For the 116th time it’s Johns Hopkins vs. Maryland in men’s lacrosse.
"The rivalry is there and I think if you're a fan of lacrosse and a fan of college lacrosse you're aware of this rivalry," said Blue Jays midfielder Joel Tinney.
The stakes couldn’t be higher for a regular season finale. The winner of Saturday’s game clinches the Big Ten regular season title and top seed in the upcoming conference tournament.
"We definitely know the weight that this game carries," said Blue Jays attackman Cole Williams. "If we play our game we don't have to think about the other opposition. If we play our game, we play well good things could happen."
"We've gone through this whole season and this is the last step to complete that goal. I think we're really looking forward to it," added Blue Jays attackman Kyle Marr.
The Terps are coming off a tough loss to Ohio State which dropped them from first to third in the national rankings. The Blue Jays are ranked seventh.
"Coming off a loss like they did I know that they'll be even hungrier than last week and they'll be ready to go if they needed any more fuel for this game," said Marr.
A big question mark heading into the contest is the availability of Hopkins senior captain Shack Stanwick. The attackman hasn’t played since suffering a lower-body injury ten days ago in a loss to Penn State. He’s officially listed as day-to-day.
"Whenever you lose your most productive player, and maybe your smartest player, it does change things," said Blue Jays Head Coach Dave Pietramala. "Certainly we all would have loved to have had the opportunity to prepare for this in February but in hindsight you hope you have."
Stanwick is the youngest of eight siblings, each of whom has played Division I lacrosse.
Saturday’s game at Homewood Field gets going at 2:00 p.m.
Follow Shawn Stepner on Twitter @StepnerWMAR and Facebook
