The crowd, dressed in an array of different costumes, cheered on the Hopkins water polo team as the Jays faced off against the 12th-ranked Navy team on Halloween this weekend.
The Jays came up short as the Midshipmen held on after a big second period to win 15-10. Hopkins now looks to prepare for the CWPA Southern Division Championship next week hosted by Bucknell.
During the first period of play, it seemed that both teams were going to have to bring something special to the table if they wanted be victorious. A balanced, yet exciting beginning wrapped up with the Midshipmen leading with a score of 3-2. Then, early on in the second period, the Jays tied the score up at three points each with a goal by senior Kyle Gertridge. However, that would soon change as the Midshipmen went on a tear before halftime.
An explosive second period by Navy resulted in eight goals unanswered by Hopkins to put the Midshipmen up 11-3. The Jays just could not find a way to stop their attack until the game was already too far out of reach. Four of the Navy players had multi-goal games, most of which came in the second period when they scored over half of their total goals for the day.
After letting up an early goal in the third period to extend the Midshipmen's lead to 12-3, the Jays found some rhythm sparked by sophomore Mark Strickland. He started off a four-goal run that gave hope to some of the Hopkins fans but in the end was not enough to overcome the large deficit already put upon the Jays by the Midshipmen.
With the score at 12-7 early on in the fourth period, Navy player Luke Baldwin scored to end the drive and give the Midshipmen a 13-7 lead. Then with two back-to-back goals, freshman Kielan Crow put the Jays within four points with 3:07 remaining. That would be the closest Hopkins would get as they traded goals to finish up at 15-10.
Crow had a career-high game with four goals on Saturday helping him to earn the title of CWPA Southern Division Rookie of the Week. He becomes the second Jay to earn this recognition along with classmate Alex Whittam.
Even though losing against Navy this past Saturday, the team's outlook stays positive as they move on to championship play this coming weekend. Sophomore Mark Strickland believes that the loss has not affected the spirits of the Jays.
"I think the game went well - the team morale is really high and we are starting to play together as a team and all of it is coming at the right time." Strickland said. "Even though we lost, we lost because we legitimately got beat and not because we fell apart as a team. It was nice to see a comeback towards the end; we would have had them in a big pool for sure."
The Jays, now on the road for the rest of the season, are poised to fight forward through D-III Championship play. They will prepare for the upcoming CWPA Southern Division Championship this coming weekend. Bucknell will host the championship that spans from Nov. 6-8.
