THOUSAND OAKS, CA – Johns Hopkins fell to MIT, 9-6, in the third-place game of the 2022 USA Water Polo Division III Collegiate Championship Sunday.
Graduate student
Emerson Sullivan gave the Blue Jays an early 1-0 lead, but Evan Kowal answered with a pair to give the Engineers a 2-1 lead after one. Adam Ivatorov opened the second with his first goal to push the lead to two.
Sullivan got one back for Hopkins to slice the deficit in half, but another Kowal goal sparked a three-goal MIT run that saw the Engineers go up 6-2 with 50 seconds to play in the quarter. Sullivan responded with a six-on-five goal to make it a three-goal game at the half. He then opened the third with another six-on-five goal, followed by an even-strength goal from sophomore
Ian Raley and just like that the Blue Jays were back within one.
Ivatorov then sandwiched a pair of goals around a Miller Geschke five-meter goal and the Engineers led 9-5 with 2:42 to play. Sullivan converted on a six-on-five with 37 seconds left to pull the Jays within three, but they could get no closer.
Inside the Box
Goals: Sullivan-5, Raley-1,
Assists: Raley-2, Freese-1, Brooke-1
Steals: Raley-4, Burns-3, Gensbigler-2, Pearson-1, Sullivan-1, Brooke-1
Saves: Pearson-10
Notes: Sullivan's fifth goals gave him 113 for the season to break Ross Schofield's single season record, set in 2012. He finishes the season with 140 points, the third highest total in school history. Sullivan finishes his career tied for eighth in points (324), sixth in goals (262), 20
th in assists (62), 17
th in steals (113), third in blocks (46) and fifth in drawn ejections (147). Senior
Chris Freese now has 75 career assists, which is tied for 16
th in program history. He also ranks 12
th with 103 drawn ejections. Senior
Kami Eslami has 103 career steals, good for 19
th in program history. Elsami also has 24 blocks, which is tied for 11
th. Sophomore
Kyle Pearson surpassed the 300-save mark this season and his 315 saves are the third most in a single season in JHU history. He also has 594 career saves, which is third most all-time.