Following up on their trip west to the Claremont Convergence, the Hopkins water polo team hosted Navy, the 17th-ranked team in the country, at the Ralph S. O'Connor pool on Wednesday, Oct. 12th. Hopkins then travelled to Bucknell and Princeton this weekend, losing to both, before returning home for a duel with George Washington.
Hopkins is now 10-11 overall and 2-5 in CWPA Southern Division play.
The Midshipmen beat Hopkins by two goals, with a final score of 13-11. Navy mustered three goals together in the final minute and a half of the game for the win.
Midway through the fourth quarter, junior utilityman Kielan Crow fed classmate and driver Alex Whittam a pass that led his career-high-tying fifth goal of the game. Senior center Mark Strickland and sophomore two-meter driver Wes Hopkins each netted a couple of goals, while junior utilityman Ross Schofield and Crow each saw the back of the net once.
Goalie Danny Ovelar, a freshman from Caracas, Venezuela, finished with eight saves and one steal in two quarters of play, while fellow freshman and goalie Scott Weigel also had eight saves and one steal.
"It was a difficult game," Whittham said, a captain on this year's team. "It always is when we play at home. Our pool is extremely shallow, which most of us are not used to playing games in. They are usually much more physical and Navy played very aggressively,."
On Saturday, Oct. 15th, the Blue Jays trekked to Bucknell to battle the Bison, ranked 15th in the country, at noon. They then continued on to Princeton to swim with the Tigers, ranked 16th, at 7 PM. It was a long trip for the polo players, which was reflected in their lacking performance.
Earlier this season, the Jays had defeated both of the orange donned squads at home during a thrilling alumni weekend.
On Sept. 23rd, Hopkins beat the Tigers, 11-10, in the final seconds from the arm of sophomore driver Stephen Kingery. The next day, the black and blue sunk the Bison in double overtime, 11-9, thanks in part to a game-winner from Whittam.
This time, however, Bucknell overcame the Blue Jays, 12-10.
At the half, Hopkins led 6-3, but the Bison stormed back in the third quarter, outscoring the Blue Jays 5-1. Tied at six, freshman driver Johnny Beal netted a goal to push Hopkins ahead. The Bison scored two soon after and headed into the final quarter with an 8-7 lead.
Unlike a month ago, Bucknell came through in the final stretch, looking to dominate, and they immediately netted three goals. In the end, they had a 12-10 victory, with Hopkins scoring three goals in the last five minutes.
After a three-plus hour bus ride, the Blue Jays were back in the pool to take on the Princeton Tigers. The Ivy Leaguers won against an exhausted team of Blue Jays by a final score of 14-7.
The Tigers scored four in the first quarter and then doubled it by the half, while Hopkins had only two goals at the intermission. In their win, Tiger junior Tim Wenzlau and freshmen Drew Hoffenberg and Kayj Shannon all scored thrice in the second half, winning the game.
Hopkins hoped to get back on the right foot after their tiring weekend on Wednesday against George Washington at home, but the Colonials managed to surge ahead with nine second half goals to win, 15-13.
While it was a difficult week for the Blue Jays, they are optimistic about this upcoming weekend. They will be traveling to Erie, Pennsylvania to play Penn State-Behrent, Connecticut College and Washington and Jefferson on Oct. 22, and then Mercyhurst on Oct. 23.
