Bob Scott, the Hall of Fame coach who guided Johns Hopkins to seven national championships, made a prediction after witnessing Dave Pietramala earn his 159th career win to pass Scott as the program's all-time leader in coaching victories.
"Dave is going to double it, not just pass me," said Scott, who attended the No. 6 Blue Jays' 16-4 rout of UMBC at Homewood Field Saturday and congratulated Pietramala afterward. "No question about it. In our day, we didn't play that many games. But he's done just a remarkable job at Hopkins, and this team looks very, very good. They're going to have a fine year."
Pietramala improved to 159-55 in his 15th season at Johns Hopkins. But any sense of achievement has been quieted by the sudden death of freshman defenseman Jeremy Huber, who was found in his dorm on Jan. 26.
"It's hard to think about that when we've dealt with what we've dealt with," Pietramala said in a postgame news conference. "The fact that we won and were able to put forth a good effort for the Huber family and help these guys heal a little bit, that's the most important part of today. The win is important, but not as important as those things. For me, I don't think there are many that belong in the same breath as Bob Scott. I don't consider myself one of them."
Pietramala's record came at the expense of Retrievers coach Don Zimmerman, who coached Pietramala when he was a defenseman for the Blue Jays from 1987 to 1991. Zimmerman, however, graciously recognized his former protégé's accomplishment.
"It was pretty neat just for a moment to see the guy who broke the record who I coached and the guy whose record he broke," Zimmerman said. "What true gentlemen, great coaches. I'm happy for Dave. He works very hard, he gives everything he has to this game and to this school and to his program. I couldn't be happier for him. And for him to shake the hand of Bob Scott is pretty special. So it's a great day for Dave, for Hopkins and for the game of lacrosse. I think those are two special men that you saw out there."
Circling back to "Three Things to Watch" …
1) D up on the O. Against a UMBC offense that had ranked ninth in Division I in scoring (12.2 goals) and returned five of six starters, the Blue Jays defense was overpowering. The Retrievers starting attack of senior Ty Kashur, junior Nate Lewnes and sophomore Max Maxwell finished with more combined turnovers (four) than points (one), and Johns Hopkins redshirt senior goalkeeper Eric Schneider needed to make just five saves. Pietramala said the key was double-poling junior midfielders Pat Young and Jack Gannon and leaving a short-stick defensive midfielder on Kashur, a converted midfielder.
"I thought our decision to bump up a pole and play a short stick down on No. 26 [Kashur] was helpful to us," Pietramala said. "A year ago, he had done so much of their initiating against us – from the high wing and the mid-wing. Coach Zim does a really good job of getting those guys to dodge deep into a defense, to exhaust their dodge, and that puts a lot of pressure on you. So we talked a lot about trying to get that matchup and getting a pole on Young, a pole on Gannon, and putting a short on a young man that was a midfielder coming into the season and he moved to attack. I think that was helpful because it put the ball into someone else's stick to initiate."
2) Beware of the 4's. UMBC junior defenseman Zach Esser did an admirable job on senior attackman Wells Stanwick, limiting the Blue Jays' leading returning scorer to three assists. But there was no answer for junior attackman Ryan Brown, who scored seven goals on 14 shots. The Sykesville resident and Calvert Hall graduate has 12 goals and one assist in three games against the Retrievers, who were befuddled by Brown's ability to shoot with both hands.
"On our scouting report, at the bottom of the front page, we put all of their left-handers in red, their numbers in red, and then throughout the report, their names and everything are in red," Zimmerman said. "For Ryan Brown, we had to create a new one, and that was green. That was basically, 'We can't figure out if he's righty or lefty.' A talented player, and he seemed to have his shots on the mark today."
3) Who's on for faceoffs? The foursome of senior Drew Kennedy, freshman Hunter Moreland and sophomores Kevin O'Toole and Matt Ledwin helped Johns Hopkins win 68.2 percent (15 of 22) of its faceoffs. That rotation was particularly instrumental in the first quarter, winning 4 of 6 draws as the Blue Jays raced to a 6-0 advantage and negated the Retrievers' unheralded trio of sophomore Steve Larson, redshirt senior Nathan Klein and freshman Brett Malamphy.
"We didn't really know what we'd get from them at the X," Pietramala said. "You'd hear things like, 'They did very well in their scrimmage facing off.' But there's no scouting. So we don't have any film. We have no real information. It was good to see Drew out there. We got a huge lift from Hunter Moreland. I think we did a great job with all of the guys. So that start comes from being able to win the ball at the X. If you win the ball at the X and you get stops, it makes your offense's job a lot easier."