The Hopkins men's water polo team pulled out two comeback victories to finish in third place at the 2009 Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships at Princeton University.
With the performance, Hopkins has now finished in the top three for two straight years, coming in second in 2008.
Before the tournament, the Blue Jays lost to 20th-ranked Princeton University, 11-5. Hopkins led 4-3 at the half, carried by freshman Alex Whittam's hat-trick and seven saves by junior Jeremy Selbst. The Tigers came out strong in the third quarter, using a 4-0 run to take a 7-4 lead going into the final quarter. Princeton did not relent, out-scoring the Jays 4-1 in the fourth to secure the 11-5 victory.
In the first round of the ECACs, Hopkins needed to rally to defeat Bucknell University. The Jays scored seven second-half goals to overcome a 6-4 halftime deficit and squeeze out the 11-10 win.
The victory marked the second time Hopkins has defeated the Bison in its last 11 tries. Five different Jays scored in the second half, led by senior Kyle Gertridge, who scored twice. Whittam scored the game-winner with just 30 second left in the game.
"[Defeating] east coast rival Bucknell University was a big moral boost for us and gave us a lot of momentum going forward into the season. With league play just around the corner and our trip out to California coming up, we have high hopes to bring another DIII National Championship back to Hopkins," the freshman said.
Hopkins then played Navy, ranked 13th in the country. After a close first quarter, the Midshipmen exploded with 11 goals in the second and third quarters, leading by a score of 13-4 going into the fourth quarter. In the final period, Hopkins out-scored Navy 4-1, but lost 14-7. Gertridge and sophomore Mark Strickland each had two goals for the Jays. Earlier in the year, Hopkins lost a close match to Navy 11-9.
After the loss to Navy, Hopkins was slated to play 16th-ranked Brown University in the third-place match. The Jays led 3-2 after the first quarter, but Brown rallied to take a 4-3 lead into the half.
The third quarter saw a shootout, as the Bears and Jays combined for 10 goals, with Brown heading into the fourth quarter with a 10-7 advantage. Freshman Ross Schofield and junior John Barrett each scored in the fourth to bring Hopkins within one goal at 10-9. Brown's Svetozar Stefanovic increased the Bears' lead to two again with just 5:15 remaining in the contest. Hopkins rallied with three unanswered goals, seizing the lead at 12-11 with three minutes remaining.
With 2:26 left in the match, Stefanovic again scored for Brown, tying the score at 12-12. The freshman Whittam came through in the clutch for the Blue Jays, scoring the game-winning goal only 36 seconds after Stefanovic's final goal.
For his performance as goalie over the course of the tournament, Selbst was named the CWPA Southern Division Player of the Week. The junior recorded 28 saves and nine steals in four games to help Hopkins finish third at the ECAC Championship.
In the Princeton match, Hopkins' second division match of the year, Selbst recorded 10 saves and four steals, and added six saves with one steal against Bucknell. He had another six saves and two steals against Navy, and finished the tournament by recording eight saves and two steals in the come-from-behind victory over Brown.
The honor continues a recent string of accolades for the Blue Jays, as last week Kyle Gertridge was named the Southern Division Co-Player of the week and Alex Whittam was named the Southern Division Rookie of the Week.
The Blue Jays will return to the pool Friday night in a rematch of their first ECAC match, as they take on Bucknell at 8:00 pm in Kinney Natatorium.
