Johns Hopkins has dominated this series, owning a 56-28 advantage all time. But Princeton has won four of the past six meetings. The Tigers are making their first road trip of the year, while the Blue Jays (2-2) are playing at home for the first time since their season opener against UMBC on Feb. 7.
No. 18 Princeton (2-0) is trying to win its first three games of the season for the second time in the past four years. An offense that is tied for 11th in Division I in scoring (14 goals per game) has relied heavily on Mike MacDonald. The senior attackman tied his career high of nine points with five goals and four assists in Saturday's 14-12 win against Hofstra and is tied for first in the country in points per game (seven).
No. 12 Johns Hopkins is hoping to avoid its first 2-3 start since 2000. The defense has allowed just 8.5 goals per game thus far, 22nd best in the nation. But it will be interesting to see how the absence of senior defenseman Robert Enright (right knee) affects the unit.
Here are a few factors that could play a role in the outcome at Homewood Field on Saturday at 1 p.m.
1) Start strong. Since a 16-4 pasting of UMBC, the Blue Jays have ended the first quarter tied with Towson (1-1) and trailing Villanova (3-2) and No. 4 North Carolina (4-1). The team eventually defeated Villanova but lost the other two games. Coach Dave Pietramala knows how necessary it is for Johns Hopkins to be ready against a Tigers squad that has outscored its opponents 7-2 in the first quarter this season.
"You can't spot a good team a couple goals, which we did in that game," Pietramala said, referring to the loss to North Carolina. "And that wasn't the first game where we started slow. We did the same against Towson and Villanova. So it is an area that we have got to address, and that has been a focus for us this week. We need to start faster."
2) Reduce errors. The Blue Jays traditionally have been one of the nation's better teams at protecting the ball, but that reputation has taken a little bit of a hit in 2015. They have turned the ball over at least 11 times in each game, and their 15 turnovers at North Carolina matched a season high set against UMBC. The team has averaged 13.5 giveaways, a dangerous trend.
"The other thing we need to do is just cut down on our mistakes," Pietramala said. "When you make mistakes against a good team, they're going to capitalize. On the other hand, I think we have to do a better job of capitalizing on their mistakes. I thought we had opportunities, but we didn't take advantage of those opportunities."
3) Get ground balls. North Carolina ranks second in the nation in ground balls per game (40.8), but Johns Hopkins actually won that battle 38-33. The Blue Jays rank 11th with 34.8 ground balls per game, and that could be a significant weapon against a Princeton team that ranks 42nd (26.5).
"We out-ground-balled Carolina, and when you take the faceoffs away, we still out-ground-balled them, and I think they're a very good ground-ball team," Pietramala said. "So we learned that the work we put in there was beneficial."