Sept. 7, 2008
ANNAPOLIS, MD - The Johns Hopkins water polo team opened the season with a 2-2 slate at the annual Navy Open in Annapolis, MD. JHU defeated Concordia (CA) (15-9) and MIT (10-7), while suffering losses to #12 St. Francis (NY) (17-8) and #1 Cal (18-4).
In the Blue Jays opening game against the Concordia Eagles, senior Peter Davis (Riverside, CT/Greenwich) led all scorers with five goals. Also having multi-goal games for Hopkins were senior Alex Bond (North Wales, PA/Germantown Academy), juniors Kyle Gertridge (Palo Alto, CA/Gunn), Peter Sauerhoff (St. Louis, MO/John Burroughs School) and Antonio Aguilera (Coral Gables, FL/Gulliver Prep) and freshman Mark Strickland (Houston, TX/Strake Jesuit). Senior Chris Hutchens (Granite Bay, CA/Bellarmine Prep) earned the win in goal with 11 saves. Kevin Rice and Duje Grubisic led the Eagles with three goals apiece. Senior Josh Kratz (Landsdale, PA/North Penn) paced the Blue Jays with four assists in the win.
Hopkins then took on #12 St. Francis in the night cap on Saturday, with Kratz, Aguilera and junior Reid Fox (Harleysville, PA/Souderton) lead the Blue Jays with two goals apiece. In the goal, Hutchens finished with nine saves in the first two quarters. Sophomore Jeremy Selbst (Old Greenwich, CT/Greenwich) finished with three and sophomore Will Choi (La Jolla, CA/La Jolla) had one. The Terriers took control early in the match with a 10-2 advantage in the first half. Nemanja Pucarevic led St. Francis with five goals.
Hopkins got back in the win column on Sunday against rival MIT. Davis once again led the Blue Jays in scoring, netting three goals and two assists. Bond and Aguilera each added a pair, while Kratz scored a goal and added three assists. Hutchens finished with 16 saves in the goal for Hopkins. Leading the Engineers were Mike Smith-Bronstein, Devin Lewis and John Preis with two goals each. The Blue Jays wrapped up the tournament against the #1 Golden Bears. Gertridge led Hopkins win a pair of goals, while Hutchens finished with 15 saves in the cage.
Hopkins returns to action on September 12 when its takes on Stanford at the Princeton Invitational.
