Oct. 21, 2004

BALTIMORE, MD - The Johns Hopkins water polo team lost three games in the past week, falling to 12th-ranked Princeton 11-5, Salem International 16-15 and 16th-ranked Navy 11-7. The Blue Jays dropped to 11-14 overall and are ranked fifth in this week's CWPA poll and fourth in the Division III poll.

On Saturday, Oct. 16, Johns Hopkins met Princeton at Navy's MacDonough Hall Pool where senior Brian Mead (Palo Alto, CA/Gunn) scored all five Blue Jay goals in an 11-5 loss to the Tigers.

In Sunday's game, Hopkins trailed Salem by one after the first period (6-5) and at the half (9-8). Six different Blue Jays scored, led by two goals apiece from Mead and junior James Singleton (Los Angeles, CA/Harvard-Westlake), and freshman Mitch Williams (San Diego, CA/Patrick Henry) made 10 saves for Hopkins in the first half.

Salem International pulled ahead in the third period when it outscored Johns Hopkins 4-1 behind Danilo Lazarevic's two goals, and the Blue Jays trailed 13-9 entering the final quarter.

Hopkins scored the first three goals of the fourth and eventually tied the game 15-15 when sophomore David Strickland (Houston, TX/Strake Jesuit College Prep) put in his second goal of the quarter with 1:06 remaining. Salem's Tomislav Popovic scored the game-winner with 38.4 seconds on the clock.

Mead finished with four goals and Singleton and Strickland added three apiece for Johns Hopkins while Lazarevic, Popovic and Igor Milanovic all had four goals for Salem International. Williams had 18 saves in goal for JHU.

Three days later Johns Hopkins traveled back to Navy to battle the host Midshipmen. Singleton scored the first goal of the game for Hopkins' first and only lead of the game as Navy led 4-3 at the half and 7-4 after the third. Mead had a team-high two goals and five different Blue Jays added one goal apiece.

The Blue Jays have a rematch at Salem International this Friday, Oct. 22 at 6 p.m.