Division III No. 8 Johns Hopkins University-vs.-Connecticut College Scoresheet
BRIDGEVILLE, Pa. — Division III No. 8-ranked Johns Hopkins University return to a spot all too familiar to fans of Blue Jays’ water polo – the title game of the Division III Eastern Championship – as the aquanauts of Charm City defeated Connecticut College, 20-14, to clinch a berth in the 2019 Division III Eastern title game and a spot in the field for the inaugural Division III Collegiate Water Polo National Championship sponsored by USA Water Polo.
Competing at Chartiers Valley High School and hosted by Washington & Jefferson College, the Blue Jays (8-16) of the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC)-East Region made the suburbs of the Steel City of Pittsburgh their own by overcoming slow starts in the first and third quarters to rack up six goals in both the second and fourth quarters in overcoming the Camels (4-8) of the MAWPC-West Region.
Courtesy the win, JHU earns a berth to the 2019 Division III Eastern Championship title game at Noon on Sunday, October 27, against nemesis/Division III No. 4 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) of the Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC). Further,
In addition, the victory guarantees JHU will finish no lower than second at the Division III Eastern Championship as the squad secures a berth to the inaugural Division III National Championship tournament with both the champion and runner-up from the Division III Eastern Championship and the top two teams from the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) competing in a four-team event at a site to be determined in California on a SCIAC campus during the weekend of December 7-8.
Taking on Connecticut with history and a shot to square-off with MIT for the Division III Eastern Championship, the Blue Jays came out of the gate sluggish as Johns Hopkins pulled ahead 1-0 and 2-1 only to see the Camels rally back to collect a 3-2 lead with exactly four minutes left in the first quarter.
The Blue Jays rallied back to go back ahead 4-3 with 42 ticks on the clock before Connecticut answered via a five-meter penalty shot by Mike Gertsik (So., Brooklyn, N.Y./Leon M. Goldstein) 21 seconds later to again deadlock the squads at four-all. However, John Murphy (Jr., San Diego, Calif./La Jolla) pushed JHU ahead for good by swishing a shot with two seconds to go in the frame for a 5-4 Blue Jays’ lead after eight minutes of action.
JHU’s margin expanded to a pair of goals less than a minute into the second quarter as Jayden Kunwar (So., Woodside, Calif./Menlo) converted on a man-up opportunity with 7:07 until halftime to make it 6-4.
Connecticut attempted to rally back as Gertsik put a frozen-rope into the cage (6:45) to move the Camels within one at 6-5, but Chris Freese (Fr., Bellevue, Wash./Interlake) and Emerson Sullivan (So., San Anselmo, Calif./Sir Francis Drake) tallied back-to-back natural markers at 4:55 and 3:32, respectively, to build Hopkins’ lead to 8-5.
Once again the Camels attempted to go their offense in gear as Arturo Freitas (Sr., Weston, Fla./Cypress Bay) put away a power-play bid at 2:56 to narrow the margin down to 8-6. It marked the last time Connecticut was within a pair of Johns Hopkins as Kunwar (2:10) and Finn Banks (Sr., Portola Valley, Calif./Sacred Heart Prep) (1:06) delivered back-to-back even-strength strikes before Olin Shipstead (Fr., Los Angeles, Calif./Agoura) flushed a man-up tally with 12 seconds until halftime for an 11-6 lead at the break.
Connecticut refused to lay down, however, as Lucas Verrilli (So., Evanston, Ill./Evanston) and Gertsik opened the third quarter with back-to-back goals at 7:17 and 6:22, respectively, to move the Camels back to within three of JHU at 11-8.
The rally was short-lived as Sullivan (5:15), Kunwar (4:53) and Freese (2:15) stymied Connecticut’s momentum with back-to-back-to-back goals to expand the lead to six at 14-8. Gertsik attempted to reinvigorate the Camels by burying a five-meter penalty shot with 1:30 left in the quarter before Verrilli followed with an even-strength strike (44 seconds) to trim Connecticut’s deficit back down at four at 14-10 heading into the fourth quarter.
Kunwar (7:35) and Banks (6:27) got the pair of goals back for the Blue Jays in the first 93 seconds of the fourth quarter as the duo returned JHU’s lead to six at 16-10.
Connecticut and Hopkins exchanged goals from there as the score wavered from 16-11, 17-11, 17-12, 18-12, 18-13, 19-13, 19-14 and finally 20-14.
For Connecticut, Gertsik keyed the Camels with five goals, while Freitas (four) and Verrilli (two) also posted multi-marker games. Senior Sean King (La Canada, Calif./Flintridge Prep) and freshmen Christian Jacobsen and Sam Guy (Portland, Ore./Lincoln) round out the Connecticut scorers as the trio each tossed in single tallies.
Goalie Tanner Michaelis (Jr., Ramona, Calif./Ramona) made three saves in cage as the loss drops Connecticut into the Third Place game at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, October 27, against Penn State Behrend of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). The Camels – who will seek to finish among the Top Three teams at the Division III Eastern Championship for the first time since placing Third in 2017 – will take on the Lions for the second time in 2019 following a 13-8 victory on September 21 at home in New London, Conn., during the Connecticut Invitational.
JHU was led by Player of the Game Kunwar who accounted for seven goals – including pairs in the first, second and fourth quarters. Sullivan and Banks added hat-tricks with three scores, while Freese (two), Shipstead (two), Jacob Whittaker (So., Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) (one), Nico Ivanov (Jr., San Diego, Calif./La Jolla) (one) and Kamran Eslami (Fr., Mission Viejo, Calif./Capistrano Valley) (one) accounted for the remainder of the victor’s offense.
In cage, Max Fleming (Jr., Orinda, Calif./Miramonte) made 11 saves to permit the Blue Jays to return to the Division III Eastern Championship title game for a crack at claiming the program’s 18th crown.
The 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017 champion with runner-up marks in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2010, 2014 and 2018, Hopkins has missed only two Division III Eastern title games – 2007 (at MIT) and 2016 (at Penn State Behrend) for a simple reason as the Blue Jays elected not to compete at either tournament.
History will be made irregardless of the outcome as the title game pits first-year MIT head coach Austin Ringheim against technically first-year head coach Max Schlegel of Hopkins.
Appointed head coach following the 2018 season, Schlegel will aim to claim his first championship after guiding the Blue Jays to the 2018 finale at home in Baltimore as the interim head coach. However, JHU fell to MIT by a 15-12 count. An assistant coach at JHU under previous head coach Ted Bresnahan from 2016 until being promoted to head coach in February 2019, Schlegel was part of the 2017 staff which helped Hopkins down Washington & Jefferson College (13-3 W), Connecticut College (15-8 W) and host MIT (11-10 W) to clinch the program’s latest Division III title.
Overall, the 2018 title game marked the 20th meeting between the Engineers and Blue Jays for the crown (1991, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018) with Johns Hopkins holding a 14-6 mark in the clashes. Former varsity program Washington & Lee University defeated JHU in 1992 and 1993 in the second and third Division III tournaments for the only championships not held by either Johns Hopkins or nine-time winner (1991, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2014, 2016, 2018) MIT.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Connecticut College (4-8) | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | – | 14 |
| Division III No. 8 Johns Hopkins University (8-16) | 5 | 6 | 3 | 6 | – | 20 |
| Johns Hopkins Goals: | Jayden Kunwar (7); Finn Banks (3); Emerson Sullivan (3); Chrise Freese (2); Olin Shipstead (2); John Murphy; Nico Ivanov; Kamran Eslami | |||||
| Connecticut Goals: | Mike Gertsik (5); Arturo Freitas (4); Lucas Verilli (2); Sean King; Christian Jacobsen; Sam Guy | |||||
| Saves: | Johns Hopkins – Max Fleming (11) ; Connecticut – Tanner Michaelis (3) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Johns Hopkins – 7 ; Connecticut – 8 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Johns Hopkins – 3-for-8 ; Connecticut – 6-for-7 | |||||
| Sprints: | Johns Hopkins – 3-for-4 (2nd, 3rd, 4th) ; Connecticut – 1-for-4 (1st) | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | |||||
| Officials: | Steve Rotsart; Brandon Nicholson | |||||
John Hopkins University’s Olin Shipstead (#8) eyes the field as Connecticut College’s Sam Guy (#6) close in
Johns Hopkins University’s Jayden Kunwar (#15)
Connecticut College’s Arturo Freitas (#10) and Johns Hopkins University’s Jacob Whittaker (#6) pursue the ball
