Bucknell proves too much for Water Polo

By ZACH JAFFE Staff Writer

The Hopkins water polo team traveled to Lewisburg, Pa. to take on the Bucknell University Bisons and experienced something of a letdown after their big home win against the Naval Academy. The Blue Jays, who defeated the Bisons earlier in the season, struggled to get anything going on offense after a high scoring 13-12 thriller in their last match.

The Jays kept the match close at first. After giving up three goals at the start of the first half, junior Matt Fraser and freshman Josh Kurtz shot the first goals for Hopkins. The latter goal, which came with 1:10 left in the first half, brought them within one point of the Bisons. Bucknell tacked on one more in the final seconds of the first half to make the score 4-2 at halftime.

The Jays came out flat in the second half, turning the ball over and not finishing on close shots. Meanwhile the Bisons played a tight defense and scored goals when they had the opportunities. After three Bison goals to start the third quarter, Hopkins junior Giovanni Cragnotti ended the run with 1:44 left in the quarter. The Bisons quickly fired back, bringing their lead up to five goals.

The Bison quickly scored once again in the fourth quarter to push the lead to six, while junior Bret Pinsker scored once more to make the score 9-4, the final score of the match.

The two leading point scorers on the season, senior Langdon Froomer and freshman Giorgio Cico, were held to one assist and no goals on nine combined shots. The Jays had 28 shots on goal, a higher total than the four goal output would suggest. They finished the game with 12 man up opportunities to Bucknell’s four.

“Our offense was a little sluggish. We need to work on actually finishing our opportunities in front of the cage,” Pinsker said. Cragnotti echoed the same sentiment.

“We did not play badly, but we missed a lot of opportunities we usually capitalize on. We honestly could not finish and that made the difference,” he said.

Sophomore John Wilson and senior Erik Henrikson faced a total of 17 shots on goal, turning away eight of them and allowing nine goals.

“We actually played a pretty good defensive game. Bucknell is a very good team, and holding them to nine goals was definitely a positive on our end,” Pinsker said.

The Jays look to rebound with key games at home against the George Washington University Colonials (Oct. 16), the Naval Academy Midshipmen (Oct. 17) and the Princeton University Tigers (Oct. 23). All three games are rematches of earlier season bouts, with the Jays having beaten George Washington twice (16-8, 11-8), having beaten Navy (11-9) and having dropped the match to Princeton in double overtime (17-15).

The Jays are not looking too far ahead, but the next game circled on their calendar is the matchup against the 11th ranked Princeton Tigers. Their matchup in Baltimore earlier in the season was a heartbreaker and sent the Jays on somewhat of a losing skid.

“We’re looking to win all three games. Hopefully we will upset Princeton at their pool. We are looking to come together and play our best polo. We know we can do big things in the postseason,” Pinsker said.