ERIE, PA – The Johns Hopkins water polo team had a tough task of three games in an eight-hour span at the MAWPC Conference Crossover at Merychurst. JHU lost to Gannon (20-19) and Salem (18-15) before rebounding with a win over McKendree.
Hopkins opened the day with a tough 20-19 loss to Gannon in the morning. This one was high scoring from the opening whistle as the teams combined for 10 goals in the opening quarter. Trailing 5-4 with 29 seconds to play in the quarter, the Blue Jays earned a five-meter and freshman
Dado Soares buried the shot to make it a tie game at the break.
Soares' goal sparked a 5-2 run that saw Hopkins push out to a 9-7 lead midway through the second. The Knights responded with a 4-1 run of their own as they took an 11-10 lead with 31 ticks on the clock. Senior
Kami Eslami and junior
Liam Housenbold scored twice in the final 15 seconds to give the Blue Jays a 12-11 lead at the half.
The teams traded goals throughout the third and fourth quarters and Hopkins led 19-18 on a Sullivan goal with 4:36 to play. Gannon tied the game at 3:05 on a five-meter shot and then took the lead on a six-on-five goal at 1:44. That turned out to be the game-winner as the Blue Jays could not get the equalizer.
In the second game of the day, Salem jumped out to an eight-goal lead and then held off a late rally by Hopkins. The Tigers scored five of the game's first six goals to take control early. Sophomore
Ian Raley halted the early run with a goal at the 5:27-mark of the second, but Salem responded with three straight to push its lead to 8-2 with 3:10 left in the quarter. Junior
Cameron Burns got one back for the Jays and it was an 8-3 game at the half.
Salem opened the third with a 4-1 run as its lead ballooned to 12-4. Senior
Chris Freese scored at 2:53 to spark a 5-1 Blue Jay run as they pulled within four with six seconds to go in the quarter. The Tigers weren't done however as they scored with just one tick on the clock to take a 14-9 lead into the final quarter.
The Tigers sandwiched a pair of goals around a strike from freshman
Gavin Brooke and the lead was 16-10 early in the fourth. A 3-1 Hopkins run, with all three goals from Brooke, cut the deficit to four with 1:58 to play. Salem answered at the 1:10-mark to make it an 18-13 game. Burns and Freese scored back-to-back just 23 seconds apart to trim the deficit to three, but JHU could get no closer.
Hopkins ended the day on a high note with a 12-11 win over McKendree. The Blue Jays jumped out to a 4-2 lead, fueled by pair of goals from Burns. The Bearcats then sandwiched a pair of goals around a score by freshman
Quint Steffey to pull within one. But a Raley goal with 21 seconds to play gave JHU a 6-4 lead after one. Sullivan opened the second-quarter scoring with a goal at the 4:42-mark. McKendree answered with three straight scores to knot the score at seven. Freshman
Jason Mihalopoulos responded with a goal with 1:30 remaining to send the Blue Jays into the half with an 8-7 lead.
Burns and Gensbigler scored back-to-back goals to push Hopkins' lead to 10-7 with 2:02 to go in the third. McKendree answered just 13 seconds later to trim the deficit to two heading into the fourth. Sullivan scored twice to open the fourth and stake Hopkins to a 12-8 lead. The Bearcats kept battling and scored three goals in a two-minute span to slice the deficit to one. The Blue Jay defense clamped down in the final 102 seconds to secure the win.
Hopkins returns to action on Sunday, September 25 against host Mercyhurst.
Inside the Box (Gannon):
Goals: Sullivan-8, Soares-3, Eslami-2, Brooke-2, Steffey-1, Burns-1, Gensbigler-1, Housenbold-1
Assists: Brooke-4, Soares-3, Sullivan-1, Sadiq-1, Burns-1, Mihalopoulos-1, Palfi-1
Saves: Pearson-9
Inside the Box (Salem):
Goals: Burns-4, Brooke-4, Gensbigler-2, Freese-2, Sullivan-1, Eslami-1, Raley-1
Assists: Sullivan-4, Palfi-3, Steffey-2, Burns-2, Eslami-1, Gensbigler-1, Mihalopoulos-1, Soares-1
Saves: Pearson-13
Inside the Box (McKendree):
Goals: Sullivan-3, Burns-3, Steffey-1, Eslami-1, Raley-1, Gensbigler-1, Mihalopoulos-1, Brooke-1
Assists: Brooke-4, Soares-3, Eslami-2, Gensbigler-1, Palfi-1, Lo-1
Saves: Pearson-5
Notes: Sullivan posted his 11
th game with five or more goals with his eight-goal performance versus Gannon • He now ranks 13
th in program history in career goals (187) and 23
rd in career assists (51) • Brooke's four goals against Salem are a career high and his first career hat trick • He also had a career-high four assists versus Gannon • Burns also posted a career-high four goals versus Salem
