CLAREMONT, Calif. — Emerson Sullivan (Sr., San Anselmo, Calif./Sir Francis Drake) scored three times and goalie Kyle Pearson (Fr., Key Biscayne, Fla./Laurel Springs School (Calif.)) stopped 21 shots – including a key stop with under 20 seconds to play in the game – as Division III No. 5-ranked Johns Hopkins University claimed Third Place at the 2021 USA Water Polo Division III National Collegiate Championship by defeating Division III No. 8 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 11-10, at Pomona-Pitzer Colleges’ Haldeman Pool.
Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) member MIT falls to 0-2 against Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) institution JHU this year as the Engineers to the Blue Jays in sudden death overtime by an 11-10 score on October 24 at Connecticut College in New London, Conn., in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Eastern Championship title game.
Overall, MIT is now 1-1 against Hopkins in Division III National Championship competition as the Engineers picked up a 20-13 win during the 2019 Third Place game at Whittier College on December 8, 2019.
Leading 9-7 at the conclusion of the third quarter, Johns Hopkins needed to stymie the Engineers’ from rallying back to claim victory in the waning seconds of the contest.
MIT cut JHU’s lead to 9-8 with 6:05 left in regulation as Alexander Freedline (So. Miami, Fla./Ransom Everglades) deposited a shot into the cage prior to Miller Geschke (Sr., Los Altos, Calif./Menlo School) posting the equalizer at 3:53 to knot the teams at nine-all.
Liam Housenbold (So., Atherton, Calif./Menlo School) pushed Hopkins ahead at 10-9 with 2:07 on the clock, but MIT’s Kyle Sandell (Sr., Mountain View, Calif./Los Altos) dented the twine with an answer nine seconds later to once again square the squads at 10-all.
With the possibility of overtime hanging over the contest, Chris Freese (Jr., Bellevue, Wash./Interlake) helped ice the win for the Blue Jays by converting a six-on-five opportunity into the game-winning goal with 1:23 remaining in regulation to put Hopkins in the lead at 11-10.
Both teams desperately attempted to net the equalizer or some insurance. For MIT, Gleschke had a shot clang off the post before Pearson stonewalled him. Across the tank Jayden Kunwar (Sr., Woodside, Calif./Menlo) fired a shot into the body of MIT netminder Colin Weaver () as neither team was able to solve their opponent’s defense down the stretch to make Freese’s goal stand-up as the difference maker in the contest.
For JHU, Sullivan (three), Kunwar (two) and Housenbold (two) each netted multi-goal games, while Seth Berke (So., Boca Raton, Fla./Saint Andrew’s School), Cameron Burns (So., Irvine, Calif./Orange Lutheran), Ian Raley (Fr., Baltimore, Md./Gilman) and Freese chipped in solo markers to help Hopkins solve the Engineers for the second time in 2021.
MIT – which outshot Hopkins by a 35-32 count – received a game-high five tallies from Geschke and a pair of scores from Evan Kowal (So., South Pasadena, Calif./South Pasadena) to accompany single strikes by Freedline, John Steele (Sr., Old Greenwich, Conn./Iona Preparatory) and Sandell. Colin Weaver (So., Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei) took the loss with 15 saves and 11 goals allowed between the posts.
The game was a back-and-forth affair from the opening sprint until the closing horn as neither team was able to gain a comfortable grip on the Third Place showdown until the final horn.
MIT had a chance to strike first just 40 seconds into the game as Sullivan was called for a penalty. However, Pearson snagged the ensuing penalty shot by Kaden DiMarco (Sr., Eugene, Ore./South Eugene) to keep the scoreboard unblemished in the early going.
The Engineers broke the ice with 4:29 left in the first quarter as Kowal connected with the back twine to stake MIT to a 1-0 lead. The scoreboard advantage lasted for 28 seconds until Raley rallied the Blue Jays by rifling in man-up marker for the equalizer at 4:01. However, MIT answered back as Geschke spun in a man-up score with 3:15 remaining to provide the Engineers a 2-1.
Burns lit the fuse that allowed JHU to gain the momentum as he buried a man-up chance at 2:13 prior to Housenbold heaving in another power-play bid at 1:31 to put JHU ahead for the first time at 3-2.
Geschke and Sullivan traded scores over the final minute of the first quarter as the Engineer delivered an even-strength stinger with 56 seconds left prior to the Blue Jay whistling in a man-up marker at the 18 seconds mark to push Hopkins ahead at 4-3 through one quarter of competition.
Berke insulated Johns Hopkins’ lead at the 6:25 mark of the second quarter by lining in a natural tally to inflate the margin to 5-3. Sullivan further padded the spread to 6-3 at 5:46 prior to Weaver swatting away four consecutive JHU shots to keep the Engineers within three as the second quarter continued to wind down.
Weaver prevented JHU from adding another goal at the 3:30 mark as he turned aside a five-meter penalty shot by Kunwar to keep his team in the game and allow MIT the chance to rally back.
Kunwar, however, got a measure of revenge with 1:46 until halftime by whipping in a natural goal to make it a 7-3 contest.
Needing an answer to snap JHU’s momentum, Geschke delivered for MIT by cashing in on a six-on-five chance at 1:23 to trim Hopkins’ lead to 7-4 heading into halftime.
Following a goal by Sullivan at 6:32 to open the third quarter’s scoring and widen the lead to 8-4, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology started to tinker with a comeback.
Kowal (6:07) and Geschke (5:45) cut the Engineers’ deficit down to a pair (8-6) prior to Kunwar delivering a counterstrike for Hopkins at 5:11 to return the lead to three at 9-6.
Back-to-back exclusions against Raley (4:23) and Sullivan (4:14) provided MIT a chance to chip away at JHU’s scoreboard advantage as Steele dropped the hammer with a man-up strike at 4:04 to once again trim the difference to two goals (9-7) heading into the decisive fourth quarter.
A key to the game was Hopkins’ man-up efficiency as the Blue Jays converted on six-of-11 chances compared to MIT’s three-for-14 performance.
The game concludes the 2021 season for both teams as Hopkins finishes 8-22, while MIT wraps-up 2021 with a 9-20 mark.
No. 16/Division III No. 1 Pomona-Pitzer Colleges claimed the 2021 USA Water Polo Division III National Championship as the Sagehens defeated Division III No. 2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges by a 13-12 score in overtime.
Johns Hopkins University – 2021 USA Water Polo Division III National Collegiate Championship Third Place
Massachusetts Institute of Technology – 2021 USA Water Polo Division III National Collegiate Championship Fourth Place
