BALTIMORE, MD – Ninth-ranked Johns Hopkins dropped a tough 14-12 game to seventh-ranked MIT in the opening game of the CWPA Division III Eastern Championship Saturday morning. The Blue Jays are now 8-14 on the season.
 
The Engineers jumped out to a 5-2 lead after the first quarter, but the Blue Jays battled back in the second. Sophomore Owen Bartlett and junior Daniel Palfi scored back-to-back goals to open the second and just like that the deficit was one. MIT responded with goals from William Ewald and Rick Lundh to go up 7-4 with 3:12 left in the second.
 
Sophomore Max Blecher scored at the 2:06-mark and then Alec Baker buried a five-meter shot with 49 seconds to go and it was 7-6 at the half. Lundh and Ewald sandwiched a pair of goals around a strike from Bartlett to open the third and it was 9-7 Engineers at the 3:46-mark. Freshman Phillip Long then scored on a penalty shot, followed by scores from juniors Quint Steffey and Jason Mihalopoulos and the Blue Jays led 10-9 with 1:21 to go.
 
Kieran Kearns answered for MIT to spark a three-goal run as the Engineers went up 12-10 with 5:58 to play in the fourth. Bartlett scored his third of the game just 30 seconds later to halt the run, but a pair of Lundh goals put MIT up 14-11 with 2:05 on the clock. Freshman Patrick Rooney scored just 56 seconds later to pull the Blue Jays within two, but they could get no closer.
 
Bartlett led Hopkins with three goals and two steals, while Palfi totaled a team-best four assists and five points. Baker (2g) and Blecher (1g, 1a) each had two points. Senior Kyle Pearson finished with nine saves and five steals in the cage.