BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Kyle Pearson (Fr., Key Biscayne, Fla./Laurel Springs School (Calif.)) totaled 34 saves with five steals and two assists during a 3-0 weekend for Division III No. 5-ranked Johns Hopkins University in winning the 2021 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Eastern Championship to earn status as the October 25 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) Rookie and Defensive Player of the Week.
Competing at Connecticut College in New London, Conn., Pearson made 11 saves with a steal, two assists and five goals allowed on Saturday, October 23, in turning back the host Camels by a 19-13 count. Later in the day, he notched 12 saves with a steal in an 18-8 defeat of Division III No. 10 Austin College to help the Blue Jays to the tournament title game.
Facing Division III No. 8 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the title tilt on Sunday, October 24, he posted 11 saves and three steals to anchor an 11-10 sudden death overtime win.
For his performance, Pearson was named to the All-Tournament First Team.
In the history of the Division III Eastern tournament, Hopkins now holds 19 Division III crowns (1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021) in 28 title games with losses in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2010, 2014 and 2018. Hopkins did not compete in two Division III Championships as the Blue Jays’ missed the championship game in 2007 and 2016 by not attending the event. MIT is a nine-time champion MIT (1991, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2014, 2016, 2018) as the duo stand as the only active Division III programs to hold a Division III Eastern crown. Overall, former varsity team Washington & Lee University defeated Johns Hopkins in 1992 and 1993 in the second and third Division III tournament for the only titles not held by either the Blue Jays or Engineers.
Pearson is guaranteed a postseason berth in his first season competing in “Charm City” as both Johns Hopkins and MIT punched their tickets to the 2021 USA Water Polo Division III Championship versus the top-two finishing teams in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC). Slated for December 4-5 at the highest seeded SCIAC participant, it will mark the second USA Water Polo Division III Championship following the 2019 event hosted and claimed by Whittier College. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, MIT and Johns Hopkins placed second, third and fourth in the inaugural event which occurred on December 7-8 in Whittier, Calif.
October 18 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Defensive Player of the Week Honor Roll: Bailey O’Mara (Fordham University); Max Sandberg (United States Naval Academy)
October 18 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Rookie of the Week Honor Roll: Lucas Nieto Jasny (Fordham University); Cole McKechnie (United States Naval Academy)
