The Hopkins water polo team had a bittersweet weekend at the 2011 North-South Crossover at the U.S. Naval Academy this Saturday. The Blue Jays fell to the Brown Bears in a difficult match in the morning, 10-6, but in the afternoon beat Iona for the third time this season, 15-11.
Junior Alex Whittman led the offense with six goals on the weekend while freshman Danny Ovelar helped lead the defensive effort with 19 saves.
Against Brown, the Jays anticipated a trying match, and the Bears came out hot. At halftime, Brown lead 5-3, and despite the Blue Jays' best efforts, they never relinquished that lead.
After the intermission, each team netted two goals, increasing the score to 7-5, but it was ultimately the Bears who took the match, 10-6. The Jays were led by Overlar, Whittam, who scored one goal and juniors Kieran Crow and Ross Schofield, who each had a pair of scores.
Just hours later, Hopkins tried to renew their early season momentum against Iona. The path of the game was an exciting one for the Blue Jays, who trailed the entire match until the fourth quarter.
At halftime, the Gaels led 6-4, but the Jays overcame the lead, scoring six goals by the third quarter and equalizing the game to 9-9. Iona led by one for most of the final stanza, but Hopkins amazingly scored five goals towards the end of regulation for a 15-11 victory. Hopkins was lead by Schofield, senior Mark Strickland and freshman Johnny Beal.
"It was a wild game and that's what makes water polo fun," Strickland, the team's senior captain, said. "You really never know what is going to happen."
Iona has now become a familiar foe to Hopkins, and their comeback effort, while impressive, may have been a result of taking the Gaels a bit lightly. After all, the Blue Jays had little trouble with Iona in 15-8 and 13-6 victories earlier this month.
"We may have entered this game too confident from our other wins against Iona and that is why we had a rocky start," junior Charlie Weintraub said.
Hopkins now sits at 7-3 on the year and will host the opening weekend of CWPA Southern Division play as Princeton visits Baltimore on Friday, September 23rd at 8 p.m. This will be one of the few Blue Jay contests at the Hopkins pool, so be there and show your support! On Saturday, Hopkins will also host Bucknell at noon before traveling to George Washington for an 8 p.m. match.
