Nov. 11, 2006
PRINCETON, NJ - The Johns Hopkins water polo team fell 14-7 to defending Eastern Champion St. Francis on Saturday in the opening round of the 2006 Championship. Hopkins will now play Harvard on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. in DeNunzio Pool at Princeton. Prior to the start of this year's Eastern Championships, the Collegiate Water Polo Association announced the 2006 All-North & All-South teams. Junior Sean McCreery (Pleasant Hill, CA/ De La Salle) was named to the second team for Hopkins.
Leading 8-2 at halftime, the Terriers saw their lead dwindle to 11-7 by the end of the third period as Hopkins outscored St. Francis 5-3 in the third to close within striking distance. However, the Terriers' defense and goalie Dusko Radovanac, the 2006 All-North First Team netminder, grounded the Blue Jays' offense and held Hopkins scoreless over the final period of play while Bogdan Petrovic (4:24), Carlos Omana (2:32) and Milos Vuksic (1:43) added tallies for the seven-goal win.
St. Francis never trailed in the game as 2006 CWPA North Player of the Year Botond Szalma scored the tournament's first goal with 6:29 left in the first period. Vuksic followed with a score on an exclusion for a 2-0 lead at the 6:02 mark before Hopkins' sophomore Alex Bond (North Wales, PA/Germantown Academy) pulled the Blue Jays back to within a goal with 4:41 to play. However, the Terriers answered with an exclusion goal at 2:06 as Nemanja Pucarevic beat JHU goalie sophomore Chris Hutchens (Los Altos, CA/Bellarmine Prep) with a high shot for a 3-1 lead after a period of play.
The lead grew to 8-1 with 2:44 left in the second period as Szalma (7:25), Omana (6:21), Pucarevic (4:33) and Michael Vasilchikov (2:44) found the back of the cage with even-strength goals, while Vuksic (5:26) tacked on an exclusion goal. Johns Hopkins trimmed the margin back to six goals by the break as freshman Kyle Gertridge (Gunn Prep/Paolo Alto, CA) scored for the Blue Jays with 2:12 left in the period.
JHU took flight in the third period as McCreery and sophomore Peter Davis (Greenwich, CT/Greenwich) registered tallies at 7:33 and 7:04, respectively, before the teams traded goals with Pucarevic scoring at 6:47 for the Terriers and McCreery answering at 6:20 for the Blue Jays. However, St. Francis took control of the period after McCreery's goal as Omana (6:00, 00:38) and Vuksic (3:28) netted goals while the Terriers' defense held JHU to a score by McCreary at 2:10 for an 11-7 lead entering the fourth period.
In goal, Radovanac finished nine shots for St. Francis and Hutchens made six saves for Hopkins.
St. Francis Goals: Milos Vuksic (4); Carlos Omana (3); Nemanja Pucarevic (3); Botond Szalma (2); Michael Vasilchikov; Bogdan Petrovic
Johns Hopkins University Goals: Sean McCreery (3); Alex Bond; Peter Davis; Kyle Gertridge; David Strickland
St. Francis Goalie Saves: Dusko Radovanac (9)
Johns Hopkins Goalie Saves: Chris Hutchens (6)
