Virginia and Johns Hopkins Set to Renew Historic Rivalry

The Cavaliers and Blue Jays play for the Doyle Smith Cup for the first time since 2019

Matt Newton | Mar 4, 2022

Virginia has long and storied rivalries with several major lacrosse programs, especially with ACC rivals like Syracuse and Duke. The program that the Cavaliers have the longest-rivalry and most games played against is Johns Hopkins. In a series that began in 1904, Virginia and Johns Hopkins have played 94 times, including a streak in which the two teams played each other in 73 consecutive seasons.

"If you ask our alumni base - who's the biggest opponent, what's the biggest deal game - it's the Blue Jays of Johns Hopkins," said UVA men's lacrosse head coach Lars Tiffany on Thursday.

That streak of 73-straight seasons with a matchup between the Blue Jays and Cavaliers was broken in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season and then the two teams did not play last year, as Johns Hopkins played a regular season against exclusively Big Ten opponents.

With it being nearly three years since the two teams last met, a 16-11 victory for Virginia over Hopkins at Homewood Field on March 23, 2019, Lars Tiffany has found that his current players, especially underclassmen, are not as aware of the historic rivalry between these two programs.

"If you talk to our men, it's more the ACC and the ACC rivalries," Tiffany said. "So, I find myself this week, because we haven't played Johns Hopkins since 2019, reminding them - hey there's a cup that we play for. You'll see this in college football, traditional rivals playing for something and we're playing for the Doyle Smith Cup."

The Doyle Smith Cup is named after Edward Doyle Smith Jr., who was a team manager at Johns Hopkins for five years before moving on to Virginia, where he was an assistant sports information director for 31 seasons. Smith standardized game statistics for lacrosse and is the only person inducted to the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame to have never competed in the sport. Virginia and Johns Hopkins have competed for the Doyle Smith Cup since 2006.

Johns Hopkins holds a 61-32-1 advantage in the all-time series, but Virginia has won 10 of the last 17 meetings and is 20-13 against the Blue Jays since 1994, largely due to the coaching efforts of Dom Starsia, who went 19-13 against Johns Hopkins in his tenure, the first UVA coach to have an above .500 winning percentage against the Blue Jays. So far, Lars Tiffany is 1-2 against Johns Hopkins as Virginia head coach.

The two programs have met 16 times in the NCAA Tournament, with Hopkins winning 10 of those 16 meetings. Virginia and Johns Hopkins have met in the National Championship Game three times, with the Cavaliers prevailing in 1972 and 2003 and the Blue Jays winning in 1980 in double overtime. Johns Hopkins has won nine NCAA national titles and Virginia has won seven, second-most and third-most, respectively, behind Syracuse with 10 national championships.

It is a monumental rivalry between two of the three greatest lacrosse programs in history.

"Our guys are catching on quickly," Tiffany said. "The alumni are giving them notes and reminding them that this was always the biggest game. We're super excited to get the Doyle Smith Cup back up for grabs."

After a near three-year hiatus, the Virginia-Johns Hopkins lacrosse rivalry is renewed this Saturday, when the No. 2 Cavaliers (4-0) host the No. 15 Blue Jays (3-2) at 1pm at Klockner Stadium.

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