W. Polo competes at ECAC

The Johns Hopkins' Water Polo team finished strong at the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championships this past weekend, with an impressive 8-5 victory over Bucknell. The weekend was not all successful for the Jays, however. The team struggled against Harvard and Iona in a double-header on Sunday, losing 12-7 and 10-7, respectively.

Senior Paul Ramaley, who scored twice in the win over Bucknell said, "Last weekend was a good experience. We felt like we had nothing to lose. We were able to keep the games close each time and were hoping to pull off an upset but we couldn't hang on."

In their victory, the Jays jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. Junior Geoff McCann hit the back of the net early on in the first quarter to secure the Jay's first goal on the day. Then sophomore Brian Mead, the reigning Southern Division Player of the Week, added the first of his three goals just 21 seconds later.

The Blue Jays led 3-2 just before halftime but received goals from sophomore Mac Sanford, Ramaley and Mead as the offense exploded for the next six goals.

Bucknell responded with goals from freshman Brad Roselyn, senior Adam Yerkes and Brad Unroe, as they cut the lead to 8-4 at the end of the third quarter.

However, the team managed to score the only goal of the fourth quarter on Hopkins goalie, junior Craig Smith, but still were unable to overcome the Blue Jays pressure on both the offensive and defensive ends.

Ramaley said, "Bucknell is our biggest rival in the South, so it was nice to beat them again." The win over Bucknell this past weekend was the third this year for the Blue Jays, with previous scores of 11-8 and 15-10, respectively.

This weekend, the Blue Jays head to Princeton University for the Southern Division Championships, with high hopes and the No. 3 seed in the tournament.

First up on Friday night for the Blue Jays on the schedule is George Washington, whom they have beaten twice already this year with scores of 15-13 and 9-8.

The Blue Jays will then take on Grove City on Saturday morning.

The Blue Jays, ranked No. 2 in the Division III National Collegiate Top 10 Poll, are heading to the Championships for the fourth year in a row, a first for a Division III school.

Ramaley spoke of the team's expectations, saying, "we're pretty confident, especially against GW. If we win then we play on at the Eastern Division Championships in two weeks and we don't want our season to end this week.