The Hopkins water polo team concluded their home season this past weekend when the Midshipmen of the Naval Academy came to Homewood Campus to take on the Blue Jays. In the end, the Jays ended up on top, clinching a 15-14 win.
The Jays came out hot to start the match, and within one minute the Mids found themselves in a 2-0 deficit. Navy fought back though, and the quarter ended with Hopkins leading 5-3. Navy started the scoring off in the second quarter to cut the lead to 5-4, but Hopkins responded with a medley of goals. Four different players scored to extend the Jays’ lead to 9-4 midway through the second quarter.
The teams traded goals for the remainder of the quarter, and Hopkins headed into the locker room with a 10-8 advantage. Sophomore Matt Fraser notched the final goal of the half for the Jays.
The second half started off strong for the Jays. Similar to the first half, the Jays jumped on the Mids early and often, notching three goals to extend the lead to 13-8. The rest of the third quarter, however, featured little action, as only Navy scored one goal the rest of the quarter.
Heading into the final frame, Hopkins was ahead by four, with a score of 13-9. The Jays went into each quarter with a fast start, and the fourth was no different. Fraser and senior Wes Hopkins tacked on two more goals for the Jays at the start of the quarter, bringing the Blue Jay lead to a comfortable six goals at 15-9.
The Midshipmen would fight back following those goals. The Mids scored four goals in just under two minutes to create a tight 15-13 lead with a little less than three minutes to play. With 1:06 left in the match, Navy tacked on another goal to cut the deficit to just one. Luckily for the Jays, the six-goal lead was too much for Navy to overcome, and the Hopkins defense prevailed in the final minute of the game, stopping Navy from evening the score. In the end, the Jays were victorious, taking the match 15-14.
After the match, junior goalie Erik Henrikson shared his thoughts about the team’s performance.
“Well it was a great win, that's for sure,” Henrikson said. “We're hoping to come into Southern playoffs with the third seed. We're ultimately trying to make it to the final game at Southerns, which would give us a good seed at Easterns. We're going to fine tune some things this week, and come into playoff season strong.”
Wes Hopkins led the scoring output for the Jays with seven of the team’s 15 goals. Some other notable performances were turned in by Fraser (three goals), junior Langdon Froomer (two goals, three assists) and Henrikson, who stopped nine shots from Navy.
The Jays’ next matchup is this Saturday, Nov. 1. The Jays meet a familiar foe, Navy, once again in a rematch. They will travel to Annapolis for the regular season finale, which will kick off at 7 p.m.
