ANNAPOLIS, MD – The Johns Hopkins water polo team split its games on Sunday at the Navy Open. JHU dropped a 20-10 decision to 11
th-ranked Princeton and then beat Salem, 18-17, to end the weekend.
Against Princeton, the first quarter was closely contested as the teams combined for 11 goals. After freshman
Jason Mihalopoulos tied the game at five with 44 ticks on the clock, the Tigers' George Caras converted a five-meter shot to put Princeton up 6-5 after one. Senior
Chris Freese knotted the score at six-all with an ejection goal just 94 seconds into the second. The Tigers answered with five straight goals to go up 11-6 with 2:05 to go in the quarter.
Graduate students
Emerson Sullivan and
Jayden Kunwar ended the run with back-to-back goals and cut the lead to three. The Tigers' offense then took over, scoring nine unanswered goals to take a 20-8 lead at the 5:35-mark in the fourth quarter. Junior
Paul Gensbigler and freshman
Gavin Brooke ended the game with back-to-back goals to account for the 20-10 final.
In the final game of the tournament, Hopkins picked up its first win of the season in a high-scoring affair with Salem. Goals from Kunwar, sophomore
Ian Raley and Sullivan staked the Blue Jays to an early 3-1 lead. But the Tigers used a four-goal run to grab a 5-3 lead with 1:36 to go in the first. Raley halted the run with his second of the period, but a late Salem goal gave the Tigers a 6-4 lead after one.
Raley opened the second-quarter scoring, followed by a Sullivan man-up goal just 19 seconds later and it was a 6-6 game. Salem retook the lead with two quick goals, but Kunwar answered with two goals just 30 seconds apart to make it an 8-8 game midway through the quarter. Each time got a goal in the final 80 seconds to make it a 9-9 game at the half.
Salem retook the lead just 17 seconds into the third, but Hopkins answered with a 4-1 run to go up 13-11 after three. The Tigers responded with three straight to open the fourth and take a 14-13 lead. Junior
Cameron Burns knotted the score at 14 and sparked a three-goal Blue Jay run that saw them take a 16-14 lead with 2:16 to play. The teams traded scores over the final 70 seconds and Hopkins held on for the 18-17 win.
Hopkins returns to action on Saturday, September 10 at the Washington & Jefferson Invitational. JHU will face Penn State Behrend at 2 pm.
Notes: Kunwar became just the 11
th player in program history to score 200 career goals on Sunday • He now ranks ninth with 202 goals • Sullivan now has 159 career goals to rank 16
th in JHU history.
Inside the Box (Princeton): Kunwar, Sullivan and Gensbigler led the Blue Jays with two goals each.
Inside the Box (Salem): Kunwar scored a team-high six goals • Sullivan added four goals • Raley notched his second career hat trick while Soares had his first hat trick.
