Oct. 4, 2013
Freshman Will Bellamy joined the Johns Hopkins Athletic Communications staff as a student assistant not long after arriving at Homewood in August. An experienced writer, he will bolster the efforts of the office with a preview of each weekend's events. Today's inaugural edition of "Bellamy's Breakdown" takes fans from California to Pennsylvania to Homewood Field and Goldfarb Gymnasium (please note that this is not intended to be an exhaustive in-depth preview of every game or event. Rather, it provides a quick overview for fans with key links and things to look for. Key games, especially those against nationally-ranked teams or those with playoff implacations, will lead the column each week).
Water Polo
The Johns Hopkins men's water polo team will spend the weekend in Southern California, but will probably be too busy with the Gary Troyer Memorial Tournament to really enjoy the sights and weather.
The tournament, which will be hosted by Pomona-Pitzer, La Verne College and Whittier College and which will take place on Friday and Saturday, marks the only trip westward of the season by the Blue Jays and presents them with the opportunity to hone their skills against some of the more dangerous teams along the Pacific seaboard.
JHU, which is ranked second nationally in Division III, will take on Claremont-Mudd-Scrips (ranked 4th) and Pomona-Pitzer (3rd) on Friday and La Verne (8th) and Redlands (1st) on Saturday.
The tournament will be a good warm-up for the Blue Jays for the Collegiate Water Polo Association Division III Championships in mid-October. That championship will take place at Johns Hopkins.
Gary Troyer Memorial Web Page
Cross Country
The problem with midseason rankings is that they're so impermanent that there's almost no time to celebrate a top spot. That's fine with Johns Hopkins head coach Bobby Van Allen, whose focus is on November, not rankings issued in the middle of the season.
Just days after retaining the No. 1 Division III ranking in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll, the Johns Hopkins women's cross country team will once again have to defend it, this time at the Paul Short Invitational on Saturday. The meet will be hosted by Lehigh University (Bethlehem, PA) and will feature hundreds of high school and college teams.
The Blue Jays will compete in the Women's College "Gold" 6K Race against a slew of elite schools from all three divisions, including Division I powerhouses Georgetown (No. 6) and Villanova University (No. 12). No. 10 Cornell, No. 13 Penn State, and No. 29 West Virginia, all of which the JHU women have already encountered this season, will also compete.
Sophomore Hannah Oneda, who has led the Blue Jays in all three meets in which they've competed so far this season, juniors Ashley Murphy and Francis Loeb, and senior Holly Clarke are among the runners to watch for JHU.
The JHU men's team, which was ranked 19th in the USTFCCCA poll, will also run at the meet. They will face off against several top Division I teams, including No. 11 Iona, No. 15 Indiana and No. 20 Georgetown, as well as a pair of Centennial Conference rivals in Haverford and Dickinson in the Men's "Gold" 6K race. Senior Max Robinson will look to continue his final campaign as a Blue Jay with another solid performance.
The men are set to run at 11:00 and the women at 11:45.
Paul Short Web Page
Football
In four games this season, the JHU football team has won by an average of 27.8 points over Randolph Macon, Susquehanna, Moravian, and Muhlenberg.
The next team in line, Juniata, is off to its best start in a decade and will present numerous challenges as the Jays hit the road for the third time in five weeks.
So far this season, the Eagles (3-1, 2-1 in Centennial Conference competition) have averaged 33.0 points and 437.8 yards per game on offense and forced nine turnovers and recorded 23 sacks on defense. They suffered their first loss of the season, 46-16, at Franklin & Marshall last week.
Behind the rushing of running backs Brandon Cherry and JD Abbott and the passing of quarterback Robbie Matey, JHU is averaging 530 yards and 39.8 points per game. The Blue Jays have been no less impressive on defense, holding opponents to an average of 12 points and piling up 19 sacks.
A win would give the 14th-ranked Blue Jays a 5-0 record heading into their bye. Kickoff at Goodman Field is set for 12:00 p.m.
Johns Hopkins @ Juniata
Live Video ? Live Stats
Field Hockey
The Johns Hopkins field hockey team will travel to Ursinus College on Saturday to face the Bears in a battle of one-loss teams. The Blue Jays (3-1 in Centennial Conference play) field a pair of dangerous scorers in Alexa Lantiere (seven goals) and Maddie Fryer (five goals), but will be challenged to outscore Ursinus (4-1 in CC play). The Bears are averaging 4.25 goals per game behind the play of the Centennial Conference's leading scorer, Megan Keenan (nine goals).
Johns Hopkins @ Ursinus
Live Video ? Live Stats
Soccer
The Johns Hopkins women's soccer team (10-0, 3-0 in Centennial Conference play) will look to stay unbeaten against Ursinus (5-5-1, 1-3-1) in a 1:00 p.m. contest on Saturday at Homewood Field.
The JHU men will take on Ursinus at home as well, with game time set for 4:30 p.m. A win against the streaking Bears (5-4-1, 2-0-1) would give the Blue Jays (3-6-1, 1-2) a two-game winning streak. UC enters having posted a 4-0-1 record in its last five games.
Ursinus @ Johns Hopkins (WSoc)
Live Video ?
Ursinus @ Johns Hopkins (MSoc)
Live Video ? Live Stats
Volleyball
The Johns Hopkins volleyball team will attempt to bounce back from Tuesday's 3-1 loss to Franklin and Marshall with a win against Ursinus at Goldfarb Gym on Saturday at 12:00 p.m.
Ursinus @ Johns Hopkins (VB)
Live Video
Tennis
The Johns Hopkins women's tennis team will travel to Swarthmore for the Swarthmore Invitational on Saturday. The tournament is set to start at 9:30 a.m.
