COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The Division III No. 8-ranked Johns Hopkins University water polo team dropped a pair of tough matches to fellow Division III Top-10 programs to conclude the 2023 United States Air Force Academy’s Rare Air Challenge.
Hopkins opened the day against Division III top-ranked the University of Redlands and fell in the dogfight versus the Bulldogs, 20-15.
Redlands jumped out to a 2-0 lead before junior Ian Raley got JHU on the board at the 5:33 mark of the first quarter. The Bulldogs answered with two goals in just 61 seconds to go up 4-1 midway through the opening eight minutes. An Owen Bartlett strike pulled the Blue Jays back within two, but Redlands responded with a 7-1 run to push out to an 11-3 lead with 4:53 to play in the second quarter.
Senior Seth Berke halted the run with a strike at 2:20, but Redlands responded with a 4-1 spurt and the lead was 15-5 with 5:30 to play in the third quarter. Sophomore Daniel Palfi then scored a six-on-five goal to spark a 4-1 Blue Jays’ run that trimmed the deficit to seven at the end of the third quarter.
The teams traded goals over a three-minute stint to open the fourth and it was 18-11. Back-to-back Redlands’ goals pushed its lead to nine with 3:34 to play. Hopkins then rattled off four straight to pull within five with 10 seconds left on the clock.
JHU wrapped up its trip to Rocky Mountain State with a tough 14-13 loss to Division III No. 4 California Lutheran University.
Raley opened the scoring less than two minutes in, but Cal Lutheran answered with three in a row to go up 3-1 midway through the first quarter. Hopkins answered with a 3-1 run, fueled by a pair of goals from sophomore Gavin Brooke to knot the score at four-all late in the second quarter.
Jack Bradbury put the Kingsmen on top, but back-to-back Owen Bartlett goals swung the lead back to the Blue Jays at the half at 6-5.
Cal Lutheran opened the third quarter with a trio of tallies to push ahead by an 8-6 count, but goals from freshman Max Blecher and Bartlett knotted the score at eight-all with 3:35 to go in the quarter.
Zachary Isaac put the Kingsmen back on top with a man-up goal, but a pair of Raley strikes gave the Blue Jays a 10-9 lead after 24 minutes of competition.
The teams swapped scores over a three-minute span midway through the fourth quarter to flip the scoreboard to 13-all. Cormac Flanders broke the tie to return Cal Lutheran to the lead via a man-up goal with 42 ticks on the clock. The strike proved to be the deciding factor as the Blue Jays were unable to register an equalizer.
Bartlett led the Blue Jays with three goals and four points versus Redlands. Brooke, Palfi and sophomore Jason Mihalopoulos each added two-goasl versus the Bulldogs, while Raley (one goal, two assists) and junior Chris Lo (one goal, one asssist) also had multi-point games.
Bartlett again led Hopkins with four goals and five points against Cal Lutheran. Freshman Ethan Babel matched Bartlett’s five points with two goals and three assists. Raley added a four-point outing (three goals, one assist), while Mihalopoulos (two assists), Blecher (two goals), Brooke (two goals, one assist) and freshman Alec Baker (two assists) also had multi-point games. Graduate student Saahil Naik made seven saves in the cage.
Information courtesy Johns Hopkins University Athletics Communications
