Oct. 17, 2009
Box Score
BALTIMORE, MD - The 17th-ranked Princeton water polo team used a 6-0 run that spanned the second and third quarters to take control of the match en route to a 15-8 win over Johns Hopkins Saturday night. The loss drops the Blue Jays to 9-12 overall and 1-5 in the CWPA, while the Tigers win their third straight to improve to 10-9 and 6-1 in the CWPA. Hopkins opened the day with an 11-5 win over Iona at Navy.
Hopkins got off to a good start, leading at 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2, before a Tim Wenzlau goal with 29 ticks on the clock made it a 3-3 game at the end of the first. Coming out of the break, Wenzlau took a pass from Eric Vreeland and scored just to give Princeton its first lead of the day and ignite the 6-0 run. The Tigers would not trail again as they held the Blue Jays scoreless in the second quarter to take a 7-3 lead into the half. Four different players scored in the second stanza for the Tigers.
Matt Hale came out of the half and put home a pair for Princeton as the Tigers pushed its lead to 9-3 with 5:14 to play in the third. Sophomore Mark Strickland (Houston, TX/Strake Jesuit) ended the Blue Jays drought, shaking off a defender and burying a pass from senior Kyle Gertridge (Gunn Prep, CA /Paolo Alto) to make it 9-4 midway through the third quarter.
The Tigers responded with a pair of goals to push its lead to seven. Freshman Ross Schofield (Greenwich, CT/Greenwich) then sandwiched a pair of goals and around a strike from Mike Helou and it was a 12-6 Princeton lead with just 28 ticks on the clock in the third. But Wenzlau wasn't done for Princeton. He would score a man-up goal with just seven seconds remaining to push the lead back to seven.
Senior Peter Sauerhoff (St. Louis, MO/John Burroughs) and freshman Alex Whittam (Hillsborough, CA/Sacred Heart Prep) sandwiched a pair around a goal from Chris Cottrell before Mark Zalewski closed out the scoring with 1:17 remaining to account for the 15-8 final.
Hopkins returns to action on Sunday, October 18 with a 1:00 pm matchup with 15th-ranked Air Force at Navy.
