Box Score The Basics
• Scores: #8 Johns Hopkins-16, #4 MIT-12
• Records: JHU (9-16) • MIT (9-9)
• Location: Bridgeville, PA • Chartiers Valley HS
• The Short Story: The Johns Hopkins water polo team fell behind early but rallied to defeat MIT, 16-12, in the CWPA Division III Championship game Sunday afternoon.
 
How it Happened
• MIT jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the game's first four and a half minutes. Nico Ivanov scored with 1:49 to go in the quarter to spark a six-goal run that saw Hopkins take a 7-3 lead at 2:07 in the second. The Engineers ended the run with back-to-back goals, cutting the deficit to two with 1:01 on the clock. Five different Blue Jays scored during the run that spanned almost eight minutes.
• Ivanov had the final say of the half, scoring with 38 ticks remaining to send the Blue Jays into the half with an 8-5 lead. Coming out of the break, MIT sandwiched a pair of goals around an Emerson Sullivan strike and the lead was 9-7 with 5:53 to go. Sophomore Jayden Kunwar and junior Stephen Schmidt answered with goals just 34 seconds apart to double the Hopkins' lead. The teams traded goals over the final two minutes and JHU led 13-9 going into the fourth.
• Ivanov and Kunwar opened the fourth-quarter scoring to push the lead to six with 5:55 to play. The Engineers would outscore the Jays 3-1 down the stretch, but could get no closer than four.
 
What it Means
• Hopkins is now 30-11 all-time against MIT, including 18-7 at the CWPA Division III Championship. JHU is 76-9 all-time at the championship, including 18-9 in the final. The Blue Jays' 18 titles are the most in the 29-year history of the championship. MIT ranks second with nine championships.
• Both Hopkins and MIT clinched berths in the inaugural Division III Collegiate Water Polo National Championship sponsored by USA Water Polo due to their appearance in the title game. Set for December 7-8 at a site to be determined in California, the Division III National Championship tournament will pit the top two teams from the Division III Eastern Championship against the top two squads from the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championship with the first-ever Division III National Championship on the line.  The win guarantees that JHU will not have to face the SCIAC Champion in the opening round.
• Banks was named the CWPA Division III Championship MVP and earned first team all-tournament honors. Head coach Max Schlegel earned Most Outstanding Coach honors. Also earning all-tournament honors were Kunwar (first team) and Sullivan (second team).
 
Inside the Box Score
• Ivanov led the Blue Jays with a career-best seven points (3g, 4a) and scored his 100^th career goal. Banks (1g, 5a) and Kunwar (3g, 3a) had six points apiece. Junior Max Fleming made 12 saves and grabbed three steals.  
• Banks moves into seventh place in school history with 325 career points while Ivanov now ranks 23^rd with 167 points.
 
Up Next
• Hopkins returns to action on Saturday, November 2 as the Blue Jays travel to Washington, DC to take on 17^th-ranked George Washington. The Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference match is slated for a 6:00 pm start.