Every Monday at 6:30 a.m. this fall, Dave Pietramala and his Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse team can be found at Du Burns Arena on the East side of Baltimore. It’s an experiment that Pietramala wanted to undertake as part of an effort to shake up the way that fall practices have gone in the past.
This year, the Blue Jays kicked off the fall season with two hours of practice a week — one hour of individual installment of the offensive and defensive concepts and another at Du Burns Arena for box lacrosse. The box game has been picking up steam in the U.S., with players like Tom Schreiber and Kieran McArdle succeeding in the NLL (and former Hopkins great Paul Rabil joining the U.S. national box team). However, Pietramala said he’s not worried about developing the next generation of American box stars.
“Our intent is selfish,” Pietramala said. “… [The box game] is enjoyable. We’re finding that they are working hard. They are certainly being challenged physically and conditioning wise. It doesn’t feel like practice, yet we are developing certain skills that are really important to what we do offensively and defensively.”
Through the box game, Johns Hopkins players are learning more about picking and defending the pick, as well as handling the ball in close spaces. Upperclassmen like Joel Tinney and Shack Stanwick pick up underclassmen and head across town each Monday for an unconventional fall practice.
“It’s not just giving in to drilling and coaching, where we’re standing around and learning,” said Tinney, who grew up playing box lacrosse in Ontario. “You learn from doing. That’s one thing that our coaches have really adjusted to this year. … This is one of the more competitive first two weeks of fall ball that we’ve had since I’ve been here.”
It’s a change of pace for a Johns Hopkins program, led by Pietramala, that’s looking to vault itself back into the national title conversation. Following consecutive 8-7 seasons — and a blowout loss to Duke at home in the first round of the NCAA tournament — Pietramala is hoping a new approach to the fall season will help generate momentum toward the 2018 season.
For a Blue Jays program that has won nine national championships and appeared in nine more title games, the past two seasons won’t cut it.
“People are starting to leave us out of that conversation in terms of the top teams in the country, just based off the last two years,” Tinney said. “For us, it’s not enough to get a home game in the first round. We’re trying to get back to championship weekend, where this program has made its staple for so many years and where we feel it belongs.”
Two integral parts of building the foundation for 2018 are the leaders of the team and its incoming freshman class. Just this week, it was announced that Tinney, senior attackman Shack Stanwick and senior midfielder Brinton Valis were named team captains.
Shack Stanwick, who led Johns Hopkins with 47 points last season, was named a team captain alongside Joel Tinney and Brinton Valis.
Stanwick, who led the team with 47 points on 26 goals and 21 assists in 2017, becomes the second member of his family to get the title — his brother, Wells, was named captain for the 2015 season.
“It’s an honor,” Stanwick said. “It’s really special to be at such a historic lacrosse university and to be considered that. A lot of responsibility comes with it, with the team and the coaches. … I grew up watching Hopkins play and my brother was lucky enough to be a captain here as well. Those two things make it a little more special.”
The three captains will help in assimilating this 2017 freshman class into a veteran-laden roster for the spring season. Led by middie Connor DeSimone (Smithtown East), the Blue Jays incoming class ranked No. 8 by Inside Lacrosse.
Pietramala didn't care much for that ranking, but he's not shying away from using it as fuel going forward.
“The young guys are aware of what the opinion of their class is out there,” he said. “Nonetheless, we don’t recruit for numbers. I’ve shared that with them more as motivation than anything else.”
Also adding to the depth of the Blue Jays roster is the return of defenseman Patrick Foley, who missed the 2017 season because of academic requirements. Foley will help fill a void left by All-American defenseman Nick Fields, who led the team with 19 caused turnovers last season.
The defense may come with more questions than the offense, which is led by Stanwick, Tinney and Kyle Marr. The Hopkins offense, though, will have to make up for the loss of John Crawley, who recently signed on as an assistant at Notre Dame, and Wilson Dismuke.
The Blue Jays will enter scrimmages looking to see how far they’ve come so far this fall. Up first is a matchup with Team Israel — where Pietramala said they’ll employ a 90-second shot clock — and then scrimmages with Albany and Army in a HEADStrong event at Boys’ Latin on Oct. 15.
Hopkins Lacrosse Advisory Board
Johns Hopkins announced Monday the formation of the Johns Hopkins Lacrosse Advisory Board, which will bring together 24 of the program's supporters and alumni to help create a network for current players to use. The Board will "create a mentorship platform, plan internship and professional networking events across the United States, improve communication and engagement with our alumni community and promote and explore new philanthropic initiatives" according to a press release.
The Board includes names like Rabil, Kyle Harrison, David Cordish and Mary Ann Dickson.
From Volunteer to Teammate
Zach Ernst, a Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse volunteer, got an awesome surprise at a team meeting last Friday. Pietramala announced he'd become an official member of the Blue Jays program.
One @JohnsHopkins student had his dream realized this week. #FridayFeels pic.twitter.com/UbwKg1T42y
— JHU Men's Lacrosse (@jhumenslacrosse) September 22, 2017