Oct. 10, 2012

JHU-Navy Box

BALTIMORE, MD - Sophomore Wes Hopkins' third goal of the match proved to be the biggest as host Johns Hopkins upset 14th-ranked Navy, 14-13, on Wednesday afternoon in CWPA Southern Division action. The Blue Jays improve to 18-5 overall and 3-1 in the league, while the Mids slip to 16-2 and 2-1 in the league. The win is just the second ever for the Blue Jays over the Mids and the first since 2008.

Ned Pedrotty gave Navy an early 1-0 lead just 1:04 into the match on the Mids' first shot. Senior Kielan Crow, one of three Blue Jay seniors playing at home for the final time, answered with the first of his four goals on the day to tie it up at 4:12. Navy came right back with goals from Cort Jones and Archie Warren less than a minute apart to take a 3-1 lead. Crow would pull Hopkins within one with 38 seconds to go in the opening quarter.

Navy opened the second with a goal from Jesse Walker to push its lead two, but it was answered 48 seconds later by senior Ross Schofield as Hopkins get the visitors within striking distance. The Mids responded with goals from Warren and Walker in a 30-second span to take a 6-3 lead. The Blue Jays got back in with back-to-back goals from freshman Kevin Yee and the Midshipmen's lead was one with 1:04 to play in the half. Navy had the final say however as Erich Schwamb scored with just 11 seconds left to send the Mids into the half with a 7-5 lead.

Hopkins cut the deficit in half with his first goal of the afternoon just 61 seconds into the third. But once again, Navy answered with a man-up goal from Warren at 5:42. The Blue Jays got a big save from sophomore Danny Ovelar 23 seconds later when the Mids were awarded a five-meter shot. But Ovelar stuffed Pedrotty's shot and the lead remained two. The Blue Jays responded in a big way, as Crow scored consecutive goals in just 29 seconds to tie the match at eight apiece. The teams continued to trade goals over the remainder of the quarter and Navy led 10-9 at the buzzer.

Walker got things going in the fourth, giving Navy back a two-goal lead with his fourth of the day. Walker and Pedrotty sandwiched goals around a strike from Hopkins and the Mids led 12-10 with 4:07 to play. But goals from Schofield and junior Stephen Kingery 25 seconds apart pulled the Blue Jays even at the 3:20 mark. Pedrotty, Navy's leading scorer by a wide margin, put the Midshipmen right back on top 16 seconds later. That would be their final say though, as Schofield scored with 2:25 to go tie the match at 12 apiece and Hopkins would put the Jays on top at the 56 second mark, their first lead of the match. The defense would hold from there as the Blue Jays got a block on the Mids' final possession and the Jays were able to run out the final 29 seconds.

Crow paced Hopkins with four goals and one assist, while Hopkins notched a hat trick and dished out two assists to go along with five steals. Schofield added a hat trick and three assists, while senior Alex Whittam had a goal, three assists and three steals. Ovelar finished with nine saves and doled out an assist in two quarters, while classmate Scott Weigel made seven stops and had three steals.

Hopkins returns to action on Saturday, October 13 with a league doubleheader. Hopkins will travel to face Bucknell at noon in Lewisburg, PA and then travel to Princeton, NJ to face the 16th-ranked Tigers at 7:30 pm.

HopkinsSports.com Men's Water Polo

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