The Hopkins water polo team played an exhausting five games over the weekend. The men faced Princeton University, Brown University, Bucknell University, the Naval Academy and Harvard University.
"It was a really tiring weekend," sophomore defender Arya Zarinsefat said. "That was a lot of water polo in a small amount of time."
Friday's match against Princeton was the highlight of the weekend. After a close first quarter, the Jays played an aggressive second half of the game to defeat the Tigers. Sparked by junior utility Josh Kratz's first goal of the game, senior utility Sean McCreery and sophomore utility Peter Davis combined for eight more goals by the end of the game.
Senior utility Chris Hemmerle added two points to the scoreboard as well, giving the Jays an 11-4 lead. Just for good measure, sophomore driver Kyle Gertridge topped off the game with a goal in the final minute.
The eight-point lead is the largest margin Hopkins water polo has ever held against Princeton. Freshman goalie Jeremy Selbst and junior goalie Chris Hutchins shared the net to combat the Tigers' 14 shots, blocking 10 of them.
"We've beat them in their home pool, and now we've destroyed them in our home pool," Zarinsefat said. "That win was huge for the entire program."
The team woke up to face Brown the next day.
In Saturday's game against Bucknell, Hopkins struggled through a tough first half, tailing the Bisons 4-7 at the second buzzer. Bucknell's senior driver Jason Rechel tallied an unstoppable seven goals in the game. However the fire from Friday sparked again as McCreery scored an impressive three goals for the Jays in the third quarter. Unfortunately the flame died out when the Jays took the water at the start of the fourth quarter. The Bisons took home a 12-9 victory.
Sunday, the team packed their bags for two more games. Still sore from their loss the night before, the Jays just couldn't muster the strength to overcome their first opponent, Navy. The men struggled through the first three quarters, tailing 3-9 by the end of the third.
Due to a "strategic" red card, head coach Ted Bresnahan was dismissed from the pool in the third quarter. The Jays fought hard in the fourth couldn't come back without a coach.
By the fourth quarter, the Jays' starting roster took a break and let the bench handle the rest of the game. Led from the sidelines by captains McCreery and Hemmerle, the fresh players scored an impressive four goals.
"They executed better than any of the starters did that game," McCreery said. "They showed a bright future for the team."
Unfortunately the team's past was dimmed a bit by the loss to Navy, as the Jays' comeback came too late to steal a victory. They got out of the pool with a 7-11 loss.
"We were upset about losing to Bucknell," McCreery said, "and it carried over into our game against Navy."
Sieber added, "the pool was really cold."
Contributing factors to the weekend's losses, according to McCreery and Sieber, include freshman negligence, poor lifting attendance and an invisible coaching staff.
The team then traveled to face Harvard for the fifth and final game of the weekend. Seeking revenge, the team was eager to repay Harvard for the stitches and broken thumbs from the season's previous match against Harvard. McCreery set the tone for the match with a spin lob in the first quarter and followed shortly with two more.
"They were pretty much demoralized," Sieber said of the goal. "They couldn't recover."
His statement held true as Crimson goalie Paul Tselentis couldn't stop the shots from the Jays. Senior Brady Seiber also had an incredible shot on goal. "It was probably one of the best shots ever," Zarinsefat said.
The rest of the game was sprinkled with goals from Davis, Hemmerle and sophomore utilities Reid Fox and Peter Sauherhoff. The team came home with a 9-5 win.
Overall the weekend was good practice for the Jays, who head to the Southern Division East Region tournament in the following weeks. Until then Coach Bresnahan and his staff have two weeks planned of what Zarinsefat calls a "mini-training camp."
"Our goal is to place as high as possible in Southern and make it to the championship game of Eastern," Zarinsefat said.
