Water Polo goes 2-2 at Harvard

Freshman utility James Singleton scored seven goals as the Johns Hopkins Water Polo team went 2-2 last weekend in the Interregional Championship at Harvard University. The Blue Jays defeated George Washington, 10-9, and Bucknell, 11-6, but lost to St. Francis, 19-7, and Harvard, 10-4.

Johns Hopkins (13-15) opened the tournament against St. Francis, one of the top teams in the north. A lackluster performance by the Blue Jays combined with the strength and experience of an older St. Francis squad caused Johns Hopkins to fall behind quickly.

"We definitely did not have a solid game against St. Francis," sophomore driver Geoffrey McCann said. "They came out strong and got ahead early. By the time we started getting our defense and offense set, we were too far behind."

However, the Blue Jays made the necessary adjustments and handily defeated a weaker George Washington team. Despite a close final score, Johns Hopkins never fell behind, keeping control of the game.

"Against George Washington, the score was much closer than it should have been," McCann said. "During the final period, we basically played our second team, resting the starters for the next game."

The next team that the Blue Jays faced was Harvard, a team that Johns Hopkins defeated earlier in the season, 7-4. But a strong start by Harvard and a inconsistent offense was too much for the Blue Jays to overcome. In the first quarter, Johns Hopkins fell behind quickly by four goals and was unable to formulate any offensive pressure throughout the entire game, as they missed 13 shots.

"We match up very well with Harvard, but we just weren't pumped up for the game," junior co-captain 2-meter/driver Paul Ramaley said. "They came out strong and we played pretty well defensively, but there was just nothing going offensively." In the final game, Johns Hopkins played southern rival Bucknell, a team that the Blue Jays are 3-1 against this season.

The Blue Jays came out firing and pumped up, building a large first half lead. Despite a small comeback in the fourth quarter, Johns Hopkins had complete control of the game.

In a tournament matching up the top southern teams against the northern teams, the northern teams dominated the visiting southern teams. The tournament also acted as a prelude to the Eastern Championships, Nov. 17-18.

"The tournament showed us that we still have room for improvement if we want to place high in Easterns," Ramaley said. "We are getting better against the stronger, more experienced teams, but we need to keep up the intensity and be consistent."

One thing that Ramaley discussed as possible problems were the number of ejections during the weekend.

Despite the victory against George Washington, three players were ejected. Johns Hopkins was fortunate that they were not playing a strong team.

"We took a little step in the wrong direction this weekend," Ramaley said. "If we want to defeat the stronger teams, we need to control our mental approach to the game because in the end we will just be hurting ourselves."

The Blue Jays travel to Annapolis, Md. to compete in the Southern Championships Nov. 2-4. Johns Hopkins is currently seeded third and will face Slippery Rock and Penn State Behrend in the first rounds. Victories against these two teams will earn Johns Hopkns a berth into the Eastern Championships.