COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Division III No. 8-ranked Johns Hopkins University water polo team opened the season at the United States Air Force Academy’s Rare Air Challenge by dropped its opener, 22-6, to the host/No. 19 Falcons prior to taking a 20-8 setback against Division III No. 3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges in the nightcap.
Air Force got a pair of goals from Jacob Yi to take a 2-0 lead with 2:54 to play in the first quarter. Senior Paul Gensbigler cut the deficit in half with the Blue Jays’ first goal of the season at 2:11. Tom Leggett answered with a five-meter goal at 1:55 to ignite a nine-goal Falcons’ run as they jumped out to an 11-1 lead.
Freshman Ethan Babel halted the run with his first career goal with 24 ticks left in the second to make it 11-2 at the half. Air Force scored the first three goals of the third quarter to push out to a 14-2 lead. Junior Ian Raley got Hopkins on the board with a five-meter goal at 4:38.
Another Yi strike sparked a four-goal spurt that pushed the Falcons’ lead to 18-3. Freshman Owen Bartlett responded with back-to-back goals, just 34 seconds apart, followed by a Liam Housenbold score and it was 18-6 with 3:42 to play. Air Force answered with four goals in the final 2:16 to take the win.
Hopkins then faced off against CMS in a clash of perennial Division III powers. Bartlett sandwiched a pair of goals around two from the Stags and it was 2-2 with 4:52 to play in the first. Nick Kennedy then scored at 3:49 to kick-start a six-goal run and CMS pushed out to an 8-2 lead early in the second.
Sophomore Jason Mihalopoulos terminated the run with a goal at the 4:55-mark. The Stags answered with a 10-goal run however, that spanned more than 11 and a half minutes. Luke Weigle capped the run at 7:30 in the fourth to stake CMS to an 18-3 lead.
Sophomore Gavin Brooke got the Blue Jays back on the board with man-up goal at 6:29. Sophomore Daniel Palfi scored less than a minute later and it was 18-5. Kennedy got one back for Claremont, but Hopkins answered with goals from Mihalopoulos, freshman Max Blecher and Brooke to make it 19-8 with 3:50 to play. The Stags tacked on one more in the final minute to account for the 20-8 win.
Bartlett led the Blue Jays with a pair of two-goal games. Mihalopoulos and Brooke added two-goal games versus CMS.
Release courtesy Johns Hopkins University Athletics Communications
