Division III No. 5 Johns Hopkins University Fells Mount St. Mary’s University, 9-7, in 2021 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Championship Seventh Place Game

Division III No. 5 Johns Hopkins University-vs.-Mount St. Mary’s University Scoresheet (2021 Mid Atlantic Water Polo Conference Championship – Seventh Place)

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Jayden Kunwar (Sr., Woodside, Calif./Menlo) scored three times and goalie Kyle Pearson (Fr., Key Biscayne, Fla./Laurel Springs School (Calif.)) posted seven saves to share Player of the Game accolades as Division III No 5-ranked/No. 6 seed Johns Hopkins University overcame Mount St. Mary’s University, 9-7, in the Seventh Place game of the 2021 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) Championship hosted by the United States Naval Academy.

Johns Hopkins (7-21, 2-10 MAWPC-East) – which previously placed Second (2015), Fourth (2009), Sixth (2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2014), Seventh (2002, 2007), Eighth (2000, 2001) and Ninth (2013) at Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Championships before placing Fourth (2016), Fifth (2018) and Sixth (2017, 2019) at the MAWPC Championship coming into the 2021 season – finishes in Seventh Place.  Mount St Mary’s (7-24, 1-11 MAWPC-East) – which is in the program’s second season as a varsity team – earns its inaugural placement at the MAWPC Championship with an Eighth Place mark in the eight-team field.

The Blue Jays struck first as Chris Freese (Jr., Bellevue, Wash./Interlake) opened the scoring at 4:54 before Kunwar (3:37, man-up) and Ian Raley (Fr., Baltimore, Md./Gilman) (2:42) followed to allow the Blue Jays to soar out to a 3-0 lead.

Jason O’Donnell (So., Beaconsfield, Quebec/John Abbott College) put the Mountaineers on the board at 2:26 prior to Jake Pearson (Sr., Key Biscayne, Fla./Ransom Everglades) arching in a response with 57 ticks left on the clock for a 4-1 JHU lead after eight minutes of action.

Mount St. Marys dominated the second quarter as Kiahi Horan (So., Papaoa, New Zealand/Tauranga Boys’ College/La Salle University) (5:50) and O’Donnell (2:06, one second) heaved in strikes to balance the scoreboard at four-all heading into halftime.

The game continued to sway back-and-forth in the third quarter as Cameron Burns (So., Irvine, Calif./Orange Lutheran) (7:089) and Kunwar (629, penalty shot) pushed JHU out to a 6-4 lead before Horan (4:40, man-up) and O’Donnell (29 seconds) answered to knot the teams at six-all heading into the fourth quarter of action.

Mount St. Mary’s acquired its only lead of the game 21 seconds into the final frame of regulation as Zach Fischer (Fr. Chicago, Ill./De La Salle Institute) pumped in a shot with 7:39 to play.  However, Kunwar (6:39), Olin Shipstead (Gr., Los Angeles, Calif./Agoura) (4:33) and Freese (1:24) tallied back-to-back-to-back scores as JHU closed the game on a 3-0 tear to claim victory.

Mount St. Mary’s received four goals from O’Donnell and a pair by Horan to accompany a solo strike by Fischer.  In cage, Marko Kruska (Sr., Belgrade, Serbia/West Valley College) turned aside eight shots. 

For Johns Hopkins, Kunwar (three) and Freese (two) posted multi-goal games, while Raley, Shipstead, Burns and Jake Pearson contributed solo markers. 

The Division III Eastern Champion via an 11-10 sudden death overtime defeat of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on October 24 at Connecticut College, the Blue Jays will continue their season at the four-team Division III Collegiate Water Polo National Championship sponsored by USA Water Polo on December 4-5 at an institutional site in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC).