Box Score BRONX, NY – The 10^th-seeded Johns Hopkins water polo team rallied to beat seventh-seeded Mount St. Mary's, 18-17, Friday in the opening round of the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) Championship Friday.
 
Hopkins trailed 17-16 with 2:27 to play in the fourth after an Alexander Bellesis man-up goal. Fifty-eight seconds later, sophomore Ian Raley scored and tied the game for the seventh time. Just 17 seconds later, Raley scored again and Hopkins had its first lead since early in the third quarter. The Blue Jay defense would make the goal stand up as they kept the Mount off the board for the final 2:27 of the game.
 
Hopkins jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the game's opening 3:15. Zach Fisher cut the deficit to two with a five-meter goal, but graduate student Emerson Sullivan completed his first quarter hat trick to put the Blue Jays up 5-2 after one.
 
The Mount opened the second with back-to-back goals to pull within one just 55 seconds in. Junior Cameron Burns and senior Kami Eslami answered with goals for the Blue Jays to push the lead back to three. Mount St. Mary's responded with a 3-1 spurt to end the quarter and JHU led 8-7 at the half. The teams traded goals throughout the third and it was still a one-goal game going into the fourth.
 
Tommaso Baldineti scored to open the fourth quarter and tied the game at 12. Sullivan answered 33 seconds later with a six-on-five goal and the Blue Jays were back on top. The Mount then scored three straight to go up 15-13 with 4:41 to play. Sophomore Chris Lo ended the run with a man-up goal to pull Hopkins within one, but a pair of Bellesis goals staked Mount St. Mary's to a 17-16 lead with 2:27 on the clock.  
 
Hopkins will now take on second-seeded George Washington in the next round of the MAWPC Championship.
 
Inside the Box
Goals: Sullivan-6, Raley-3, Burns-2, Eslami-2, Steffey-1, Mihalpoulos-1, Palfi-1, Soares-1, Lo-1
Assists: Soares-3, Berke-2, Raley-2, Freese-2, Palfi-2, Pearson-1, Sadiq-1, Eslami-1, Mihalopoulos-1, Booke-1
Steals: Sullivan-2, Eslami-2, Raley-2, Steffey-1, Burns-1, Soares-1, Lo-1
Saves: Pearson-11, Sadiq-1
 
Notes: Sullivan moved into 10^th place in program history with 309 career points • Sullivan also scored his 100^th goal of the season, becoming just the third player in program history with 100 goals in a season.