LEWISBURG, Pa. — Trailing 10-7 at halftime, the Division III No. 4-ranked Blue Jays of Johns Hopkins University found the poise to outscore Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC)-West Region Champion Gannon University by a 10-3 count over the final 16 minutes of regulation to snag a 17-13 victory on Day Two of the 2019 MAWPC Championship hosted by Bucknell University.
Johns Hopkins (11-20, 3-9 MAWPC-East) advances to the championship tournament’s Fifth Place game on Sunday, November 24, as the Blue Jays will face fellow MAWPC-East institution Wagner College at 10:30 a.m. JHU and Wagner met twice during the regular season as Hopkins fell by a 20-13 count on the road in Staten Island, N.Y., on September 29, but came back with a 23-22 win in Baltimore on November 10.
Historically, JHU has finished Fourth (2016), Sixth (2017) and Fifth (2015) in the three prior MAWPC Championships as the Blue Jays will have a chance to notch the program’s second Top Five finish in four years.
Hopkins fell behind early in the contest as a man-up goal by Thomas Squeglia (Sr., Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep) at 7:01 and an even-strength score from Jack Donnelly (Sr., Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) at 5:35 provided the Golden Knights (17-4, 6-0 MAWPC-West) a 2-0 lead less than two and a half minutes into the showdown.
The Blue Jays got on the board at 5:18 via a five-meter penalty shot by Jayden Kunwar (So., Woodside, Calif./Menlo) before Jacob Whitaker (So., Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) (4:28, even-strength) and John Murphy (Jr., San Diego, Calif./La Jolla) (3:48, man-up) delivered back-to-back scores to provide Johns Hopkins a 3-2 lead.
Gannon responded as David Gallion (So., Arlington, Va./Homeschool) (2:30, man-up), Anthony Squeglia (Jr., Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep) (2:09, man-up) and Riley Hinkley (Sr., Meshopeen, Pa./Princeton) ticked off three consecutive strikes to push the Golden Knights ahead 5-3. Emerson Sullivan (So., San Anselmo, Calif./Sir Francis Drake) closed the gap to 5-4 with 41 seconds left prior to Tim Baer (Jr., San Diego, Calif./Classical Academy) delivering a response courtesy a man-up goal with four seconds remaining for a 6-4 Gannon lead after eight minutes.
Baer struck again to commence the second quarter as he connected on a shot at 5:15 to make it 7-4. Olin Shipstead (Jr., Los Angeles, Calif./Agoura) and Whitaker put away power-play bids at 5:03 and 3:53 to move JHU back within one at 7-6, but Hinkley swished a shot at 2:58 to return the margin to a pair at 8-6.
Johns Hopkins cut its deficit back to one at 8-7 with 57 seconds remaining in the second quarter as Kamran Eslami (Fr., Mission Viejo, Calif./Capistrano Valley) dented the twine, but Gallion (33 seconds) and Baer (one second) drilled in a pair of shots to provide the Golden Knights a 10-7 lead entering halftime.
Drago Marjanovic (So., Belgrade, Serbia/North Allegheny) expanded the lead to four at 11-7 courtesy a man-up score at 6:01, but the tally appeared to reinvigorate the Hopkins’ offense.
Kunwar (5:49, five-meter penalty shot), Shipstead (5:30, even-strength), Jake Pearson (So., Key Biscayne, Fla./Ransom Everglades) (4:19, even-strength) and Kunwar (3:58, even-strength) racked up four consecutive goals to knot the score at 11-all prior to Pearson putting away his second strike of the run at 2:23 to turn the tables and provide Hopkins a 12-11 lead.
The scoreboard advantage lasted for under two minutes as Marjanovic delivered the equalizer with 56 seconds left in the frame to deadlock the squads at 12-all heading into the fourth quarter.
JHU went back in front at 13-12 1:40 into the final eight minutes of competition as Sullivan slipped a ball into the cage (6:40), but Marjanovic struck again at 5:51 with a man-up marker to return equality to the game at 13-all.
From there, the Blue Jays soared to victory as Shipstead (man-up, 4:52), Sullivan (4:19, even-strength; 2:17, even-strength) and Kunwar (1:27, even-strength) combined for four goals in the final five minutes of the game to clinch at 17-13 win.
For Johns Hopkins, Kunwar and Sullivan both scored four times to share Player of the Game recognition. Shipstead (three), Whitaker (two) and Pearson (two) also netted multi-goal games with Murphy and Eslami tacking on solo markers. Goalie Max Fleming (Jr., Orinda, Calif./Miramonte) finished with four saves to pick up the win.
Gannon – which will face La Salle University at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, November 24, in the Seventh Place game – received hat-tricks by Marjanovic and Baer along with pairs by Gallion and Hinkley Thomas and Anthony Squeglia joined Donnelly in accounting for single goals.
Jacob Hollo (Fr., Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) made 10 saves – all in the first half – to take the loss.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Gannon University | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | – | 13 |
| Division III No. 4 Johns Hopkins University | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | – | 17 |
| JHU Goals: | Jayden Kunwar (4); Emerson Sullivan (4); Olin Shipstead (3); Jacob Whitaker (2); Jake Pearson (2); John Murphy; Kamran Eslami | |||||
| Gannon Goals: | Drago Marjanovic (3); Tim Baer (3); David Gallion (2); Riley Hinkley (2); Thomas Squeglia; Anthony Squeglia; Jack Donnelly | |||||
| Saves: | JHU – Max Fleming (4) ; Gannon – Jacob Hollo (10) | |||||
| Exclusions: | JHU – 8 ; Gannon – 10 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | JHU – 6-for-10 ; Gannon – 6-for-8 | |||||
| Sprints: | JHU – 2-for-4 (1st, 2nd) ; Gannon – 2-for-4 (3rd, 4th) | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | Gannon – RC (Asst. coach Brett Rehrer, 3:20 left in 1st Q), M (Lucas Petzold, 3:31 left in 2nd Q), M (Jack Donnelly, 1:55 left in 4th Q) | |||||
| Officials: | Josh Kratz ; Scott Voltz | |||||
Johns Hopkins Univeristy’s Jayden Kunwar (#15) defends Gannon University’s Anthony Squeglia (#9)
Johns Hopkins University’s Olin Shipstead (#8) looks for an opening as Gannon University’s Jack Donnelly (#3) closes in
Gannon University’s Robert Bolmanski (#8) rises to shoot over Johns Hopkins University’s Chris Freese (#14)
Johns Hopkins University’s Emerson Sullivan (#13) prepares to drop a pass over the head of Gannon University’s Anthony Squeglia (#9)
