Box Score BALTIMORE, MD – The Johns Hopkins water polo team fell in a heartbreaker to Bucknell in its home opener Saturday night.
 
Hopkins jumped out to a 2-0 lead with goals from sophomores Gavin Brooke and Daniel Palfi. Bucknell answered with three straight to go up 3-2 with 4:15 to play in the opening quarter. Freshman Alec Baker knotted the score at three and just 29 seconds later, senior Paul Gensbigler put the Blue Jays back on top. Hasan Mogultay then scored on a six-on-five to tie the game at four. Junior Ian Raley closed out the period with a five-meter goal to put JHU up 5-4.
 
Baker got his second of the night to push the Blue Jays lead to two early in the second. The Bison answered with another three-goal spurt to take a 7-6 lead at the five-minute mark. Freshman Max Blecher halted the run and tied the game at seven, but back-to-back Bucknell goals saw the visitors go up 9-7 at 1:41. Freshman Owen Bartlett scored back-to-back goals of his own, including a buzzer-beater, to make it a 9-9 game at the half.
 
Bucknell opened the third with three unanswered to push out to a 12-9 lead. Raley scored another five-meter goal to get JHU back on the board. Doruk Ozar answered with a goal for the Bison to make it a three-goal game once again. Junior Chris Lo scored to spark a three-goal run as the Blue Jays pulled even on a Blecher goal with 1:31 to go. Aleksa Stefanovic had the final say of the quarter however, giving the Bison a 14-13 lead after three.
 
Senior Seth Berke opened the fourth-quarter scoring with a six-on-five goal. Raley followed with another five-meter goal and it was 15-14 JHU. Maxime Touzot answered for Bucknell to tie the game at 15, but Bartlett came right back to put Hopkins up one with 2:20 to play. Jack Bruce then tied the game on a six-on-five and 47 seconds later, Andu Vlasceanu gave the Bison the lead. That would do it as Bucknell took the 17-16 victory.
 
Bartlett and Raley led the Blue Jays with three goals each. Raley also had an assist to finish with four points. Baker also had four points (2g, 2a) along with a team-best five drawn ejections. Sophomore Quint Steffey had three steals, while Berke had two assists and two blocks. Graduate student Saahil Naik finished with a season-high 13 saves to go with one assist.
 
Hopkins is right back at it on Sunday, September 24 as the Blue Jays host the George Washington Revolutionaries. The MAWPC game is slated for an 11:00 am start.