Sept. 5, 2007
BALTIMORE, MD - The Johns Hopkins water polo team (1-3) opened the season at the Navy Labor Day Open last weekend. Hopkins defeated MIT 9-5, but suffered losses to #14 St. Francis (NY) (15-7), #2 Cal (23-3) and #13 Pacific (11-10). Senior All-American Sean McCreery (Pleasant Hill, CA/ De La Salle) led the Blue Jays with 11 goals on the weekend.
Against MIT, Hopkins led 2-1 after the first quarter and then shut down the Engineers in the second, taking a 5-1 lead heading into the half. Coming out of the break, it was MIT who would shut down Hopkins to make it a 5-3 game heading into the final quarter. The Blue Jays came alive in the fourth, getting goals from McCreery (2), junior All-American Peter Davis (Riverside, CT/Greenwich) and senior Chris Hemmerle (Harleysville, PA/Souderton). Senior Andrew McTammany (Hampstead, NH/Exeter) finished with seven saves in net.
In the second game, Hopkins squared off against St. Francis. McCreery and Davis led the Blue Jays against the Terriers with two goals apiece. The Terriers held a slim 6-5 lead at the half, but exploded in the second half, outscoring the Blue Jays 9-2. Also scoring in the match were Hemmerle, junior Josh Kratz (Lansdale, PA/North Penn) and freshman Bennett Givens (Pasadena, CA/Harvard-Westlake).
Hopkins then faced the defending national champions, Cal on Sunday. The Golden Bears shut down the Blue Jays in two of the four quarters for the win. Senior Joey Jankiewicz (Coronado, CA/ Coronado), junior Chris Hanson (Cupertino, CA/Bellarmine Prep) and freshman Michael de Lyon (Newbury Park, CA/Newbury) scored for Hopkins in the loss.
The Blue Jays wrapped up the weekend against the Pacific Tigers. McCreery struck first for Hopkins, for the first of his six in the match, but Pacific's Will Milcovich tied the game less than two minutes later. The Tigers took the lead with 3:39 to play in the opening quarter and went on to lead 6-3 at the half. Hopkins came out firing in the second half, outscoring Pacific 7-5, but could not over come the first half deficit. McCreery led the way with six goals. Kratz had two, while sophomore Peter Sauerhoff (St. Louis, MO/John Burroughs) had one.
Hopkins returns to action this weekend as the team travels west to face Air Force in three matches. The first match is scheduled for Friday, September 7 at 8:00 pm (EST). The teams will also square off on Saturday at noon (EST) and 7:00 pm (EST).
