The Hopkins water polo team finished a strong season two weekends ago at the 2010 CWPA Eastern Championship hosted by Bucknell. Placing sixth overall, the Blue Jays lost to St. Francis, then beat Fordham before losing to Brown.
However, the Jays played strong and almost beat 12th ranked St. Francis in what would have been their biggest upset of the season.
Hopkins began the tournament against the nationally ranked Terriers, staying right with them throughout the match. The Jays led 5-4 at halftime, but the Terriers quickly came back, jumping to a 7-5 lead with goals by Stefan Gencic, Filip Sasic and Alexandar Pantic.
The Jays were quick to respond with two goals of their own from sophomores Kielan Crow and Alex Whittam, tying the game at seven. It took just 24 seconds for the Terriers to pull ahead again, however, as another goal by Pantic put St. Francis up 8-7.
With just 5:14 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Jays tied the match at eight with another goal by Whittam getting the ball past the goalie, Igor Mladenovic.
That would be all for Hopkins though, as the Jays were stopped by a stifling Terrier defense from then on. With just 3:55 left in the contest, Bosko Stankovic scored to put the Jays away, losing game one of the tournament, 9-8.
The loss was not in vain, however. Hopkins played strongly against the nationally ranked Terriers that have yet to lose to a team on the east coast during the regular season.
Now in consolation play, Hopkins had Fordham up next who the Jays had already played twice during the season, splitting the matches.
The Jays started strong and never looked back. The Jays took the lead just 45 seconds into the match when sophomore Ross Schofield’s shot fired into the back of the net. Fordham tied the game just 30 seconds later when Ali Arat pulled off an impressive behind-the-back shot.
Hopkins took the momentum right back though, and closed the period out with back-to-back special team goals from senior John Barrett and Crow. Barrett’s goal came from a cross-pool shot from a Whittam assist, while Crow’s goal was from a five-meter penalty shot.
The Hopkins lead continued to grow during the second period with two quick goals, giving them a 5-1 lead, both goals from Schofield. Schofield completed his quarter hat-trick right before the half, putting the Jays up 7-4.
Fordham wouldn’t go down without a fight and came back after the half pushing the game to 7-6. The game went back and forth until late in the fourth period when Fordham’s Victor Batista Medina was whistled for a flagrant foul against Barrett.
Hopkins took advantage of this five-meter shot and scored twice more after the ejection of Christian Flessner, Fordham’s goalie. This sealed the Hopkins victory at 11-8.
After a tough loss to St. Francis, Hopkins responded with an impressive victory over Fordham. In a match that had 24 ejections, eight advantage or penalty goals, 22 saves, and two cards, Hopkins controlled the game after the 1-1 tie early on.
The Jays’ victory over Fordham advanced them into the fifth place game against Brown. The game was close near halftime with Brown leading 5-4. The Bears then controlled the second half 5-1, winning 10-5.
This 5-1 run was ignited in the third period when Brown’s Ryan Gladych put a goal in from a nice assist. James McNamara was next, converting on a 6-on-5 advantage to push their lead to three, 7-4.
Brown topped the Jays on this run by exploiting ejections. After the lead grew to 8-4, Hopkins broke up the three-goal streak with a goal of their own from Crow. Leading 9-5, the Bears ended both their and Hopkins’ season with a final goal from Corey Schwartz, who had five goals in the game.
Hopkins finished the season with a 17-16 record.
