The Hopkins water polo team took to the water in Annapolis, MD at the scenic United States Naval Academy to begin their 2013 campaign, and did so by getting off on the right foot. At the site of the nation’s finest aquatic warriors, the Jays went 4-0 against stiff competition from across the country.
The first match of the season pitted the Jays against the Gaels of Iona, in what was a back and forth matchup throughout the game. The first quarter ended with the scoreboard favoring Iona 5-4. Then, with the match knotted at 6-6, the Gaels broke out and took a 9-6 lead into the half.
Hopkins stayed cool, though. This was necessary because Iona came out strong in the third quarter, netting two goals to widen the score to 11-6. Hopkins needed six unanswered goals in order to win the match and that’s just what they did. After closing out the third down 11-7, the Jays got the ball rolling early in the fourth quarter following a goal from sophomore Garrett Davidson.
Down 11-8, junior Johnny Beal scored two goals in under 20 seconds, quickly cutting the deficit to one. At this crucial point in most matches, experience often seems to take over. This was not the case for the Jays though, as two freshmen led the charge to the win down the stretch.
Camden Schreeder, with just over three minutes to play, connected on his first career goal to tie the Gaels at 11 apiece. With 19 seconds to go, fellow freshman Matt Fraser then nailed a clutch shot past the goalie and the Jays went on to win the match 12-11.
Leading the scoring brigade for the Jays was Beal with three goals, while junior Wes Hopkins, senior Thomas de Lyon and Fraser each had two. Sophomore goaltender Erik Henrikson earned the win in the cage for Hopkins with 11 saves and two steals.
Hopkins faced another tough battle later in the day, this time squaring off against the Gannon Golden Knights.
The Jays led early, but Gannon quickly fought back into the contest. A 4-1 Hopkins lead turned into a 9-5 lead at the half, but after outscoring the Jays 6-5 in the third quarter, Gannon trailed by only three goals heading into the fourth.
With three goals early in the fourth though, Hopkins never looked back, and put the Golden Knights away with relative ease 19-13. Earning the win for the Jays was junior goalie Danny Ovelar with 12 saves. Freshman Connor Johnson and Hopkins led the Jays in scoring with five goals each.
The next day turned out to be the same for the Jays, as they once again swept their opposition for an undefeated weekend at the Academy waters.
For this to happen, Hopkins had to get through opponents MAB and Diablo Valley.
Leading the day off with MAB, Hopkins picked up where they left off at the end of the Gannon match, jumping out to an early 7-2 lead. At the half though, any momentum Hopkins had early shifted to MAB’s side of the pool as MAB cut the deficit to 9-6.
This shift was brief, as Hopkins scored five of the next six goals in the match to lead 14-9. In the end, the Jays came out with a 17-12 victory and a great start to the day. Beal led the team with four goals, while freshman Giovanni Cragnotti, sophomore Langdon Froomer, Fraser, Johnson and Schreeder each scored two. Ovelar recorded the win in the match and his second of the weekend with 14 saves.
The finale for the weekend against Diablo Valley was a barn-burner from the start, with both teams scoring four goals in the first frame of action. Hopkins gained the edge in the second quarter though, scoring five goals to take a 9-5 lead into the half.
From there, Hopkins took charge of the match and finished with a 14-10 victory.
Beal continued his incredible play from the weekend by adding on three more goals to his tally, while goalie Henrikson picked up his second win of the weekend with 12 saves.
“We have a young team this year, so it is important to get game experience as a team,” Froomer said. “Going 4-0 was important, but we still have a lot of work to reach our full potential.”
Hopkins returns to the pool next on Sept. 14 at the Princeton Invitational.
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