. First off, if there was a big difference a large number of Petro recruits would have left. Aside from the decommits after Petro was let go - there wasn't. Second - he's had 4 years there now - now I am sure there are some examples - but I am having a hard time where I think "Boy 'ol Pete sure rolled out the wrong guys". Maybe the biggest example to me was not going in a different direction in '23 when the goaltending went conspiculously south and he stuck with a Petro guy. Put another way - nothing is going to change because there are only 4 or 5 holdovers recruited by the last coach - it has no bearing on whether the team will be good or not AND of those 5 or so guys you want Smith/Bauer/Deans and Evans to play important roles so you are not really rid of the Petro guys just yet.