ANNAPOLIS, MD – The Johns Hopkins water polo team opened the season with a split at the Navy Open on Saturday. Hopkins dropped a tough 19-18 decision to Gannon in the opener and then beat Mercyhurst, 21-18.
The first quarter against Gannon was back-and-forth early before a
Phillip Long goal sparked a 4-1 Hopkins' run as the Blue Jays grabbed a 7-4 lead with 50 seconds to go in the period. Petar Markovic and Ben Fribourg then sandwiched a pair of goals around a five-meter score by Long and it was 8-6 Blue Jays after one.
The Golden Knights picked up right where they left off, scoring the first five goals of the second quarter to go up 11-8. Sophomore
Alec Baker and freshman
Patrick Rooney halted the run with a pair of scores in the final two minutes to make it an 11-10 game at the half. Gannon came out firing to start the third, scoring four straight to push out to a 15-10 lead midway through. Long ended the run with a five-meter goal, igniting a 4-1 Hopkins' run that saw the deficit trimmed to one at the end of three. The teams traded goals throughout the fourth quarter and the Golden Knights held on for the one-goal win.
Hopkins rebounded in the afternoon with the win over Mercyhurst. The Blue Jays jumped out to a 4-1 lead, fueled by a pair of goals from freshman
Andrew Lee. Alessio Sampedro scored with 2:01 to play in the quarter to ignite a six-goal run as the Lakers grabbed a 7-4 lead with 5:40 to go in the second. Senior
Ian Raley ended the run with the first of his two goals in the quarter and cut the deficit to two. Mercyhurst answered with two goals in 46 seconds to push out to a 9-5 lead.
Raley and Lee sandwiched goals around a score from Asher Jones in the final four minutes and the Lakers led 10-7 at the half. Mercyhurst opened the third-quarter scoring to push the lead to four, but a Raley five-meter score at 4:41 sparked a four-goal run that tied the game less than two minutes later. Jones put Mercyhurst back on top, but back-to-back goals from Long gave Hopkins its first lead since the early in the second quarter.
Jacob Hopkins scored with 1:24 to go in the third to knot the score at 13, but Raley buried a five-meter shot less than a minute later and the Blue Jays led 14-13. Petar Vujovic scored to open the fourth quarter and tie the game at 14. Rooney and junior
Quint Steffey answered with back-to-back goals and the Blue Jays led by two with 5:17 to play. The Lakers weren't going away however, getting goals from Vujovic and Owen Hardner to tie the game once again. Lee scored just 21 seconds later to spark a 5-2 run to end the game and give Hopkins the 21-18 win.
Long led the Blue Jays with eight goals and nine points, along with two steals in the opener versus Gannon. Lee was the only other Blue Jay with multiple goals and also drew five ejections. Babel handed out a team-best four assists to go with a goal.
In the win over Mercyhurst, Long scored six goals and grabbed three steals. Raley finished with a career-best seven points and tied his high with five goals. Junior
Daniel Palfi notched a team and career-best four assist to go with a score. Lee scored four goals, drew five ejections and grabbed a pair of steals. Sophomore
Chris Poisler matched his career-high with 10 saves.
Hopkins returns to action on Sunday, September 8 at the Navy Open. JHU will face McKendree at 8:00 am and then Salem at 11:45 to wrap up the weekend.
